The sun is again out in force tonight for another lovely evening!

Perhaps not such a scenic run tonight as we headed up (yes it was an incline) to Branksome along the roads of Parkstone.

We were met by Barbara, a volunteer at Branksome Centre and she was ready with brooms, black sacks, litter picker and water buckets!

Fiona despite a day of exercise with her horse and a weights session, took on the task of the watering with Anne, carrying buckets across the grounds. Barbara is planning to do some more planting tomorrow now the soil is less dry.

There was a number of young people sat outside the centre, not part of the group that night but those that choose to use the centre as a social point. It was elsewhere a youth group going on for a variety of ages. There was also children in the play area and games happening on the pitches.

Hilary took on the litter pick around the playground but actually tonight, there wasn't piles of rubbish so Anne-Marie could crack on with the weeds and rubbish around the sides of the outside areas.

We hope that the job we did tonight, helps the centre and those that use it keep some pride in the facilities they have and can access. It wasn't a renovation project but the tasks done tonight can help maintain a safe environment for those that socialise here!

It was all about the girls tonight as we met in the courtyard of Daveena's cafe!

Prize for furthest distance travelled easily went to Marta tonight, who had come from Velencia and was brought along by Clare whilst on her holiday to the UK for her first Goodgym session!

We ran the 3km to Pennant house where we were greeted by Denise all ready in the garden for us!

It was bark spreading, planting flowers in the beds and a bit of weeding for us all to get along with as the summer house was not yet ready for us to paint due to repairs being done!

Anne-Marie planted some roses despite confessing to only having a balcony whilst there was pansies and other little flowers to dot around. Bags of bark soon disappeared and Denise was pretty amazed how in 20 mins we had planted it all and spread the bark! We had a bit of time to clear the leaves from under the beautiful tree before a bit of sweeping and all chatting along the way!

There are 12 residents at this block and many enjoy the garden to sit out in or just view from the lounge area. They are holding a garden party in a couple of weeks so grateful for extra hands to make it all look lovely!

On the way back we stopped in Ashley Green for some sprint sections to finish just to make sure we had a but of HIT training in there! Turns out Hilary has got some speed in those legs! Great to see Lauren from a previous couch group, now a frequent nordic runner, come and join us for the first time at Goodgym, along with Anne-Marie who keeps fit from cycling - Thats a great thing about Goodgym - infrequent runners love it too!

Great enjoyable run and task tonight!

It all started when buches of runners (33 in total!) starting gathering in the lovely warm courtyard of Daveena's cafe.

We were then joined by some official looking types with a little less lycra from the council including the Council Chairman, David Flagg! One of the councillors Mark Howell was however willing to join us for a run and his first for goodgym along with 22 other first time Goodgym runners! 9 runners who had previously completed a Goodgym task joined us from as far as Bristol and Swanage so showing fantastic committment to Goodgym!

After the pics and speeches, we headed over to the park for a quick warm up where most of us runners demonstrated our lack of balance with the flamingo stand and hopskotch as well as usual warm up drills!

Kirty Weston from Upton parkrun core team led the way through the park and whitecliff to cover 2.1 miles including the gradual incline up Evening Hill. We were met at Lewis-Manning by Sandra and Mark who had even had cold drinks and biscuits ready for us as a welcome treat!

We soon cracked on in 4 groups and everyone was super organised in their groups to get the tasks done. Painting crew included first timers Shelley and Kirsty (whose ankle is fine by the way after a huge branch came at her on the way back!) painted on with Ann, Aaron and Catherine amongst others to complete a rail within 15 minutes! Hedge cutters included Karina, Kristy and Mark who made some clearance for cars to park against the bushes Around the back, the team with a view had rakes and gloves to clear some woodland, leaving James to keep his mileage up by running back and forth with the bin. Gemma, Lisa and Rob amongst others cleared leaves and all sorts! Finally we had a bunch of sweepers who worked to the end getting moss off the car park area.

Amazing what was achieved in 25 mins and we hope to go back for a second coat of paint and a bit more garden clearance.

We took the opportunity to take a photo at the top of Evening Hill, after moving along Oakdale runners who photo bombed!

Finally we ran back down to the park and 3 runners took up the offer to finish up around the park with a short interval circuit as clearly they had not worked hard enough already!

It was hot, sweaty work in the muggy air but the chat was continuous and great to hear the chatter amongst many previous strangers.

We had also been joined by Ed and Nikki from the central Goodgym team who quickly scooted off for their train after, albeit a bit smelly!

Super atmosphere on the runs and all during the task so we can honestly say Goodgym Poole you rocked it tonight!

Next week we are over in Poole park but don't worry - we will still get a good run in before we crack on with the task in hand - It was truly a pleasure to be part of Goodgym Poole launch - I know we are going to be fantastic!