We rendezvoused at our usual spot, Erin concerned her legs might not work after spin class but they ended up doing good, and most of us had a light jog down the highstreet to Meadow View Cottage (not Rich who got competitive with the local youth and took off in a sprint).

Sallyann joined us there armed with her trusty gloves and we divided into two groups to tackle some light weeding at the carpark and small jungle clearance at the back of the garden.

David enjoyed making hoe jokes - but not when Laurie was in earshot. We found out poor Martin can't eat chocolate, distracts himself with courgettes and cheese.

The Peaceful Garden was full of anarchy as Joel and Richard showed us what could be done with the power of love pure rage. Richard especially wasn't going to call it quits until every last stalk had been hacked down.

Good luck to Meadow View on their open day on Wednesday! Hope the weather holds out for you and thank you for inviting the Goodgymers.

Have a great week, enjoy parkruns and pizza until next time.

We all welcomed Elliott for his first GoodGym session, and also had the exciting news of Richard E getting a ballot place for the 2025 London Marathon, and Andy's perfect parkrun heel click at the weekend.

Thankfully on such a warm evening our task was only around a mile away, so we took the most direct route and were shown to our task of clearing a couple of large beds ready for some new plants.

I did mention in the briefing at the start that everyone should try to avoid hitting each other with tools and vegetation, but Andy clearly took no notice and channeled his inner David, throwing plants at the waste bags with such force that he nearly took Sallyann out. Angela also made a cameo appearance on her way elsewhere, clearing a few plants and posing for a photo.

In usual GoodGym style, the group made light work of the task, turning the beds from overgrown to completely bare, and filling three big bags with plants.

We'll be back at Meadow View Cottage in August, helping to get everything ready for their open day.

See you all soon!

Laurie

Maybe it was the good weather, or maybe we were all excited to hear from Ben about his trip to South America, but for whatever reason, turnout for garden clearing at Meadow View Cottage last night was huge.

We welcomed new member Daniel on his first Good Deed ever and it was a 10/10 performance from the newcomer. He’s apparently an avid pub quizzer and even brought his own gardening gloves – what a pro.

Ben was fresh from his South American hikes and Rich was fresh from a week of intense hayfever, so obviously they decided to race each other. If the Olympics are short of stunning visual backdrops, then a sprint on the downhill bit of Chelmsford’s flyover towards Aldi is what they need. By the time the rest of us arrived – via Andy-style attempts at jumps for the camera – Ben had his breath back and Rich had invented lots of excuses for why he lost.

Sometimes when you’re asked to clear a path, you have to ask where it is first. That’s the kind of weed-filled thorny jungle we faced. But with gloves, secateurs and some aggressive trowel work, you wouldn’t be-leaf how quickly we filled the waste bags. Too quickly, actually – so, proper GoodGym style, someone had to jump in and stamp it all down. While we’re talking feet – socks. By some happy accident, the sock game from Ben (odd polka dots), Dave (armadillos, apparently) and Rich (mate, why are they so long?!) was INCREDIBLE. They’ve probably got a secret group chat to coordinate this kind of thing.

By the time weed packed up (see what I did there?) there were three bags of cuttings to move. After the run there and the squats to pull up weeds, it was upper body workout time as we lifted or dragged them into the front garden for disposal.

In case that makes us sound like we do fitness – tonight is the beer festival and with Daniel on our side, maybe we can return to the top spot in August’s pub quiz… Until then, run happy!

Joe

Two goodgymers ran, two goodgymers walked and one arrived late to do gardening for Hearing Help Essex and meet MP candidate Marie Goldman.

On a warm Wednesday evening we set off down the Moulsham Mill to pick up where we left off last week and get stuck into the weeds in the garden. It was just me and Laurie who ran down so that definitely counts as a date night, right?

We met Nick there who told us what to do while he mowed the lawn and lopped some trees and we grabbed some bags to get stuck in.

We have contacted all candidates for Chelmsford MP at the upcoming election to see if they wanted to see some of the work we do in the local community and to talk about local and wider issues which are impacting us all. Marie is the Liberal Democrat candidate and it was good to demonstrate what sort of tasks we do around Chelmsford and ask some questions about policies. Very nice to meet her. Please do vote, whichever way it may be, as it is incredibly important to have your voice heard. We will keep everyone posted if any more come along.

Saeed was an absolute machine it came to tidying up, great work. While Jess showed late (good luck to her daughter at the interview!) but that didn't stop her attacking bushes, leaves and weeds with aplomb.

Sallyann led the walk back (and there) and is excited for San this Saturday! Still a couple places for 6:30 and meet there if anyone wants to go. All you can eat Chinese!

With it (apparently) being summer, tonights task was to help Hearing Help Essex with their garden by filling a skip with as much garden waste as we could.

Fay, Sallyann, Laurie and Angela had arranged to meet us at the task, leaving myself, Andy and Paul to run down from the gym.

As we chatted we were greeted by Saeed who had just signed up for his first task with us. WELCOME SAEED

We made our way down the High Street and to Hearing Help Essex's new digs behind Moulsham Mill only to find Fay had already jumped in the skip to make more space, with the rest filling it up in quick time.

Setting to work on a pile of grass, leaves, twigs and branches we moved onto sacks filled with even more garden waste and finished off by pulling more weeds out of the garden pathway.

A big thank you to all that came and a big shout out to Saeed who brought some much needed strength to the group and on his first task with us got straight into it.

See you all soon

Run Happy

Rich

p.s. We will be back at Hearing Help Essex again this coming Wednesday.