Festive jokes & crafts were enough to get us into the (very early) Christmas spirit tonight!! The group met at Heart & our resident run leader, Helen took the group on a 4.5K run. We then headed back to the cafe at Heart, got a drink & got to work for a CAMHS Christmas craft project. We were cutting up Christmas wrapping paper & writing Christmas jokes on the back, so that the children and young people in the CAMHS units can make them into paper chains. This was a lovely task & we managed to make a respectable 200 of the strips, which will all be heading to Bath where they will distribute them across the country.

Jason helpfully came up with the pun tonight, although we amended it slightly :) :)

Welcome to Emily on her first session with GoodGym Leeds. We hope to see you again soon.

Tonight 12 GoodGymers ran from Heart down to Left Bank to finish what we started in summer with painting the picnic benches. It was a little darker than last time we did it, but we managed with the help of a portable light supplied by Left Bank.

Adam thought his team had finished but the perfectionist in me thought otherwise, so they went back & finished the job...sorry Adam!

After painting, we finished off with a beer at the bar. Left Bank always look after us :)

Thanks so much to Helen for another great run. I know we moan about the hills, but we appreciate your effort!

Welcome to Guy who joined us tonight for his first session. We hope to see you again soon!

Jubz lived up to his Snack Force name tonight & brought fruity snacks in the form of fruit pastilles, apples & apple juice! I've never run whilst eating sweets before, but gave it a good go this evening. He brought apple juice from his apple pressing task at the weekend & gifted it to me, so I was very grateful. Thanks Jubz.

Tonight, we split into two groups & leafletted for OWLS, or leafleteering as Shannen called it :) Helen did an amazing job sorting out the routes & we got round much quicker than in previous sessions. Thanks Helen! She then led the faster group & Christian organised roles for each person, asking Katie & Rachael to sprint to the various houses... well done ladies! The slower group got round all but 2 addresses which Helen will do for us tomorrow. We obviously spent more time eating sweets than running, but still managed a respectable 5.5K. Well done all, we got our miles in tonight & thanks again to Helen for being so organised.

Nine GoodGymers met up at HEART in Headingley for today's task, deep cleaning the Tiny Boo nursery and other community spaces. The nursery looked like it had been ransacked by a herd of sticky fingered toddlers (which is an accurate description of its purpose). We set to it, spraying and wiping, vacuuming and mopping, tidying and lining up the cars in rows 🚗🚙🚕. Everyone played to their strengths and Christian's passion appears to be clearing cobwebs from ceilings (he can visit my home anyday). A big welcome to Dilraj on her first attendence and well done to Sana on her first run with us. Once the areas were spick and span and we left our customary signature message on the chalkboard, we set off on a 4km chatty run around quiet roads and parks in Headingley. Well done everyone!

Tonight 10 GoodGymers ran up to Bedford Fields Community Garden to do a variety of tasks. Between us we emptied the van, tidied up the borders, cleared a path, weeded and litter picked the area! It was a whirlwind but we got a lot done in an hour and 10 minutes. We did however almost lose two members when Bryony & Shannen diligently litter picked on the paths above the garden...a moment of panic when we thought they'd got lost. Luckily they came back with 2 full bags of litter.

Well done everyone!

A big GoodGym welcome to Sana tonight on her first session and welcome back to Kerry, Lana & Irene.