It was a quiet Sunday morning on the banks of the River Thames, and as others were rolling out of bed, 6 GoodGymers (plus parental support!) were rolling up to the Canbury Garden Bandstand to join forces with the fantastic Plogolution team.

It was a STELLA turnout and we swapped our red shirts for white tops and were split into 2 groups of runners and walkers. With the runners taking a 5km route to reach the rubbish treasure troves further along the river, the walkers headed through Canbury gardens at a much more sedate pace.

Before we set off we celebrated a GoodGym hero as Samia hit her 250th Good Deed! A truly awesome milestone by an inspirational lady! What better way to celebrate than with a bouquet or welshness and carrot cake!

Our briefing was simple: pick up litter, save plastic bottle tops, avoid sharp glass and bring back your finds to the bandstand for sorting!

At first it was just the odd cigarette butt and piece of sweet paper, but as we got closer to the riverbank the size and weight of finds definitely increased, as Rob hauled a broken chain out of the bushes! We then found the rubbish party gold mine, an area of overgrown bushes, complete with discarded pants, buried bottles, hundreds of Stella Cans and a children’s purse filled with an interesting selection of greenery! Sometimes the “grass” isn’t always greener on the other side?! It turns out we were cleaning up Kingston in more ways than one!!

We headed back to the bandstand to survey our rubbish collection with the piles of recycling quickly mounting up with each plogger’s return. The cans, plastic bottles and glass will head to recycling and the plastic bottle tops will be used to help make children’s play areas. It was yet another great example of local community in action and great for GoodGym to be a part of it.