12 Goodgym folks headed to Cwtch together to take on the latest Tuesday task(s). We split up to cover the different tasks - Jonathan, Flo, Emily, Flo, and Kerry worked inside on bleaching the hall floor. Don't worrry baby, it looked prestine by the time it was done.

God only knows why but Darren was allowed to sand down the door to try and make it open easier. He was giving off some dust and a lot of good vibrations.

The rest of the team weren't surfin' USA, they were busy outside clearing the driveway of weeds and clutter. Wouldn't it be nice if weeds didn't exist!

Goodgym really get around...... after team photo it was time to run back to the Glassworks for a games night, where we all had Fun Fun Fun.

Happy January

Our second group task and a litter pick back on the cards. Unfortunately, we had some last minute moves this week. But January is the month of the litter pick in Cardiff, with our traditional litter pick relay taking place every year where we pick everyday of the month.

Our route tonight took us to the back of the train station,.... Fancy. And then, over the industrial area and to the embankment again.

On the way we had an explosion of coffee from Emma "the gripper" Wilkins and found several strange items, including a bike seat. And it just got stranger as we hit the embankment, and we found lettuce, cabbage, and for the fancy.. Romaine lettuce. As we questioned why they were there, and in such large quantities, we also spotted the parsnips from last week! This is a strange dinner.

There are Swans around the area, although tonight they were all hidden and huddled under the bridge.

But Michael stated "Swans don’t eat parsnips, nor do rats" the title of his new book available soon on download ONLY. 🤣 And please don't write in.... Yes rats can eat parsnips.

As we discussed the the cold, and why wouldn't we? The use of the word nip came up... What a strange word it is.

LEARNING CORNER

Nippy When it comes to the British synonyms for cold, ‘nippy’ is a very popular term.

First Known Use

Verb (1)

15th century, to catch hold of and squeeze tightly between two surfaces, edges, or points : pinch, bite "the dog nipped his ankle"

Noun (1)

1549, something that nips: such as

a archaic : a sharp biting comment b: a sharp stinging cold c: a biting or pungent flavor : tang

But let's end on an additional learning note.... Ducks prefer romaine lettuce..

We welcome in December and Winter (depending on whether you're meteorological or astronomical), it was certainly a cold evening, but a nice jog around the City will soon warm us up. 3 met for the active travel from our start location to the Church, with another 2 people meeting us there and then joining us for a walk back.

The task tonight was helping the church to spruce up the grounds, removing the fallen leaves of Autumn, before they become a slushy mushy mess, we also had enough time to go outside and tidy up around the railings, making it much safer for the local residents when walking past. One such resident even came over to thank us for our hard work.

Thank you

We had all the tools tonight for cleaning up leaves, including a fancy scooping device which made light work of the piles of leaves that the sweepers created. Finally on the task was a little bit of weed killing, but this was not going to be done with chemicals - no ruining our land, instead it was done with a nice simple burning tool.

We were soon done and on our merry way back to the glassworks for a quick social and natter, join us next week for our last activity of the year, it's a new charity too. We are also going for food afterwards so if you are coming then please sign up to that.

As Diana Ross said,

We talk about love, love, love

Tonight was the final session for the paper-chain project by Christmas for CAMHS, and we saw a good 10 volunteers turn up to help out. And, we welcomed our newest member Rachel.

CROESO

We hit the streets for a jog to warm us up, we made our way to the SMART bridge in Cardiff where Michael took the group up the cycle part of the bridge on a wonderful spiral run up and then down the other side. We popped down the Bay, spotting Christmas trees as we went, before heading back to the task at the office for Autism Spectrum Connections Cymru, who had wonderfully allowed us to use their space. Thanks to Neda for staying in the space waiting for us all to arrive, this week we had some new wrapping paper to use for the project with a lovely Christmas feel to it, Michael played some tunes on the new goodgym Cardiff speaker and we all got very crafty.

Talk turned to next week's task, the last one for us writing cards for care homes, which will be followed by a games night in the Glassworks (our start location)....Fun Fun FUN
Thanks to all members that have come out for these tasks, they are a little bit different to the usual but will help to make a young person feel connected to the outside world and to not feel forgotten.

DIOLCH

Our continuation of crafty November as 12 goodgymers got together for some active fun and volunteer joy, how festive!

This was probably one of our coldest runs yet this year, and all but one of us was wrapped up nice and warm - Michael, but at least the goodgym top was on display! Once again the lovely people at Autism Spectrum Connections Cymru, who have allowed us to use their space for this task.

Autism Spectrum Connections Cymru is there to promote and protect the physical and mental health of persons who have autism spectrum conditions through the provision of assistance , support, education and practical advice and to advance the education of the general public in all areas relating to autism. The promotion of social inclusion among persons who have ASC. Thanks to Neda for arranging this for us and waiting around.

Time to hit the streets and warm those cockles with a run / walk and of course a good ol' chat. Plenty to catch up on as the plans turn to Xmas celebrations, present buying and the yearly ice skating outing.

Crafting A-Game

The tasks at hand this week,

• Use one of the charity cards and write a message to a resident, staff or both for a local care home.
• Get crafty, printing stamps to make it even more festive.
• Gel pens, coloured markers for those wanting to get their draw on.
• Go the EXTRA mile and make your card with the coloured blank cards.
• HAVE FUN

Everyone was laughing and joking once again, the tea was on the go and we changed our resident DJ to Emma as we agreed this week Xmas tunes were allowed.

Suddenly - Michael remembered the special addition for the crafting this week and pulled out of the magic running bag, edible spray glitter.

We were finished by 8pm, tidied up and went to continue the social, mostly covered in glitter.

join us next week as we complete our last task for Christmas for CAMHS - all materials will be provided again, before sending off the packs to Bath.