Tonight 10 amazing people helped spread festive cheer by wrapping presents on behalf of children's charity The Rainbow Trust.

Disclaimer, this is normally the part where I'd say 10 amazing RUNNERS.... however as this was a bonus festive task we may have skipped the run in favour of extra wrapping time and a short walk to the pub for our Christmas social... well tis' the season!

Amongst the festivities we had two new runners join us with couple Daniel and Catherine not hanging around with their new years resolutions and coming along for the first time this week!

Upon arrival we were met by Jodie from the charity who spoke to us about the charity and told us all about some of the families that they help. It was really moving to hear some of the stories and learn about how they support the relatives of terminally ill children and was extra motivation to get as many presents wrapped as possible for this great cause! You can learn more about all the great things they do here.

Jodie also provided us all with lovely bright Rainbow Trust t-shirts, a very welcome extra layer as it was a bit chilly where we were working in the shopping centre, I think it was most appreciated by the only runners of the evening Phill and Micheal who made up for the rest of us by running 10 and 4 miles respectively to the task!

We took it in turns to either wrap or walk around encouraging people over to the stool and it was a great feeling everytime we got someone to get something wrapped!

Everyone played a part and really got into the Christmas spirit

We had a last minute rush but once the shops had closed we packed up and headed for the pub where food and drinks awaited to celebrate a year of great tasks, good deeds and new friends!

Absolutely everyone who has come to any of the tasks this year have been amazing but there were a few awards to highlight some people who've gone above and beyond and done some pretty special stuff!

Firstly we presented Michael C with most improved runner, as well as being super committed to GoodGym turning up week in week out (even on his birthday!) AND joining the taskforce, he's also taken his parkrun time down to 22:58 which is amazing! I imagine there is more to come in 2018!

Next up was Larissa who was presented with Miss Perseverance, against the odds she's been a committed GoodGymer, walked 100km (non-stop in a day!!) and has never given up when things got tough. She's a pretty amazing person!

And last but definitely not least was Michael K with the God Like Hero Award. He's completed a ridiculous amount of good deeds in a very short amount of time, literally running all around London to help as many people as he can. Some of the things he's done and the stories from his GoodGym journey and pretty damn inspiring, if you need convincing to get on board with missions, he's your guy!

Along with their certificates they all won a coveted pair of runderwear with motivational motifs donated by our good friends at A Mile In Her Shoes!

So that's it, a wrap on 2017!

A massive thank you to everyone who's been involved with any of the tasks, your choice to turn up on a Tuesday evening and give your time and energy to help others really makes a huge difference!

Here's to more of the same in 2018, see you then!

Kind-hearted musicians the Symphonic Wind Orchestra of North London (SWON) put on another magical concert at St Martin's Church in Gospel Oak and asked for some help from GoodGym in collecting donations for children's charity The Rainbow Trust. Just over 50 guests braved the cold and the dark and were rewarded with the best of British, including Edward Elgar's A Severn Suite and Malcolm Arnold's The Padstow Lifeboat.

Mulled wine went down a treat in the interval, selling out quickly. Donations for the drinks and cookies, together with a bucket collection on the way out, raised over £230 for the charity. This will go towards helping families of very sick children when they most need the kindness of the strangers - whether it's looking after a sibling so the parents can take the other child to a hospital appointment, or providing bereavement counselling after the worst happens.

Although I was flying the GoodGym flag on my own, Rainbow Trust ambassador Dom came along to help with the collections at St Martin's Church and invited me to a rainbow-nus mission the day after, collecting donations at the Mother Maker's Rainbow Christmas Market. We sold donated handmade goods made by the talented mums, as well as delicious rainbow-coloured meringues. Over the day, we collected over £170 to add to the weekend's fundraising total.

A fabulous result for such a great cause - hopefully more GoodGymers will get involved next time!

Arriving at St Martin's Church to represent children's charity The Rainbow Trust, GoodGymers Qiao and Shona quickly donned some colourful t-shirts and were introduced to the Symphonic Wind Orchestra of North London, a group of talented musicians from East Finchley who had organised a fundraising concert on the charity's behalf. Through a mixture of advance and on-the-door sales, 80 tickets were bought and the two GoodGymers relaxed and listened to Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker.

Just before the first half ended, Qiao and Shona sprang back into action, discreetly sneaking off to the kitchen to bring out some pots of hot water and plate up some chocolatey treats. Donations before the concert had been low, but when asked to give generously for tea, coffee, wine, beer, juice and cookies, the spectators really dug deep. After a busy snacks service, the second half started and the two GoodGymers began darting back and forth as quiet as little church mice to wash up the wine glasses and bag up rubbish. All to an utterly gorgeous backdrop of songs like Feed the Birds from Mary Poppins and A Friend Like Me from Aladdin!

If anyone hadn't already kindly surrendered all their change to Qiao and Shona, they donated what was left in their pockets on the way out. At four hours, it was a longer mission than usual, but bucket donations came to approximately £303, making it a Saturday well worth spent GoodGyming. With many thanks to all the generous people of North London! A great time was had by all - the band, the guests and the volunteers.