As one member put it, we were blessed with a "royal visit" tonight. The usual suspects were joined by a couple of guests from Goodgym HQ. Alex had been in Leicester fotr meetings with the city council to try to up the ante with mission referrals with various agencies, and his new colleague Liv on only her second day in the job got to experience the delights of Leicester.

It was sods law that Mel wasnt around at the start tonight as Liv was looking to walk - she is only just about to embark on a C25K programme - so in the time honoured fashion of Jimmy being our member most supportive of new starters, he agreed to do the honours with a short walk to the task.

The runners went on what Alex described as a spaghetti route where he had no idea where he had been, but as a born and bred southerner from the south east of the country and therefore "obviously" a confirmed Manchester United fan we did make sure that he paid homage to the home of the mighty foxes as we looked across the river to the King Power in its full glory.

I had been down to Perfectly Edible to collect the key earlier on and this time made sure it actually opened the lock to the store cupboard so when the runners arrived Jim and Liv had already made it and Mel had driven to task and we were ready to go.

Our task master was a bit vague on what she wanted done so we set about clearing out the 3 planting beds, apparently they want to grow some herbs out there to supplement to food they provide from the kitchens.

Tools and other equipment were somewhat limited but we made best of it and under the lights of several torches got the job done. The weather was kind for a January night, the afternoons rain had finally stopped and the forecasters had promised double digit temperatures all night so at least we stayed warm and dry while we worked and talked.

For the route back to the fitness activity Jeanette took over walking duties and left a few minutes early leaving the rest to pack away the tools and lock up.

It was off to the areas only "hill" at Upperton Rd. Jess peeled off and bid us farewell at Braunstone gate leaving Jim, Sharon and Alex to chat further as we had a steady jog along Midland Road.

Time had flown so it was a very short up and down hill technique session, it was great to see that even Liv gave it a go.

In the spirit of inclusiveness we led Liv lead us back to base at power walk pace and we arrived back just about on time for some structured stretching before departing for our respective homes.

Scope next week - another week with me leading then Huw will be back from South Africa no doubt with tales of an historic England win and he can tell us how many of the drinks in the picture were for him!!!!

Nine runners ran 5km to help Perfectly Edible UK

Our first run for a while completely in darkness has come around at last! Where did the summer go? Tonight we welcomed Jessica to her first group run, thanks for joining us Jess, we hope to see you again soon! We shared news of another half marathon for Stu who is piling up the miles lately, Mel and Huw's puddle jumping trip to Worksop and other wet parkruns for our gang.

A pleasant loop through Rally Park along Fosse Road North and down Hinckley Road took us to our destination bang on time where we were met by Gemma from Perfectly Edible. After she talked us through the amazing work they do rescuing food for those who need it most she set us to work outside. We cleared leaves, weeds and litter from the car park, planters and borders in swift time, completely filling the huge industrial bin that had only been emptied in the morning. Gemma was a little concerned that she'd have no room for their usual waste disposals until the next collection - never fear, GG debutant Jess had the bright idea to save the day and got a leg up to jump in the bin and stamp it down. Problem solved!

An impressive amount of work complete by everyone but there is definitely scope for a return visit to properly turn over the planters and clear a few more weeds, hopefully we can arrange something soon!

On the way back we were treated to a guest fitness session from Dave with some hill work on Upperton Road and some great advice on technique to avoid injury and maximise our speed when hammering it down hills!

Back at base, we stretched off, congratulating Jess on her first group run, Lisette on a successful interview today and presented Jen with her 50 good deeds medal.

Brilliant work tonight everyone, see you next week for some leafleting on behalf of Menphys.

Happy running, HD

Nine runners ran 2km to help clean up the kitchen at Perfectly Edible UK

Setting off for a GoodGym run in the daylight, what an absolute delight! And it was a good job we had a little daylight to run in as we had a pre-task task to complete en route to Perfectly Edible. Next week GoodGym will be launching their 49th and 50th area as Coventry and Solihull join the good-deed party! Two new Midlands events so perhaps an opportunity to go on a little GoodGym tour one week for us, particularly with Solihull running on a different night of the week to us. To mark the half century GoodGym HQ asked each area to come up with a photo displaying their own GoodGym launch number with Leicester being number 36 of the 50 to begin. Several ideas were thrown around including using sparklers, climbing walls and running shoes to create the 36. The Snutch's came up with the marvellous idea of turning ourselves into the shapes of the roman numeral XXXVI. To add a little flavour of Leicester to the snap we scooted over to Kate Street where the wonderful mural marking Leicester City's title triumph proudly sits and we used this as the backdrop for our XXXVI display.

Photoshoot complete, we completed the short journey over to the West End Neighbourhood Centre to help out Perfectly Edible UK (formerly The Real Junk Food Project.) Perfectly Edible's mission is to rescue and redistribute food that would otherwise go to waste to people who need it most. Their projects include cafe events where you can dine on a three course meal for £3 and a pay what you can afford market stall. Today they had been catering for the Adult Learner Awards and needed a little help getting the kitchen sorted afterwards and we were only too happy to help!

The GoodGym team got stuck straight in, washing up, cleaning down surfaces, giving the oven a thorough clean and mopping and hoovering the floor. Before we knew it the kitchen was gleaming and good to go for Perfectly Edible's next event.

We then found a quiet (ish) cul de sac to do some quick drills and sprints before an extended loop around the block on our run back to base.

I'm off to create our newly requested complaints/feedback hotline where anticipated moans and groans will include:

• the weather
• cleaning tasks being too dirty
• Huw not doing enough work during the task
• find appropriate areas for fitness sessions

A premium rate phoneline will soon be installed to field all constructive feedback with profits going to good causes in the local area!

Don't forget our Braunstone parkrun volunteering this Saturday, good-deeding galore, you can pick up a parkrun run credit, parkrun volunteer credit and GoodGym community mission credit all in one morning!

Great work tonight everyone.

HD GoodGym XXXVI

Tonights run commenced with something of a reverent start.

With our start point being so close to the King Power Stadium I felt that it would be a nice thing to do to jog the mile down there to pay our respects to those who tragically lost their lives in the terrible accident last weekend.

We were not alone.

Literally thousands of people had the same idea. I gave the runners a few minutes to view the tributes and pay their own respects. A sobering experience for sure but the outpouring of respect from the people of Leicester and indeed from all around the world is nothing short of amazing.

Respects paid we ran back to The Real Junk Food Project.

Rachel had been held up at work so cycled direct and Mel to was already there. There wasnt too much in the way of tidying this time but the floors certainly needed some attention. Sharon found a particularly grimy corner and set about attacking it with whatever she could find. In the end she resorted to knife to scrape off the offending grease.

Irene was on sweeping duty. In a quest to extend her knowledge of English culture she asked me what the item she was using was actually called. Possibly a mistake to ask a bloke to name a household cleaning item but I did my best.... well its a sort of upright dustpan and brush but I called it a collector, probably not what its called but its used for collecting sweepings.

We also had a laugh about the mouldy grapes with much speculation as to why they were still around and had not been thrown away.

We did our best, gave everyting a good wipe down and swept and mopped the floors.

It was then off to a nearby quiet road for a bit of drill work. Hign Knees, A skips and then hopscotch!

Frank amused us all with his rendition of "bring me sunshine" as he A skipped down the road. Not quite sure I recognised the tune that accompanied the straight leg fast feet drill.

Hopscotch sorted out the range of abilities - Lindsay is obviously expert, I am hopeless and Sharon said she would be fine next time provided she can bring some chalk to mark out the court.!!

With the mercury rapidly falling towards a very low number we returned to base for a final briefing before next week.

Anyone scared of heights said he! - no, came the answer. If you want to unlock the riddle - be here next week.

Its not until I view the pictures after the group that I really appreciate how much the GoodGym Leicester team throw themselves into the task.

We were supposed to be cleaning the Kitchen at the Real Junk Food Project but taskmaster Anna had texted ahead to say that the outside was looking a bit of a mess and would we mind doing a bit of a tidy up = of course not, youre the boss!

I had placed an attendance limit on this run due to the limited space on task and for the first time ever TWO runners got the "full up" message. Thankfully, both were keen enough to contact me to ask if they could still come and how could I refuse - the limit was only arbitrary and in the end we werent tripping over each other so no one missed out.

The pictures, again expertly captured by Mel, tell the story much better than any words can, but with the kitchen cleaner than expected to start off with, the team used initiative to find stuff that needed doing.

The litter bag count was huge and at the close Frank announced that the site was now "completely litter free"

Stu and Lindsay set about cleaning external windows. Jen Jim and Amber set to with some impromptu weeding whilst Nic P and Michaela settled for a good old natter in the kitchen whilst making a cracking job of cleaning the sinks. Mr Mop aka Jim saw to it that the floor was left spotless and when it was time to pack up I was literally having to confiscate equipment - its clearly addictive this "making a difference" mallarkey.

Once again Mel had brought some refreshments -oranges (for half time!), juice, and some cookies - and not a single one was left. Refreshed we were ready to head off to Fosse Rec for a bit of outdoor gym work. The place was packed, the local youth using the sit up machine as a park bench so we had to give that a miss. Everyone managed to find something to work out on - the rowing thingummy was a bit of a challenge though!

Arriving back at base we were met by Nic M who had been kept late at work but still found time to don the T shirt, go for a run and come down and see us.

I will be sailing my dinghy all next week in Tenby so Lindsay takes the reigns again - see you all in a couple of weeks.

Phew it was hot out there today! But not complaining, not after the winter we have had, its good to see a little sunshine. That said, the opportunity to work in the shade was most welcome.

The Real Junk Food Project was a late change to our group run schedule due to an unexpected cancellation, but our task owner for tonight Anna was more than happy to see us.

We were joined on tonights run by Andy Trigg from Radio Leicester. Andy is a runner himself and recently completed the Virgin London Marathon in around 4hours 40 mins (hope I remembered that right Andy) - a marathon is a marathon whatever the time so big respect to Andy for doing it.

Andy was recording a feature to be broadcast later this week - he interviewed me at length and also spoke to runners - I hope you had the odd good word for your trainer!!! - he also spoke with task owner Anna to get her take on what GoodGym does - I look forward to hearing what gets put together.

A dozen showed up and we set off for Bede park for a quick warm up on the steps - ankle strength was tonights focus. An easy jog via Upperton Rd even taking in another set of steps just for the heck of it.

We arrived at TRJFP at about 6:20 and Anna gave us the brief - general tidying and cleaning in the kitchen. Me Mel and Lee went to the cleaning store to get some water in the mop buckets closely followed by Andy getting soundbites of work in progress and our conversation about the colour coding of the mops and just how much Flash does one tip into the bucket.

In the time it took to fill the buckets the group got busy. Hobs were being cleaned, floors being swept, walls being wiped down - all sorts of industry. Thats what I love about this group, everyone just gets on with something useful.

As usual Mel buzzed around taking snaps while Andy did some more interviewing - I was out of earshot when Anna was interviewed but I understand she had some nice things to say about us. She is very keen to have us back in July so I think that speaks volumes.

Time flew and it was soon time to go so with Thanks and Goodbyes said and all equipment neatly put away it was over to Jim to lead us to Fosse Recreation Ground. It was Jims suggestion to check this out and I was happy to oblige. I had intended Bede Park but on the run through earlier the crowds there resembled a small rock concert so we were grateful for somewhere a bit quieter.

Good call Jimmy.... he has actually found us a decent hill! Methinks we shall be using that park more often. However tonights focus was ankle strength so we found a flat bit and went through a series of exercises. Standing on one leg not only strengthens the ankle but works all the little fixater muscles you need to balance. Its one you can do almost any time... washing up, cleaning your teeth, waiting in a queue etc.

we rounded off the session with a perimeter jog and a hill sprint - well, it would have been rude not to use it!

Gentle jog back, stretches, goodbyes said and all home for dinner - see you next week at the Lohana Centre.