Tonight‘s weather was definitely not in keeping with the usual GoodGym standards! It’s pretty unusual for us to do a GoodGym task (we can probably count on one hand the number of times, we’ve done a task in the rain!) in wet weather but tonight it was in for the duration but it wasn’t going to stop us! The task owner, Andy from the Wildlife Trust messaged me beforehand to ask if we still wanted to go ahead? I replied and said “Andy we're pretty hard core”. His reply was “ok, bring it on”.

We arrived at the park with umbrellas, waterproofs and slightly dampened spirits. However, we were determined not to let a bit of rain stop us from getting stuck in to the task at hand. But before we got started, we took the opportunity to get our weekly exercise in. Karen, having already done at least one lap of the park in the pouring rain prior to Maurice, and Iarriving, decided to continue with a run, whilst Maurice and I opted for a walk! Soggy, (Some of us soggier than others), we headed over to meet Andy from the wildlife trust to get started with the task.

Tonight’s job was to get rid of all of the docks from the wildflower meadow. The wildflower meadow has been planted in Queen's Park, and is largely maintained by the Wildlife Trust and is a fabulous habitat for all kinds of butterflies, bees and other insects. It was important to clear the docks so that they don’t go to seed and multiply! When we first looked at the task, we weren’t too confident that we could remove them all in just a short amount of time with four pairs of hands. However, in true GoodGym style, we got stuck in and before long had cleared all the necessary docks from the area. It was a really interesting evening, as Andy was doing a great job of educating us at the same time as getting the job done. We all agreed that despite the rain, getting soaked through and having squelchy feet, we all really enjoyed the task and enjoyed being out in the rain, pulling up the weeds. The wet ground actually made the task far easier than it would’ve been if the ground had been dry (every cloud…)

Well done everyone on another amazing achievement tonight.

Thank you for being so hard core and coming out in the pouring rain to get muddy and wet! Fingers crossed, none of us get a cold! ;-)

Have a great week and hope to see you all next week, lots of love Nicola XXX

It was another beautiful night for a Goodgym task – which was a good thing as we were outside, once again supporting The Wildlife Trust with their community garden project. It was great to be back there tonight with Andy, who gave us another warm welcome.

As always, we had two groups this evening, our running group and our walking group. Karen & Nigel enjoyed a walk together, while Annaliza, Maurice & Nicola went for a run. We overlapped the two groups for the start of the walk/run and took the opportunity to visit the Knife Angel that is currently displayed in Crewe. It was quite a sight.

As Nigel & Karen headed off for their walk, the rest us set off for our run. We did a circular route, heading out from the Knife Angel on the Memorial Square, down towards the cemetery and then back up through the town. It was 2.4km in total and got the old heart rate up! We had a nice chat as we went and managed to come back alive (which isn’t always a given when Maurice is with us… he has a love of running in front of cars!!!).

Back at base, we set to work with Andy in cutting down all the bamboo. It was a continuation of the work we did there last time but this time, we managed to finish cutting it all down and cleared the area (not including the roots….. eeek!). It was quite fascinating cutting down the bamboo, especially looking at the younger branches, which were super bendy and would have made perfect fishing poles! It was quite a physical task, but it was rewarding to see the end results. We also assembled and filled 3 bird boxes which we then attached to the windows – we hope that the service users will enjoy watching the birds feed from them when they’re at the centre.

After quite a physical task, we all felt we’d earned a drink, so headed off to Hops for a bit of refreshment. We chatted about lots of things… parkrun escapades and Goodgym socials being the main topic of conversation (of course, lol!).

Well done everyone. Another fantastic night’s work completed! A real team effort with fantastic results!

You’re all incredible!

See you all soon. Lots of love, Nicola xxx

It’s been beautiful weather today and the perfect day for starting a new task with a wonderful new task owner - Cheshire Wildlife Trust. Thank you for inviting us along to get stuck into this fantastic new project.

Tonight, we started our evening with two groups for exercise. Karen, Nigel and Maurice took the run, while Adele & Annaliza took the walk. It was a lovely night for either option and a great opportunity for a catchup and natter. Apparently, it was also a good night for getting lost….. mentioning no names… (Nigel) who somehow managed to branch off from the rest of the group…. it’s not at all like Nigel to get split off from the rest of the group……. 😉

Back at the task, we met up with Andy who is leading this project and he gave us the brief on what we were doing tonight. It was a good old physical task with lots of elbow grease required. The idea behind this task is to give this space a big overhaul and make it an area that can be enjoyed by users of the Acorn Centre to do some planting and observe the visiting wildlife.

The evening was spent cutting down bamboo. The bamboo is currently cutting out the light from the lounges in the day centre and so needed to come down. It was a physically demanding task but very rewarding to see the impact once the bamboo was gone. Another task was digging out the roots…. again, a physically demanding task but very rewarding. There’s still lots of work to be done and we look forward to going back again and continuing with the project!

A lovely evening spent with lovely friends doing a great job for the community. Fun, fitness, friendship and the feel-good factor! Win Win!!

Well done everyone! Another job well done! You’re all awesome! Special thanks to Karen for the fabulous photography skills tonight (sorry about the secateurs! ).

Have a great week and see you all soon!

Lots of love Nicola xxx

It’s been a good while since we were down at the Wishing Well working on the garden and the raised beds, so it was a pleasure to be back there tonight and helping with some of the preparations for getting it nice and tidy and ready for the nicer weather.

It was wonderful to welcome Goodgym First Timer - Andy tonight. It was great to have you Andy and we really hope that you enjoyed your first Goodgym task with us. Great running by the way – you made it look effortless! It was also wonderful to have Phil back with us tonight – it was lovely to see you and catch up on life and all things you've been up to!!

We had a short warmup before splitting into our two groups. Karen, Andy, Maurice, Phil & Nicola did a circular route from Jubilee House (ensuring that we went down broad street and not up it - did I actually just confess to that, lol!), down past the crematorium and then back up through the town centre and back. It was a chatty run and mostly dry too (maybe the occasional drop of rain but nothing to write home about!). Nigel took a slightly shorter walking route and was back at base at pretty much the same time we were.

Back at Jubilee house and we set to work with the task at hand. Tonight, we had to clear some rubbish from the garden area and pile it into the skip. With many hands, it was light work, and we soon had the skip filled – I think we could have filled a second skip to be honest! We disturbed a few spiders and saved a few snails along the way. The weather stayed mostly dry but we all got soggy feet as the grass was so long..... so there was only one thing for it….. we HAD to got to the pub and dry off! Needs must….

We had a lovely social chat at the pub, enjoyed a drink a few snacks and put the world to rights before heading home.

It was another lovely Goodgym evening spent in the lovely company of wonderful people doing something good for our community.

You’re all incredible. Well done for another successful task. Total superstars! Have the best week and a wonderful Easter!

Love & hugs, Nicola xxx