Bexley News

• It's the Bexley parkrun x GoodGym takeover this Saturday! If you want to help volunteer or pace you can find out more here
• Our GoodGym quiz team came 2nd on Saturday night with only 1 point between us. The event raised over £700 for the Danson Youth Trust. The next event will be in March! Maybe next time we can get 1st place 🥇

As the day went on, the rain got heavier. This didn't stop the hardcore runners coming out tonight for a bit of GoodGym action!

There were 10 of us gathered at Crook Log ready for a run and good deed! With the wet weather and darker evening, we were heading to our task next door! The runners still put in a run, up to the Co-op and back which turns out to be about 3km. The walking group took the quicker route across the car park and straight to the The Learning and Enterprise College Bexley to avoid getting overly wet and to prepare the task for the runners return.

We filled the buckets with cleaner and loaded ourselves with window polish and cloths ready for the runners. The rain had stopped and we had prepared some of the windows ready to be polished.

Very quickly the windows were gleaming - we think... 👀

We had a quick litter pick of the carpark before heading back to Crook Log.

Great work tonight team!

For those coming to the parkrun takeover, we will see you then...

Happy running!

Sarah 🏃🏻‍♀️

After last week's mini heat wave we were business as normal again, and a good job it was too.

A cracking team of eight runners met in Chiswick, and we had the pleasure of no less than three ace new members join us. People of GoodGym, please put your hands together for Adam, Natasha and Andreea who all came on their first Hounslow run with us last night. Give them a cheer!

Special bonus points go to Dave, who had a weekend of running, with no less than TWO races. Runspiration! Hat tip also goes to Andreea, who did the same 10k race on Sunday. Way to go guys.

After a few warm ups, introductions, and a quick interrogation to find out what was everybody's favourite biscuit (we nail all the important things in Chiswick. Top choice was rich tea, if you're interested.), we set off on a short but sweet little run down to the Water and Steam Museum.

This amazing place has no funding, and relies on the help of volunteers to keep the museum running. It is chock full of incredible things, and needs support so that everybody is able to go and see them. We were met by Penny, who led us through the museum to the outside area, where we were introduced to Ed and eight brooms. Our job tonight was to sweep up all the gravel in the area into piles, to stop little hands from dumping it in the water displays. This was an upper body and arms work out of epic proportions - which was a good thing, as we runners often neglect this area which can make our running form less efficient.

We each took on a different section of the huge yard, and after half an hour of hard brushing, we had made a big difference. It was one of those impossible tasks where you can't just walk away...just one last bit. 'I won't be coming back here without my brush,' said Adam. Tough work, gang, but there was no grumbling at all, despite a few blisters. After all, champions train, losers complain!

We took the run back to Turnham Green a little faster, and finished off the evening with a blast of circuits that included lots of horrid things like plank rotations, press ups and squat holds. We attempted a half pigeon in our stretches afterwards, watched by the actual birds behind us doing 'full pigeon', as Andy pointed out.

Next week we're going to be conducting a load of surveys for Hounslow Housing services to find out how they can improve the lives of the older community in the borough. A very worthwhile job indeed. You can sign up to help out here. See you then Team Hounslow!