On a fresh Wednesday evening we met at the uni and said helloo and welcome to new goodgymmer Kate! Peckham did their best to tempt her but she knew that Chelmsford was the place to be. Richard flew in, made everyone jealous of a perfectly sized sweat towel, and we discussed our zigs and zags to the football club.

Rich conveniently knew all the roads and headcount as my phone stopped working (sorry). It was lovely to see Ken back from his jaunt to Mexico and everyone got chatting about their travels.

Andy was missing Laurie and the warm weather (the thermals are officially back in action). The last 8pm+ sunset was two weeks ago and we'll all be cracking out the head torches soon!

At the football club we met Fay with some of the other volunteers along to help us and got some serious weeding done - well done everyone. The front was blitzed by most of the gang and Joe disappeared to the back of the building where the drains were playing home to gigantic spiders who were swiftly evicted.

The weather turned on us as we set off. If it ain't raining, it ain't training right? We're hardcore. After a group vote we decided to adventure through the woods to get home. Is this how horror movies start..? Nope, it was more like a comedy. Smiles all round, dinners debated, another good deed achieved.

A new location, a new task and a huge turnout!

Maybe it’s the back-to-school vibes around, or maybe everyone just wanted a good look at the meat and fish bazar over the road, but FOURTEEN of us turned out on Wednesday and ran 3.5 km to St Luke’s Church in Moulsham Lodge.

We welcomed a couple of new faces at the gym and they’ve already proven to be good ones. Robert outdressed us all – despite not even having a GoodGym top yet – with his snazzy matching socks and shorts in unloseable multicolour.

It was also Heidi’s first time joining us and she lay down the marker immediately in a Parkrun 50 top. She didn’t mention a post-Parkrun fry-up once, and she’s also doing the Great North Run this weekend with Robert. Folks, we’ve found ourselves a runner.

David was run leading and had represented us with Laurie at a garden party earlier that day. We’d been invited in thanks for some of the gardening work we’d done, so thanks to the organisers, and apparently the shortbread was “excellent.” They also met Rich’s dad, who is absolutely lovely and wasn’t surprised at all that Rich spends most of his time with us just having a chat. In fact, he was so lovely that it could steer a big decision: there’s still time to put money on baby Chatterjee being called Keith…

Walkers were out in force as we also welcomed Jane back to GoodGym. She definitely helps to keep her husband in line, and also managed to stop him getting lost somewhere behind Lidl.

With 14 people, weeding the paths at the front of the church (or the top of the church…?) didn’t take long, despite stopping for a photo break. They were cleaner than celebrity skin in a razor advert by the time we were done.

Neither newbie seemed scared by Joe brandishing a screwdriver and asking if anyone needed their cracks seen to – it’s like they’ve been here for years. Jess even suggested that be tonight’s headline. St Luke’s have already shared the photo and other churches in the area are already interested! Send us an email to request us, just put “GodGym” in the subject line please. And while we’re talking support, if you’re a Marksies Spender then you can link your Sparks card to us and we get some funding every time you shop there. Win-win!

Thanks for a great task, good luck up north to Heidi and Robert, and see you all next week!