It didn’t actually feel that long since we were last at WERS, the brilliant West End Refugee service, and when I looked at tonight’s sign ups it gave me a sense of Deja vu! The only new addition was Jack, and a great new addition he was. We met at One Strawberry Lane, our brilliant hub which I think will just get cosier as winter creeps in.

The standard quick catch up on the weekend’s sessions and news before it was time to set off. As it was almost even split of runners and walkers, I decided to flip the session tonight and do the fitness session first, making good use of St James’ Park steps! Heart rates raised and legs definitely feeling warmer, we then made it the short journey uphill to WERS where thankfully everything we needed was waiting for us. WERS is an amazing organisation in the west end, supporting refugees in our city with all kinds of support they need. We’d been asked back tonight to continue clearing and tidying up the back garden.

Tonight was one of those simple, satisfying tasks that truly made a difference. Under the epic floodlights- expertly perched in the trees thanks to Tom, we armed ourselves with rakes and brushes and set about clearing the garden which was almost knee-deep in leaves. Everyone put their backs into it while discussing the Halloween weekend gone by.

Before long the paths and gardens were cleared and the grass was once again visible. I think the task owner and service users will definitely see a difference tomorrow. This was one of those classic GoodGym sessions where team work makes a real impact.

It was a beautiful autumn morning in Newcastle today and the lovely secluded garden of the West End Refugee Service (WERS) wasn’t a bad place to spend it. Catriona, Adam and Scott had begun the job of clearing the overgrown beds a few weeks ago so with Aimee and I joining in we were able to quickly get going and continue the task.

Ivy was definitely our nemesis today! Although the lovely task owner Alison was keen to keep a covering across the fence to maintain privacy, it had definitely invaded beyond its welcome! With a combination of shears, secateurs and brute force we cleared four bin bags of it away. Adam in particular clearly hadn’t burned enough energy at parkrun earlier so he took on the challenge of clearing a tree trunk of the pervasive creeper. I suspect that the tree will be breathing easier this afternoon!

A last run over with the rake really highlighted the difference we had made in not much more than an hour. There’s more to be done in the garden so ivy feeling we’ll be back - there are WERS places to be!

Tonight was our first session from the brilliant One Strawberry Lane base, and I think the group that came along were impressed! This central base is easy to find, comfy and cool and we think in the coming winter months will be a cosy place to catch up before our group sessions.

A small jog and walk up the road and we were welcomed by our task owner at WERS (west end refugee service) a charity doing amazing things to support the refugee community in our city. We’ve helped WERS before but not for five years (!) yet it felt really familiar being back. A simple task was requested: to start weeding their back garden space which will in time be turned into a welcoming space for their service users to hang out, chat and do some gardening of their own.

Small tasks like these are often where we can quickly make the biggest impact and in just half an hour, three bags of weeds had been removed and a huge space had opened up. The task owner was so impressed and started hatching a plan to have us back (with our floodlights!) as soon as we can. Look at those before and after photos!

A leisurely walk back together followed, but Mondays are made for high step counts and heart rates so we stopped off at St James’ Park for a step workout, much to the confusion of everyone passing by. Another perfect start to the week!

Tonight, we were back at the West End Refugee Service finishing off the cupboard tidy which 6 goodgymers led by Charlotte started last week. Well done to Tom and Sam who were super dedicated and helped both weeks!

Task owner Hazel met us and gave us an introduction to WERS, what we were going to be doing and were the gloves and hand sanitiser was.

The aim was sorting through donations which have being sitting there during lockdown and sort them into bags of different types of items (ladies tops, mens bottoms, mixed baby clothes etc), removing any damp or damaged goods.

Tom who was familiar with where the donations were from the week before led the charge pulling out bags of unsorted donations out the cupboard for us to root through and put in the most appropriate bag, which we labelled a swe went along.

Dan found a very fetching hat. Me and Louise debated the use of a donations of an M&S uniform. Michael was having loads of fun with various random things he found. We all felt sad we could only find one tiny Gruffalo welly and wondered were the other one could possibly be!

Once everything was correctly sorted, we moved all the suitable and sorted donations back inside as last weeks group had filled the garage. We also put all the unsuitable item back in the cupboard so they could be collected to be binned.

Hazel was very happy we managed to finish sorting all the donations and how commented how much time it saved compared to having one person sort through all the donations. Hopefully we will be back to help out again soon!

Tonight we helped out at the West End Refugee service which relies on volunteers to help it run.

A huge congratulations to Sabrina on her first ever GoodGym good deed tonight and first Community Mission. Also a massive well done to Sam for achieving her 25th good deed tonight. Go and give them both a cheer!

Sabrina arrived first, followed by Sam and Tom, then Debbie and Abbi on their bikes (extra kudos to Abbi who had some trouble with her bike but made it there!)

We were met by Hazel, who gave us a brief introduction, had everything so well organised and clearly explained the task.

The service has struggled over lockdown with a lack of volunteers. We were shown to an outdoor cupboard which was piled high with donations.

There was bags of donated clothing, bedding and a whole range of other items which desperately needed sorting.

We soon got stuck in sorting through the donations and putting them into different piles, then bagging/labelling them up.

Unfortunately some of the items had to be binned as they were damp/unsuitable to be donated.

We managed to clear a large amount from the cupboard, which was then neatly stored in the large garage next door.

There is still a lot more to do, but Hazel thanked us for our efforts. We look forward to returning next Wednesday!

Schooool's out for Summer!

We had a great turn out last night for our return visit to West End Refugee Service in the sunshine. A mixture of summery weather, the start of the holidays and a great task meant 25 of us turned out ready to head up to the West End of our brilliant city. It was so lovely to see Charlotte who had come along just to say hi to everyone as she's currently on crutches and out of action while she awaits scan results. Good luck Charlotte, we are all rooting for you!

We welcomed a few new runners to the group: Louise's son Dan who is home from uni for the Summer, and a 'new' Louise ready to smash her first every GoodGym task! Welcome to you both, we can't wait to see you again! Go and give them both a big cheer to say hello.

It was another big black and white cloaked celebration this week as awesome Task Forcer and social secretary Evan celebrated his 51st good deed, smashing 50 in the process of a double mission weekender at Pride. As well as achieving his black tshirt in just 10 months, Evan arranges a social catch up every single week for GoodGym Newcastle and provides us with the best (weirdest) photos at every run, and for all of this we salute him.

Hero !

It was a Pride-filled catch up as we shared weekend news including Andrew, Evan and Dan's amazing 4th place at the Newcastle Frontrunners relay on Friday night, and two great Community Missions where everyone got drenched on Saturday, and lots of treasures were found at Sunday's litter pick. We recapped the rules of Rock, Paper, Scissors as our warm up - who knew this was such a minefield?!- then set off to the task.

I did feel a little bad that for Dan and Louise, their first ever run with us was up a hill in 22 degrees into a headwind, but it was obvious they were made of strong stuff. We chatted about our favourite holiday destinations and before we knew it we were at West End Refugee Service.

This great service is tucked away in the West End of Newcastle, quite close to Nunsmoor Park for those who are familiar with our regular monthly mission. We were met by Sean and Hannah who talked us through the great services offered by WERS to support refugees living in our community, and set our list of tasks for the night. This time we were tasked with:

• Chopping back a hedge

• Sorting through cutlery and making them into sets

• General kitchen and office cleaning

• Litter picking (you wouldn't believe how fast Maddy and Miranda wanted to do this!)

• Garden tidy up and grass cutting

We had our first EVER medical incident as we think a horsefly decided to feast on new runner Louise. Louise was on hand to check her over and Kate and Emma came to her rescue to take her back to Hotel Indigo for an early finish. Louise finished the night with a swollen eye but otherwise ok, and we can't wait to welcome her back next week. Big thanks to everyone who helped, it's definitely handy having a doctor in our group!

I wish I could give you all an extra good deed.

Hannah and Sean our task owners were so pleased with everything we managed to achieve as we gave WERS a massive makeover in just 45 minutes. We posed for a few photos with our AWESOME NEW FLAG (check it out!) then headed off to the area we have started to call The Triangle for our fitness session, with Paul finding us a new sneaky and quick route there. Everyone was "IN" for the fitness session tonight, with just Paul and Tom taking a break to intervene in a road rage incident that was going on by the side of the road - never a dull moment this week, eh? We got our sprints on with a Tibata session of 20 second all-out sprints and 40 seconds recovery. There was an epic battle between Dan and Louise, while Paul showed off some amazing technique in his efforts- check out the photos!

It was a night full of buzz (ahem) and banter, and a brilliant time was had by all.

If you can't wait for our Group Run next week why not join us at one of the Community Missions taking place on Saturday at Nunsmoor Park or St Lawrence Park ?

Have a brilliant week full of running, walking and doing good things,

Anji x