19 GoodGymers ran 7.5k to help One Big Family helping the homeless charity in Victoria.

Great to have you all along this evening for a fun filled Wednesday run in Westminster!

Weaving a steady 3.5 route South through the bustle of Central London life down to the Ebury Estate in Victoria.

Meeting Mike who set us up with our job for the evening. With more and more being asked of the small Charity, resources are coming in and going out at a crazy rate!

All the clothing we sorted 4 short weeks ago that filled a storage shed have been donated to Westminster’s homeless and vulnerable. It was time for the next influx on donations to come in. But before we could do that space was needed!!

With a flat on the Estate being vacated on Saturday the contents are being donated to the charity so they can give to needing individuals and families.

We had to play Tetris wars cramming 3 storage sheds into 2! Piling boxes and boxes of nappies, bedding, tables and anything else needed while separating the baby food out to be taken to a family day centre on Friday.

35 minutes flashed by and we had successfully completed the task! Allowing vital help to be given in terms of donations to Westminster’s most in need. And clearing the decks so that the now 4 times a week Homeless food run in Victoria to take place smoothly.

Adding a bit of pace into the run on the way back we zipped up to Buckingham Palace before summoning our efforts for speedy dash up the Green Park drag!

Thanks for all your hard work, see you next week for our trip to the Canal and River Trust to maintain our adopted piece of Little Venice Canal.

Have a great week!

Joel

14 Westminster GoodGymers ran over 7k to help One Big Family Homeless charity prepare the food for the weekly soup kitchen and organise the charities storage after a flood.

A Day lite task!!!! First one of those for ages!!!

Welcome to our GoodGym first timers for their maiden run with the crew!!

A Westminster favourite this week with our monthly visit to One Big Family Homeless Charity in Victoria. One Big Family support many of Westminsters Homeless community throughout the year and every Wednesday provide a Evening meal to those in need while also distributing vital supplies.

With everyone on top form and an extra bounce in our stride we powered our way South this week with a strong pace. Rounding the Corner of Ebury Estate in no time have got a nice sweat on!

After a quick hand wash we got down to business bagging the pastries and making the sandwiches for the evening. A Tune or Jam option this evening while Doughnuts were the main stay for desert!

With only 5 loads of bread and about 125 patties for the evening to sort out we were done in 20 minutes!

With some time to help we came to the aim of the store room flood disaster!! After some squatters had messed about with the boiler the store room had flooded damaging some of the charity’s supplies. So we removed the last of them and reordered everything so things were in easy reach and the community Centre was still useable.

With everything ship shape we powered our way back throwing in 5 long bursts of speed to push our running fitness!! Even throwing in a cheeky hill at the end for fun!!

All back at base stretched out by 8 with a lot of Good under our belts!!

Great job Team!!

Be great to have you along for our Easter/Chocolate Homeless Food Run next week!! All donations are massively well received and help to make for a great evening!!

Smooth Running

Joel

11 Westminster GoodGymers ran 6k to help Open Age charity clean their kitchen in preparation for the Summer Sunday lunch season.

Easter week in Central London had a very different feel to it! Day light and not crazy busy with foot traffic. Making the most of this we were able to really zip down South on our 3k run towards Pimlico.

Reaching the Open Age Community centre in good time we were able to burst straight into life as Melissa from Open Age had been super prepared and had laid out post it notes with all the jobs that needed completing.

Open Age really wanted the centre looking in prime condition with everything in order as this Sunday is the first week of the community Sunday Lunches. The lunches are where predominantly isolated over 55’s in the local community can come together to share a social meal which is warm, healthy and nutritious with great company.

Washing hundreds of mugs and cups, cleaning hobs and the oven as well as wiping down tables, tidying up and of course re attaching the kitchen door!!

A mountain of odd jobs completed with a smile in 30 efficient minutes!!

With 12 glorious minutes available we squeezed in some strength developing combination circuits to really test our fitness!! Great to hear and see everyone working so hard to complete each circuit series!

Having worked so hard we took a calm 3k run back to base with a super productive session session under our belts!!

Hope to see you all next week for our visit to One Big Family Homeless Charity to make the food for the weekly soup kitchen.

Don’t forget the April bonus Monday Lunch fitness sessions at 1pm at Westminster Pier!!

Have a great week

Smooth Running

Joel

10 Westminster GoodGymers tan 8k to make the beds for the final Homeless Shelter of the Winter at the American Church.

With Spring (and rain) in the air we were greeted with daylight to start and nearly finish the session this evening!! Welcoming everyone along with a special shout out to GG first timer Teddy.

Flipping the script somewhat we decided to dominate most of our running early doors and headed off to Regents Park to tackle the famous Outer Circle!! 20 minutes of Foot to the floor running around the Royal Park had us all (mainly Paul) in a spin! Everyone really working hard to maintain their strong Tempo!

With sweat dripping we trotted over to the American Church to make the beds. Great to see on the last night only 6 beds were needed as the vast majority of the service users have now found more permanent accommodation!

Quick as a flash the beds were made and there was even time to have a little play with the Church cat.

With an action packed session we took the direct route back to base where we stretched out and headed home with a top session in the books!!

Next week we are off to Open Age Community Centre in Pimlico where we will be cleaning the kitchen in preparation for the Charities amazing Sunday Lunches to return through the Spring and Summer!!

Also a keep a look out for a Lunch time GoodGym Running Club on Monday’s in April starting on the 9th meeting at Westminster Pier at 1pm.

Have a great week

Smooth Running

Joel