Mark led a committed bunch of Oxford GoodGymers down Cowley road early on Christmas morning 2019 to pick up the extra littler left by the jolly folk of Christmas Eve.. great job guys :)

After journeying through the coldest and rainiest part of the day, 6 GoodGymers arrived at Oxford City Farm to find clear blue skies and bright sunlight, ready to get to work. The farm was hosting a community farming session, and GoodGymers got to help out on every corner of the beautiful site. Some started off cleaning the newly installed outdoor kitchen equipment, recently recovered from a local Starbucks. Others headed off to tackle the invasive brambles, clearing the land to prepare for more productive plants. We also added the final touches to jars of delicious-looking chili and ginger jellies - made from produce from the farm! - and prepared the ground for future fruits and veg. After a couple of hours of cleaning, digging and battling with the brambles, we headed to the firepit to warm up with some hot tea.

We wrapped up our morning's work and were in for a treat thanks to the feast prepared by Waste2Taste! The local organisation prepares meals from food that otherwise would go to waste. We welcomed the warm bowls of curry and lingered by the fire with cups of steaming cider and mulled wine. A wonderful winter morning!

GoodGym Oxford: The Nearly Halloween Edition!

'Twas the nightmare before Halloween, and all through the Ark-T House
The GoodGymers were working, from Taffies to Scouse
The toys were all placed on the shelves with great care
In the hopes that the kids would find them easily there
The children all nestled so snug in their beds
While visions in sports kit worked hard wearing red
Alison in her Garland, and I in my Cape
Swept sand from the pathways and had a great jape
When out in the alley there rose such a clatter
As GoodGymers picked litter with some fun friendly chatter
Around the whole playground we flew like a flash
Moving scooters and push cars to avoid any crash
The moon rising high on this Halloween-eve
Lighting up piles of newly swept leaves
When what to our wondering eyes should appear
But a slide good for adults once the debris was clear
Then waving the flag and striking a pose
Before running away on the route Anwen chose
And we heard them exclaim as they ran out of sight
That a Halloween task was such a Good Night.

Ark-T Centre had put out an SOS for help clearing up their outdoor spaces - litter-picking along the lane outside the centre and tidying up the play area.

As a small community arts centre they don't have the funding to pay for extra help with jobs like this, so some GoodGym muscle can make all the difference. With a massive 23 runners we certainly had plenty of people to tackle the task in hand!

In keeping with Halloween we grabbed brooms, less in keeping with Halloween we also grabbed litter-pickers, and set to work. There were sand and leaves to be swept up, plastic toys to be put away, mud kitchen equipment to be returned to shelves, litter to be picked both from the playground and the lane outside, and some weeds and dead plants to be cleared off the banks. Fresh from his beach holiday Mark couldn't resist channelling Robinson Crusoe and leaving a message in the sand, and our bedazzled (though sadly not so obvious in the photos) GoodGym flag had it's first glittering outing.

Post-task discussion of our favourite odd UK traditions brought up some ideas for 'GoodGym-on-Tour 2020'. Black Pudding Olympics, Shin-kicking at the Cotswold Olympiks, Pooh sticks, Cheese Rolling, carrying blazing barrells of tar, and then Blackpool Illuminations for a little rest.....our fitness tasks next spring will be preparing us to win at all of these events!

Garland of Joy went to Alison this week for completing the amazing-sounding Beachy Head Marathon on Saturday - and still running on Wednesday! Aoife, ever resourceful, found herself a colander of joy to complete her outfit.

Welcome to Sherleen, Walter, and Chris - lovely to have you along on your first GoodGym runs. Hope to see you back again soon!

It was wonderful to have so many of you along on my last Group Run of 2019. Trev will take the reigns from here until the end of March.

Getting GoodGym Oxford started has truly been a joy - you are all awesome people! See you in April xx