Leazes Park is trying to regain its Green Flag and four GoodGymers attempted to help by clearing some litter from the park. The litter was slightly harder to find than usual, so it looks like we weren't the first litter pickers in the park recently.

Good luck to Leazes Park in regaining the Green Flag!

Lucy came running to the rescue today to boost the numbers for the task today at Leazes Park.

We quickly got to work doing a litter picking lap of the lake, being careful not to encroach on the geese and goslings who were out in force! Lovely day for it and some super sunny squinty selfies!

The park was looking great already as it prepares for Green Flag awards but there’s always more to do and looking forward to getting back there on Monday for some finishing touches!

It was lovely to see Jason back in the toon, on a sabbatical away from Leeds - fingers crossed your St James' Park experience is a good one.

Alongside Damu and Chris and Charlotte from Newcastle Parks, we had a mission with some weedy cobbles.

We filled trug after trug (another word for those plastic buckets) but as ever with these kind of tasks, there is still plenty to tackle next time!

Pun disclaimer: Not original material.

I love reading other Goodgym reports, however whenever I sit down to write one it doesn’t always flow how I want it to.

The Goodgym mission of today involved helping Newcastle parks to litter pick in Nunsmoor park. Adam, Aimee, Sam, Tom, and I helped Newcastle parks rangers and local volunteers in their mission to tidy up the park. A lot of bin bags were collected. The most common item I found were plastic straw wrappers. We were in various locations in the park, all doing our role of litter picking. Amongst the litter a guitar was discovered. It has been gifted to a new owner. One volunteer sang and played Jolene by Dolly Parton which was very wholesome. Aimee and I paired up and encouraged each other to retrieve water bottles from the tennis courts mesh. I always feel I have more confidence at Goodgym and cheering on runners at parkrun. I call it the Goodgym and parkrun enthusiasm.

Conversations included a range of topics, including tying shoelaces, happiness, and words. My favourite word in German is Übermorgen which means the day after tomorrow. In old English we used to have the word overmorrow. One of Aimee’s favourite words is Pandemonium. Aimee’s alternative definition is panda’s having a party.

As Sam and Tom mentioned FAB, I thought that I would venture there. FAB is a bakery in the West End of Newcastle. (Other bakeries are available). It used to be home to a butchers/sort of bakery. They sold six bread buns for £1.20. They were soft and doughy. I recently discovered some similar ones from the Grainger market. They are not quite the same, however they are similar. Today, I picked up some hot cross buns. Do you have yours toasted or not? With cheese or not?

The next Goodgym mission is on Monday at 18:15 meeting at One Strawberry Lane. https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/deliver-leaflets-for-foodcycle

Enjoy your weekend everyone.

Well, I got a little surprise when I hadn't checked where tonight's task was and I had to hot foot it along from work! But I was in for a treat as it was a lovely night and I got to explore a bit of Newcastle I haven't been to, as well as a high five from a little dude waiting for his bus with his mum!

It was an evening of firsts as we had Esha join us for her first session! The park was local to her and it was lovely to see her getting involved in her community and getting to chat with her!

We collected 3 bags full of rubbish and made a pretty good contribution to Newcastle Parks' Big Litter Pick Week!

Exercise, meeting new people and doing good in the community - ticking all the GoodGym mission statement boxes!

On a beautifully sunny but chilly Saturday morning, four GoodGymers weeded, dug and cleared a flower bed in Walker Park.

Cups of tea and biscuits were supplied by the Newcastle Parks staff, still wearing their Urban Green Newcastle jackets. Many conversations were had ranging from the effects of sage on Alzheimer’s disease to how important good running shoes are.

Come and join us on Monday night for a GoodGym leafleting task .