This week was the final pre-season visit to 61FC for a last effort to smarten up this football club's grounds and clubhouse.

After a good walk/run/bike to the Kingsway Recreation Ground we met Richard and Cliff who had several tasks for us. We cleared up the rubble behind the clubhouse and added to a pile generated by nearby work to add a new footpath to the park. Meanwhile we had a four person ladder/painting team scraping the old blue paint from the fascia boards and painting them bright white instead.

While all that was going on we also cleaned up some chalky doodles on the walls, painted some of the railings gloss blue, leveled a mound of old woodchip on the grass and had a good sweep up around the building.

So many tasks but with a strong team we got it all done in time to enjoy some strong orange squash and Quality Streets to fuel our journey back into town.

We used to think that we loved running, but tonight we weren’t sure,

And we couldn’t wait to do lunges right close to the floor.

But when we got to the hat fact’ry, right into the town,

The sun was still baking, so hot it was making us frown.

☀️

We’re walking in sunshine, 🚶🏽‍♂️woah,

Some running in sunshine, 🏃‍♂️woah,

And cycling in sunshine, 🚴woah,

And don’t it feel good?

☀️

We met with our new guys, and set off for something to do.

The runners were keen to get started but slowed down it’s true.

FC 61wanted us back for some painting

Come back any day, oh yeah yeah,

And once we had got there we happily painted away.

☀️

Woah yeah!

☀️

We’re painting in sunshine, woah,

A GoodGym team of nine, woah,

We’re starting to feel fine, woah,

And aren’t the posts good!

☀️

We did arrive, with lots of drive, the posts revived, that’s really real

We all did strive, snacks helped us thrive, we all survived, that’s really real.

☀️

Walked back without sunshine, woah,

We all had a good time, woah,

We’re cool now and won’t whine, woah,

☀️

And don’t we feel good?

😀

This week we were massively boosted in number as newbie Reza brought loads of friends along to try out their first GoodGym session!

With expected numbers doubled we had an army of people heading across town to help the 61 Football Club get their clubhouse and grounds ready for the start of the new season.

Runners arriving first got started on the first task, raking up the fresh cut grass, while later arrivals were issues with gloves and paint brushes to paint the stand walls red, then we had a team painting the posts around the pitch bright white, and finally our man Musa was given the job of blue gloss on the new railings.

With so many people going at the tasks they were getting done super quick and we could move them on to new areas to get even more good stuff done.

When our time was up the place was visibly much cleaner and brighter and Cliff and Richard were as grateful as ever, offering much welcome crisps and drinks around before the return leg of the journey back into town.

This week's group session saw a selection of runners, walkers and bikers convene at the start point. The walkers were set off with a ten minute head start while the runners did their warm ups and then when the run started the bikers formed a back marker team.

Chasing down the walkers, the runners actually failed to catch the walkers who arrived at the task first. The bikers got waylaid gaining a new member on the road after they were inspired to stop us and ask about Goodgym, and then signed up on the spot! Brilliant!

Our task was at 61 F.C. where some work over the winter meant there were a new row of posts down one side of the pitch that needed a coat of fresh white paint. With a team of 8 armed with rollers and brushes the posts were turned from grey concrete to bright white in no time at all, with all the new posts getting a coat. The football team were there training and expressed their gratitude for our help at the club once again. The park was also packed with families out enjoying the warm and sunny evening, who also made several comments appreciating our impact in this much loved park.

Always very grateful task owners Richard and Cliff laid on some refreshing orange squash and a tub of chocolates for us to refuel for the return journey back into town.

To mark the end of the football season, grassroots football club 61 F.C. hosted a charity tournament and invited three other teams and their families to join in this very summery festival of football.

GoodGym's task for the day was to manage the car parking and run a carwash to raise more funds for charity.

David arrived early to get the cars park and take car washing orders, then later a flock of Goodgym reinforcements swooped into the park by bike 🚲 and got quickly stuck in to washing the cars.

Man of the moment Musa completed his 100th deed with this task! Well done Musa!

With all the team going at the cars with gusto it was a race to keep clean buckets of water coming! We lost count of cars but it was about 10 in the end and we collected a nice bunch of donations and got fed from the BBQ for our efforts.

We had a massive team out tonight with several new faces, Eron, Karim, Jacob and Soran. Welcome to the team, I hope you all enjoyed your first session!

Our task this week was scraping and painting the posts at the 61 Football Club. With so many in attendance I was very glad that I dug loads of extra scrapers out of my garage.

As soon as the first runners arrived we started the scraping marathon and soon had loads of people scraping away at the concrete posts. Once the first posts were finished we got some painters going, giving the posts a fresh coat of white paint.

The scraping team went crazy and got loads done, getting way ahead of the painters, so next week when we return we'll be able to get painting straight away.

Theres a few more visits left in this task yet but we made excellent progress tonight. the place looks much cleaner and fresher. really transformed from the tired paintwork we found on our first visit.

The night also saw Ella complete her 50th good deed with us, so she has earned her new black shirt and will be showing it off soon. Well done Ella!