To Infinity and Beyond!

That's how it felt tonight! This is a task we have done at the Nuns Moor Centre a few times before ... but that was pre-pandemic, on group runs, with about twenty GoodGymers. Tonight there were three of us!

This is the perfect time to panic!

Fortunately, our lovely task owner Alyson had brought some friends, Mariel, Sue and Anne. With Krishti, Aimee and I we all got straight to work. The task is simple - empty the cupboard, clean the toys, put the toys back in the cupboard. Alyson organised us all excellently so we definitely didn't hear anyone saying

Don't tell me what to do!

We weren't at all sure if we'd get everything done.

Well then, let's find out together!

Did I hear someone ask

Are we gonna do this all night?

Of course, we should have had faith! I mean, this is GoodGym! Admittedly it took a little longer than the allotted time but it was very satisfying to see the beautifully organised cupboard, full of clean toys ... and a very large pile of used antiseptic wipes!

I knew you were right all along, never doubted you for a second!

Great team work and a job well done!
(P.s. congratulations to Krishti on achieving ten tasks and joining the Task Force!

It was busy in the Nunsmoor area of Newcastle this morning. Dan and I initially strayed into the Armed Forces Day event on Nunsmoor itself before realising we were in the wrong place! We soldiered on and made our way into the Nunsmoor Community Centre where they were holding their Community Day. The centre supports children, young people and families by advancing education, protecting and preserving health, and relieving the effects of poverty. It’s a while since GoodGym has helped there so it was lovely to be back helping to prepare for the day. We started by moving tables out for each of the community groups to use. It was a bit of a challenge taping paper table cloths down in the wind! It was great to see the list of groups joining the day, some of whom we have completed missions with - a great example of how GoodGym works right across the community. Our next task was to brighten the space by hanging up lots of coloured bunting - fortunately Dan was just about tall enough! I think you can see from the photos the difference the bunting made.

Meanwhile, across the road Lucy joined in with Nunsmoor park’s regular volunteer session. This is one of GoodGym Newcastle’s favourite places to be on a Saturday morning and Lucy put in a great weeding shift! She was then invited to have a go at silk aerial yoga and spent some time hanging upside down in a tree - sounds like brilliant fun!

All in all a very productive Saturday morning. We hope you enjoyed yours too!

Oh gosh, everyone looks freezing!

It was our bonus January run today and not only did 8 hardy GoodGymers enhance their Saturday by coming along to lend a hand at Nunsmoor Centre, three of them had done the double by completing a Freezing cold morning mission just an hour before!

Kudos

It was so lovely to see everyone in daylight and have a quick catch up on where we are with the January Challenge before presenting Tom with the Geordie cloak of Good Deeds in recognition of 50 (51 now!) good deeds with GoodGym. Well done Tom you make us all laugh and we are always inspired by your very physical dedication to tasks! Tom had the glorious opportunity of running through central Newcastle in daylight and on match day in the cloak for everyone to enjoy.

Our bonus group run today was back at one of our favourite places, Nunsmoor Centre which is a thriving community hub just 2K away from our base- perfect! We love helping the team there to do a few jobs that there regular volunteers don't always have the time to do. Today was one of our favourite tasks too as we were cleaning out the toy cupboard. You know what that means? PLAY TIME.

I have been so excited that you were coming today- I have heard so much about you!

Our job was to empty the toy cupboard, clean the shelves, sort and clean the boxes of toys, and put everything back tidily ready for the familes and groups attending on Monday to access. I think they will get a nice surprise when they get back!

The best part of today was that we had access to the community hall for our fitness session too meaning we had a rare relaxing (ish) fitness session filled with stretching, lying on the floor and a few ab exercises for good measure. If only we had somewhere warm and dry for this every week- it was such a great change.

We are back on Monday for our return to Newcastle University and don't forget the bunch of brilliant community missions going on for the rest of this month.

Hope to see you along at GoodGym Newcastle very soon.

Anji x

One lone runner braved the elements (a bit of frost) to support at Nunsmoor Park's monthly Volunteers' Day.

Due to the icy conditions, it was clear what needed to be done: sweep up the leaves from the paths so that it wouldn't get slippery when the frost settled.

It didn't take too long to have the area looking much better and now it will be safer for the community to enjoy the park in any weather.

We will return to Nunsmoor in the new year (as the volunteer day is not running in December). In the meantime you can get involved in our work at Harbottle Park tomorrow, or our group run at Newcastle Eagles on Monday!

It was another successful visit to Nunsmoor Park for their monthly volunteer's day.

'The Regs' were out in force - myself, Andrew, Charlotte, Miranda and Aimee (425 good deeds between us!) It's always such a great task with organised and thankful owners, plus tea and biscuits afterwards, so it would be great to have some new runners join us next time!

This month, our tasks were to weed the flower bed near the park entrance, tidy up the edging of the paths, and plant some bulbs ready to pop up in spring. Charlotte took on the edging while we all weeded and planted.

"Lots of plants planted, as well as 100 tulip bulbs, in the beds in the fenced area at the entrance by Brighton Grove corner, so that area will be fabulous in the Spring. Lots of path edging done to try and alleviate the very boggy and often flooded area near the old bandstand area. So...big THANKS" - Jill , Friends of Nunsmoor

The whole area was looking very tidy by the time we'd finished and though our fingers were numb, it had been a very worthwhile job!

Tonight we missed our regular GoodGym Queen of Drills, Anji, and King of Maps, Paul, who are sunning it up in Menorca (yet still trying to get in some good deeds and fitness sessions - check out the pictures!) Thankfully, the wonderful * ahem * talents of Queen of Squats, Katy, could be called upon to save the night!

Tonight, we welcomed a fantastic four new runners for our return run to the Nunsmoor Centre.

Welcome to the family Holly, James, Leigh and Lydia!

The weekend had also been filled with fabulous antics to catch up on for regular runners. A ghetto golf social on Friday night and two fabulous missions on Saturday and Sunday, with the later being our biggest Community Mission turnout yet! Shout out to those who did the double, and especially to those who made it to Saturday's mission after Friday's night out...

I definitely just lay on the sofa all day... Someone came with sunglasses and donuts...

Sending off the walkers and before taking the delightful jog up the hill ourselves, we enjoyed a new warm up game of 'body parts'. The aim was to get together with that number of body parts when they were called out...10 fingers, 5 knees, etc. This definitely tested peoples times table and addition skills more than expected. It reminds me that someone said they couldn't do maths when they run - may there's a study in there somewhere?

We arrived at the Nunsmoor Centre in good time and got to the task:

• Taking items out of the cupboard and sorting them into groups

• Repacking and cleaning items

• Putting items neatly back into the cupboard to make things more accessible

• Generally trying not to play with items and just putting them back properly...

With 25 super-focused volunteers we made quick work of it, and this left us plenty of time for the spectacular new game that Ross and I dreamed up. In pairs or threes, groups ran to collect a playing card. The suit dictated the exercise (burpees, squats, lunges and star jumps) and the number was the amount of reps. Then - the exciting part, as it was diversity week, there were rainbow stripes to be awarded to the winning group. I have never seen people race that quickly towards some playing cards scattered across the floor...

In the end, Andrew, Richard and Fai were victorious with 55 reps (lucky card picks I think as well as speedy exercises!) and I realised that next time I'll have to bring a few more packs given how quickly you all raced through them! Nevertheless, everyone seemed pleased with the news that they would all get an extra 5 minutes in the park as a reward - the neon photos on the equipment are pretty cool!

Hearts burning and hi-vis reflecting like diamonds, our wonderful club of happy helpers spade their way back down the hill.

There are lots of community missions going on before our next Group Run: Thursday for the Red Cross, Saturday at St Lawrence, Saturday at Nunsmoor and Sunday at the City Stadium.

Well done again everyone and thank you for a great night! You all make it such a friendly atmosphere and it's great to be part of GoodGym Newcastle!

Happy running,

Katy