Last night Anne, Holly, Adam, Susan and Katie were out in the chilly evening spreading the word of Home Start.

Due to a change in the group run task due to mother nature we had to change our task from surfacing wood chip for the park run to heading out to spread the word of Home start. This time we headed up a big hill to York Road.

Home-Start is a local community network of trained volunteers and expert support helping families with young children through their challenging times. We are there for parents when they need us the most because childhood can’t wait.

Adam was on top form and was in training mode for this half marathons - one this weekend and the Surrey Half next weekend. I know there are a few members taking part and also volunteering for the Surrey Half.

Good Luck

To Adam in Wokingham Half Marathon this Sunday and James in myself for the Brutal running event on Saturday, I am there with my sidekick - Bodhi to help me pull along the course... I might be carrying him through the water!]

Next Week

This weekend don't forget you can volunteer for Woking Park Run and next Wednesday we are making it a competitive litter pick - Two teams and one scavenger hunt with litter pickers!

This evening Wayne, Adam, Anne, Martin, Susan, Rebecca, and Alys met at Woking leisure centre, James was running late so he went straight to the Woking food bank.

Adam thought it would be a good idea to clock up some extra Kilometres for the GG January challenge by taking us the long way round to the food bank, luckily it was not as cold as it has been recently.🥶

Once we got there we were greeted by James and Alison who runs the food bank. We got stuck in straight away. Rebecca and Alys armed with hoovers started at one end of the food bank while James and Martin with flashy brooms started at the other end.

Wayne and Anne were given a task on the 1st floor were we had to empty crates that were full of books to different boxes, we came across some interesting books. Once completed we took the carter back down stairs to give to Alison.

By the time we got down the mopping had started James and Susan were busy getting the floor looking very shiny. Within 40 mins the place was looking great.

Anne mentioned that there was a new community kitchen that had just opened in the town so thought it would be a good idea to run there and introduce Good gym and offer our services. It was a short run when we got there we met a lovely gentleman by the name of Norman who told us all about the kitchen and how they prepped meals and distributed within the community. He also informed us that at the end of the month he was moving to different premises and would get in touch if assistance was required.

Norman then went back in and came out with a bag of tasty croissant for all of us which was much appreciated 🥐 Once digested we ran back to Woking Park there we decided to do a few laps of the park with James attempting to break his 1KM record, he was gone in a flash…..⚡️

It was a great evening and a big well done to everyone. 👏🏻

This Sunday Rich And Victoria from GG are the run directors at Junior Park Run, I know volunteers are still required.

Next Wednesday we are at the RSPCA..

Have a great week everyone….

Six runners braved the cold weather and ran 5 kilometres to meet at the Foodbank warehouse in Knaphill. We welcomed Maria back for her second mission and wished a good anniversary to Susan as her first meeting with GoodGym Woking was a year ago also at the foodbank.

We were welcomed with a bottle of water and snacks: this helped us greatly.

The aim, this week, was to prepare 140 Christmas bags to be distributed by the Salvation Army. Susan organised us and soon we were all gathering the items selected by the Foodbank. Adam, James and Susan were so efficient that they filled two bags each time; Maria, Katie and Anne modestly, but as competently, packed one bag at a time. After one hour of dancing around the different crates, the mission was accomplished!

As a motivation to run back towards Woking was a promise to stop at one of the local pubs…. it worked!

We wish Holly a prompt recovery; Susan we hope you are feeling better; James we trust your injury (falling while running with another group) will heal promptly. Maria, we count on seeing you again in the new year…

Woking GoodGym is doing well in the RU2C challenge (Run Up to Christmas) initiated by Alys: we have already achieved 25% of our goal… Keep running team!

Next week will be our Christmas Get Together… I bet you cannot wait!

Five us took to the challenge of beautifying Woking on a dark evening with a hint of threatening rain in the air. We were even joined by a newcomer - welcome Maria!

Everyone made their own way to the task, with Susan, due to distance, and Alys, due to picking up the equipment, coming by car.

Sadly Katie and Holly couldn’t join us this week due to injury and illness, and Anne is on the other side of the pond for the rest of the month. We look forward to having you all back soon!

We gathered at our usual meeting spot by WWF, which seemed busier than normal - perhaps there was a good theatre show on? That meant there were plenty of onlookers as Adam led the group in some warm ups. We did some shoulder rolling, squats, lunges and elbows to knees!

With the litter pickers and bags distributed amongst the five of us, we set off to litter pick at Wheatsheaf Park. 3/4 of the park was very clean, which was of course great to see. We did end up hitting a few hot spots at the back of the park amongst the trees and bushes where we found bottles, cans, cups and wrappers. In the dark, it was very hard to see what was leaves and what was litter - they seemed to be disguising themselves as the other!

After a lap of the park, our bags still weren’t full enough for our liking, so with some encouragement from Alys we tackled a patch of green opposite which led into an alley full of rubbish. We certainly left it a lot better than we found it, and hopefully we made it nicer for everyone who uses it.

We sensibly disposed of the rubbish (but not before our photo opportunity) and then it was off to the pub for a well deserved drink.

An extra well done & thank you to Susan who performed yet another good deed after the task by paying for Alys’s car parking fees when she realised the cards didn’t take contactless and had only brought her phone!

We’ve not got a group run confirmed for next Wednesday yet, but in the meantime please do check out the community missions; opportunities to volunteer at parkrun and junior parkrun. We’ve also got other group runs lined up for December such as a Christmas clean-up at the food bank and a Christmas quiz at Brockhill so pop those against your diary!