Tonight... eight extraordinary GoodGymmers ran eight hundred metres to help local charity BIADS, joined by 98 year-old gardener Jack and the Mayor of Barnsley!

Let there be light!!

Tonight we met full of beans and ready for our first proper gardening task of 2019 - heading off to help a new connection locally and meet our mayor! Oh and did I mention, it was light and stayed light for the whole evening, yipeeee! What a difference a bit of sunlight makes!

So tonight we ran a teeny-tiny half a mile to get to our task, which was to a local charity called BIADS. Barnsley Independent Alzheimers and Dementia Support (BIADS) is an organisation formed to provide support to those who have any form of dementia and their families and friends. They host activity groups, singing groups and have befrienders in the community to support those in need. The charity's building which is used for all their activities etc has a lovely garden attached, that was in need of a little brightening up ready for the summer - that's where we came in!

We arrived and were greeted by Janet, who introduced us to the two volunteer gardeners and explained the task for the evening. One of the gardeners was 98 year old Jack, who loves gardening so much, that he comes out with his zimmer frame to do as much as he can - very inspiring! We were also joined by the mayor of Barnsley,Steve Green. He had found out about GoodGym Barnsley from one of the local organisations we have helped, who sang our praises and recommended he get in touch. He thought it was fantastic what we do and wanted to attend one of our tasks to see what we do. He was very smartly dressed in his blue suit, patent blue cowboy boots and goldie-lookin chain/necklace, not really gardening gear, so he was happy to watch!

If you do go running, you might want to take off your 'necklace' as it will smack you in the face when it bounces - Mairead

The group quickly got stuck in, planting a variety of colourful flowers around the borders and in the plant pots provided. Gardener Jack project managed the group from his zimmer frame, instructing them where to put the flowers/colours etc. Once finished the garden was full of colour, job well done!

After a few words from the mayor, showing his appreciation for what we do and how proud he was of all volunteers in Barnsley, we headed off for an extra long fitness session - excitement was in the air!

We started with a lovely Strava segment named Derby Dash - a 200m slightly downhill stretch - I asked the group to focus speed down one side of the road and recovery along the next. Great effort from all, especially the three super speedys Clair, Jason and James! We then took an extra loop around the block and made our way to a local park, where we did a quick group exercise focussing on changing speed whilst thinking consciously about posture and running style. There was some good chat around this, with the main point taken from it to be more aware and conscious of what your body is doing whilst you run.

We finished with the fantastic Fitzwilliam hill, stretched and said our goodbyes - great night as always gang! See you next week for graffiti clean up in Worsborough!

Things to shout about:

• Sharon got her black t-shirt for her 50 good deeds and was wearing it with pride tonight
• Rachael reached 15 good deeds with GoodGym - woop woop!
• James beasted the Strava segment and now holds the 2nd place trophy!