Wednesday evening saw a slightly earlier than usual GoodGym mission to Hearing Help Essex, Meadow View Cottage. The earlier start was carefully planned to accommodate what we all hoped would be a memorable World Cup football evening. Sadly, some hopes and dreams were left lying on the pitch later that night.

We gathered at 6pm, ready for what could only be described as an epic endurance challenge. By "epic endurance challenge", I of course mean a gentle jog run in the heat. There were three runners taking on the journey: Andy, Rich and myself.

This was my first outing as Run Leader, with Rich acting as my mentor throughout the evening. Think Obi-Wan guiding a slightly confused Luke Skywalker, only with fewer lightsabres and considerably more conversations about football.

We discussed Andy’s football gathering (or "gav" if you're still young enough to know what that means), where apparently gourmet pizzas were being offered to the Good Gym lads. Meanwhile, Rich shared tales of a non-refundable wedding booking from several years ago along with his and Jane’s upcoming vows in a few weeks.

We got stuck into tackling the ever-ambitious weeds in the garden. Armed with determination, gardening gloves and varying levels of horticultural expertise, we made a real difference to the space. There was some discussion on whether they were weeds or a plants.

There was certainly hard work involved, although any references to blood, sweat and tears are probably attributed to events later in the evening involving football rather than gardening.

Poor Sallyann did not get the memo about the change of time and reached us as we coming to a close, but it was lovely to see her.

After a productive session and successful community task completed, we headed home feeling pleased with our efforts and still high on hopes of bringing the World Cup home.

A thanks to Jedi Master Rich for helping this rookie Run Leader survive her first mission. The Force was definitely with us.