GoodGym Edinburgh spent a full day at Scotland’s largest Volunteer Recruitment Fair, running a stall from 10am to 5.30pm at P’s and G’s Church to introduce hundreds of Edinburgh residents to the idea of getting active while doing good.

We are Scotland’s first GoodGym group, this was our first major public event and it was a corker, lots of people keen to get involved and many folk having spotted our feature in Monday's Edinburgh Minute! https://www.edinburghminute.com/the-edinburgh-minute-monday-31-august-2026/

At our stall we had GoodGym posters, QR codes for people to sign up or follow us on social and printed out reports from our last 3 weeks of Group Runs. We were right at the back of the hall but still managed to draw in lots of interest from a wide range of ages, interests and backgrounds.

Huge shout out to Kate, Suzanne and Lucia for coming down at different times of the day to welcome people to the stall, answer questions and share stories about how fantastic GoodGym is. It added a lot to have stories from each of your previous GoodGym experience with groups in different parts of the country!

By the end of the afternoon, we had spoken to over 110 people, with the vast majority showing genuine interest and support.

A big thank you to the Volunteer Edinburgh team for putting on a fantastic event and supporting GoodGym Edinburgh as we find our feet and try to reach more people to get involved in our activities.

After the event we wen't straight into that evening's Group Run - report linked here: https://www.goodgym.org/v3/reports/a-fair-amount-of-cleaning-at-the-volunteer-fair

9 Brent badasses braved the cold, for a task they were told, would bring some positivity to the Brent community.

Now to begin this tale of a Monday night in Brent, to say it was cold would be an understatement.... My people, it was FREEEEEEZZZZZIINNNGGGG

But despite the chill in air, it was awesome to be met with such a warm reception at the Queensbury. Joining the rad regulars, was new to the Brent gang, Jorge and this four language speaking, salsa dancing, winner from Wembley, we sure were happy to have join the ranks!

So after a quick hello it was 3,2,1 GOOOO Down the one mile dash to our regular task master Colin and to finish our mural of all the Goodgym hardwork in the Old Police Station, turned art hub, for the community of Willesden.

As usual Colin had lots of work to be done. but namely the continuation of our Goodgym mural, which required sketches of Goodgym related scenes, the hard work and the hilarity. So it was down to our most arty threesome to get working on that.... Liz, Nisha and Saorla, who designed and sketched our scenes onto the wall.

The rest of the gang focused on some more manual labour; shifting debrit from the last few rooms that needed painting and moving very heavy bricks and debrit outside to clear more space for artist's to work.

The really tough and strong tasks were tackled by Debs, Pete and Jorge. Who worked tirelessly and in the cold too, slinging heavy loads into Colin's van for removal. Dinesh, Nisha and I, got busy inside, moving all kinds of heavy and interesting things from one room to the next; Including a full desk and draws and some extremely heavy storage boxes.

Our efforts of course cheered on as usual by the resident cats who thought our hard work was PUUURRRRfect

After a good 45 mins of arts and slinging crafts, I had to sadly ring the final bell. But the fun didn't stop there, oh nooo!!! There was just enough time for some Hill-arity to warm up and get our fitness on, before home.

So off we flew, chugging that hill in the old school train drill, followed by tempos down to finish!! No stopping the steam from this troop of train dodgers, as each one pushed hard for a HIIT session from hell.... no wait, I mean heaven!

Farewells were next, after we'd done our best. For Brent we did task, for a worthy cause who did ask. Using our legs to travel, then hills we did battle. Now back home for some dinner, Monday night, what a winner!!

See you next time!!!

Ms C needed the leaves raked up and the higher beds weeded. She has thought of having us mow the lawn as well, but decided it was too wet. Her garden was in very good order otherwise. We raked and swept the leaves, weeded out and turned over the beds, and pulled up the moss out of the rose plants, making things just that bit tidier and getting at the harder to reach spots. We finished in just about an hour and Ms C seemed pleased and said she was very grateful for the help. Unfortunately we both forgot to take any photos during the mission, so the attached photo is of the beautiful blue skies we had today.