Whoop whoop! Monsterous Mike did the double tonight with his 50th Good Deed and his first outing as run leader - and on a night where we had to run through “Murder Alley”! The unenviable job of backmarker went to Helen, and Sandy Sam led the Walkie Talkies.

Despite having a 100% success record (so far!) of us all making it out alive, it’s a brave task-force team that takes on this particular responsibility at Halloween!

A few of us had raided the dressing up box (or the rather empty!) supermarket shelves for last minute fancy dress. So fortunately we only had a short walk / run to the Baker’s Café at the Railway Village. The Baker’s has an interesting history! It was opened in the 1840s as a bakery serving the railway village workers and later a pub. It’s now run as a social enterprise – a lovely café serving yummy food and drinks to the local community. Still to come in its exciting history is the GoodGym Swindon Christmas (but not actually anywhere near Christmas!) knees up.

Hannah had a variety of tasks lined up for us – weeding and scooping up leaves outside and in the surrounding area, cleaning the floors in the café and cleaning windows. The café has a food hygiene rating of a 5 – so no pressure then!

The following account of proceedings is to be imagined in the voice of Ray Parker Junior and to the Ghostbusters soundtrack, if you will. I take no responsibility for poor grammar – that’s song lyrics for you!

If you need some help in your neighbourhood

Who you gonna call? GoodGymers!

We might seem strange

But here to do some good

Who you gonna call? GoodGymers!

We ain't afraid of no walks

We ain't afraid of no runs

If the weeds you have, are out of control

Who you gonna call? GoodGymers!

Remove without a trace

That’s our goal

Who you gonna call? GoodGymers!

We ain't afraid of no slime

We ain't afraid of no slugs (well maybe just a little bit!)

Who you gonna call? GoodGymers!

Windows need a shine?

That task is mine!

So call GoodGymers

We ain't afraid of no mops

We hear the floor needs a clean

We ain't afraid of no brooms

(high pitched for this bit!) Yeah yeah yeah yeah

Who ya gonna call? GoodGymers!

If you need good deeds near a freaky “Murder Alley”

You better call, GoodGymers!

Lemme tell ya something, GoodGyming makes us feel good

We ain't afraid of murders

We ain't afraid of alleys

Who ya gonna call? GoodGymers

I can't hear you

Who ya gonna call? GoodGymers!

Louder...

GoodGymers!

We had a quick huddle at the end for a prize giving for costumes. Rosettes were awarded to Hocus Pocus Kirsty for best overall costume, Devilish Charles for Scariest Costume, and Puffy Pumpkin Tracey for Cutest Costume.

On the way back we all made it through Murder Alley, without event. Except for Safety First Simon being heard to say “stop pinging my bra strap!” We would have stopped to enquire why he was wearing a bra and who was pinging it but we all know loitering would have led to imminent death so we pretended we hadn’t heard and carried on running!

All done with our Tricks, we headed back into base for coffee and Treats!

Next week’s task is a very special one! We will be running approximately 9km in total to Prince Rupert Court in Freshbrook and back, to play Just Bowl, socialise and eat cake (!) with our friends there, including the wonderful Betty from Margaret Matthews Court. We have been to Prince Rupert Court before; in March and June, to do some gardening, and the residents enjoyed our company so much, they have asked us to go back! The residents, who are 55+ years and have physical disabilities, can often go for long periods of time without friends or family visiting, and so really do appreciate our visits and the company that we provide. Be sure to sign up here