A big group for a satisfying task, clear skies and loads of GoodGym goodness at Leazes Park tonight.

A perfectly autumnal evening awaited a group of eight GoodGymers assembled to help the brilliant We Do Tennis, the organisation that has been giving our city tennis courts much-needed make overs. These fab facilities can now be accessed for free and it was lovely to see them in use when we arrived tonight. With Damu and Tom running, everyone else walked and met Malcolm from Urban Green who was along to support the task and bring all the equipment we needed. It was also the first outing of our portable floodlights in quite a long time!

The tasks tonight needed a lot of muscle as we were given the job of weeding the entire perimeter of the tennis courts, clearing them of leaves as we went. There was some musical accompaniment as groups in the basketball courts had brought along speakers, which added even more atmosphere to a fun task. With the darkness creeping in we finished under the light of head torches which again felt really special. It’s hard to get before and after photos by floodlight so you’ll have to take our word for it that this was a huge transformation.

We ran out of time for a fitness session tonight, instead finishing off by helping Malcolm to return the tools back to the store, under the shadow of floodlights it was a Blair Witch Project-esque end to the night… but don’t worry, we all survived.

There’s another We Do Tennis helping this Saturday at Nuns Moor Park if you can come along and help, we'd love to see you.

Firstly, a big welcome to Lauryna on her first Goodgym session.

After a couple of weeks away in our second home, we were back at Stepney Bank Stables base and were tasked with freshing up the bedding for our hoofed friends.

We didn't have any time to horse around as we had to fill up a few wheelbarrows full of hay from the top stables all the way down to the bottom one.

A few of the horses were over the bale with excitement when they heard us approaching, which made it interesting when we had to get in with them to deliver their fresh ware.

After a quick reload of fresh stuff, and making sure the top stables were all spruced up, we dropped off the last of the new ground cover (which Bob the horse took great pleasure in doing his custom wee on!). And hopefully we will have straw-ted out a good night's sleep for our equine pals!

On a Sunny Saturday morning five GoodGymers helped at an allotment belonging someone who grows vegetables which benefit the local community. We have helped at at these allotments overall perviously and it was lovely to see the raised beds in which we helped level the ground for. Dispite this I still managed to start going to wrong location and so I was a bit late and everyone else had already gotten stuck in.

We weeded and turned the soil in three seperate beds, moved logs and put down weed fabric (which we keep confusing with weed membrane) over the parts we had dug over, fully preparing the beds for the allotment owner to be able to plant vegetables now.

While doing this we found an ant colony, butterfly larvae and a really unusual white moth.

The report title comes from Chris's possibly made up words about the amount of tangled and intertwined weeds and vines, and the 'islands' of unturned soil we were each stood of as we lossen the soil around us. The name of a goodgym album perhaps?

Lucy declared this task the biggest difference she had seen in a while and I would have to agree, as you can see in the before, after and with weed frabic pictures and the picture of the bags of weeds we removed from the plot!

Six years of GoodGym Newcastle!

In some ways this birthday milestone feels like it should be much higher, I don’t know about you but I struggle to remember a time before GoodGym was in my life. In other ways six years has gone by in the blink of an eye. Prior to tonight’s group session we had done 5092 good deeds, which given the monumental pause we had in the middle of this is pretty remarkable. Pats on all of the backs for this - 397 backs to be precise, as that’s how many people have done a good deed with us now. No wonder I struggle to remember names at times!

It was fitting that we were back to base for the session tonight for the first time in a few months to help our friends and hooved heroes at Stepney Bank Stables. It may have been the promise of drinks at The Ship Inn afterwards, but we also had a great attendance tonight when we were joined by nine people including one for the first time. We did a quick catch up on the weekend’s session that was a very last minute mulch request from our friends at EarthWatch, and brought Tom back from honeymoon with a bang! We loved welcoming Rob to his first ever session with us tonight and while it wasn’t a standard group run we hope it was a suitable initiation to the group.

Stepney Bank stables is a charity and community out project that works with young people to improve wellbeing through working with horses, and we are really proud to be able to help them regularly including for tonight’s session. A banquet of jobs is always on order and tonight was no different as we were sweeping and clearing in the arena, vacuuming the entrance, sweeping the outdoor ramp, chopping back nettles and collecting sticky weeds as a special foodie treat for the horses- this one came complete with feeding! To finish off, Rob got the best ever job for a GoodGym debutant - riding the quad to sweep the arena floor! Lucky or what?!

It was a shorter task this evening as we were eager to head over to The Ship Inn for celebratory birthday drinks and a superb homemade cake from Anna. Big thanks also to GoodGym HQ for sending us a crate of Athletic Brewing Company beers for the session- Tom had cracked his open before we’d even left the stables! It was so great to see Tanya and Debbie at the pub too who had come across in time after work.

Pints were drank, cake was slapped into open palms (no, really), a great end to a good start to the week.

As yet we don’t have a task for next Monday (sob!) so please send one my way if you know of a charity that could use our help. To ensure a GoodGym fix, there is a junior parkrun opportunity at Mowbray Juniors this Sunday so do help out if you can.

Thanks once again to everyone who’s been part of GoodGym Newcastle especially those run leaders and task force who help me to keep the cogs turning. You’re all brilliant.