It was a lovely autumnal evening, the perfect weather for a run. We welcomed new comer Selina to the GoodGym fold. During the intros people were asked to name a condiment or food item that when add to anything always makes it better. I get the impression Stuart is a bit of a foodie as he makes his own caramelised onion chutney - have to find out if he’s willing to part with a jar or two!

Squats warmed up legs that had been sat under desks and ones that had just got out of bed! Kirsty is working nights, so this GoodGym Run was in fact her morning run and while we all headed home to eat dinner and go to bed, Kirsty is heads off to work!

A short run to BroadGreen Community Centre and a lovely welcome from Pete who is a volunteer for the Council working on local community projects. Pete handed out black bags and litter pickers and we were off!

Some people formed teams and others went on solo searching missions. Mike ‘clearing the way’ to the main entrance. Lily and Jason paired up, working a hedge line allegedly already picked by Paul, but there was a lot of litter left in there. Paul ‘cleared that up’ by saying he was only on confetti duty! Jason made a ‘tidy’ profit of 10p that evening.

Emma and Selina the perimeter, like proper Wombles found thins they could reuse in the form a Rock of Swindon which Emma has re hidden.

Teresa was on a solo mission to rid the area of cigarette ends, the feedback to the Council would be to provide bins for people to put these in.

There were plenty of interesting finds that got picked and binned but the winner of the grossest find goes to Lisa who found a dead rat. RIP Roland, so long rat fans!

Looking forward to seeing some of you at next weeks task, weeding in the rose garden at Christ Church...!

Weather conditions were absolutely perfect for 18 Swindon GoodGymers to hit the streets and do some good.

Meeting at the Oasis, we broke the ice by introducing ourselves and answered

If we were a packet of crisps, which flavour would you be?!

With some controversial answers and old school choices, we headed off on the slightly extended route towards Playsteps Day Nursery. With myself, Lewis leading from the front and Emily from the back, we set off at a sociable pace with more and more members donning the red GoodGym colours.

Greeted by Jo Morris, Nursery Manager, in the beautiful setting of an old church building, now reformed into a daytime nursery, we were put to work on a whole host of tasks including: leaf raking, shed painting, fence painting, deconstruction of old equipment and general tidying up. Our hosts were most generous, offering us bottled water throughout and extremely grateful for the work done.

To add up a few more miles we were spoilt by the late summer’s eve weather and went over to Faringdon Park for some group running drills, a chance for GoodGymers old and new to work together on some Indian File exercises that challenged teamwork and fitness. Once we had completed these drills, we finished the loop back through some iconic Swindon sights such as the Outlet Villageand its accompanying railway history and through some of the Swindon Half Marathon Route back to the Oasis where we naturally picked up a strong finish.

Fantastic team spirit out there this week everyone, already looking forward to the next task litter picking in Broadgreen.

Big up new starters, Dan, Kirsty, Lisa, Mike and Simon; hopefully see you at another run very soon?