It seemed like the end of the summer holidays as we had 17 GoodGymers sign up and come for our group run tonight. Andrada, Daryl, Fi, Lindy, Maria, Nelly, Paulin, Rosalind, Steve. Once everyone had arrived, Sam talked through some changes happening at GoodGym Southwark after his time is up before continuing with his usual speech.

Tonight's ice breaker question, Sam asked everyone to think of their favourite beach as it would be National Beach Day on Friday. Yet, everyone didn't answer the question until we arrived at Salvation Army Camberwell Corps.

We had British beaches, Mexican, Greek, Indonesian, Icelandic and Thai.

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Cleaning frenzy

Our last visit to Salvation Army Camberwell Corps. was in May, so Valentina was happy to see us as we met up with her, Mikhail, Elena and Jessie who ran to the task. After going through our list of beaches, Valentina had 4 jobs for us tonight. The first group with Steve, Lindy, Rosalind and Isaac had to clean and oil the newly donated chairs. As the other groups:

• Daryl, Alex, Andrada, Gemma helped more donations from a cupboard to the newly installed donation bin outside before helping the next team.

• Paulin, Fi, Maria, Jessie and Sam started on the disinfecting and cleaning the baby toys.

• Nelly, Nathan and Elena were tasked with the outside activities which included window cleaning and sweeping.

As we busily cleaned in various ways, the time ticked towards 19:55 as Sam called "time" knowing that it would take 5 minutes to pack up and take a group photo. Some of us were up for a pint after the run, so as we headed back we made our way to The Old Nags Head.

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out last night! Valentina is always happy to have our help and can't wait to have us back in October! Thank you to Mikhail for taking the photos and to Maria for backmarking the runs.

With the summer holidays still in full effect, we had some GoodGymers away, but these mighty 8: Alex, Daryl, Isaac, Mikhail, Nelly, Phil, Sam and Vic were up for GoodGyming on a Wednesday night. Everyone bar Phil and Vic arrived at Old Spike Peckham to hear Sam's quick intros before dashing out with no ice-breaker question as tonight's run was going to take the full 30 minutes.

Once at the site, Sam did ask the ice-breaker question to some...since it was National Radio Day (the day before): "Do you still listen to the radio and what programmes do you listen to?"

It's hard to distinguish between podcast and radio now, but Isaac and Phil do listen to the radio - mainly sport for Isaac, but for Phil it more the programmes that debunk myths and stats which is useful for his job.

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A welcomed sight

It been at least three months since we have been back to Galleywall Nature Reserve, but with their monthly Open Days and use by the local schools and scouts, it maintains itself. Yet, there are always tasks for GoodGym to do as Alan and Jane came prepared with a list.

Despite having only 8 of us, we were keen to get as many items on their list done:

• Alex and Daryl took on the first task which was to re-do the foundations of the wash basin on where people stand as it was quite wonky and needed a solid dig and fill with bricks to make it even.
• Isaac was up for cutting down to big cherry trees as Alan and Jane said they weren't producing cherries and cutting it down will encourage it to grow again.
• Vic wanted to untangle and discard the bindweed growing near the bike rack and shed.
• Nelly helped Jane identify self-seeding tree saplings to dig them out now before they grow into trees.
• Mikhail and Phil took a mattock and loppers to take out bramble bushes before they overtook certain areas of the Nature Reserve.
• Finally, Sam helped Isaac trim the cherry tree branches to put in the compost. Although, some larger straight branches were kept for planting.

Knowing that it would be a long run back, we called it at 19:55 to leave 5 minutes to tidy up and take our group photo. Sam informed Alan and Jane for his departure from the role come end of September, but he will help put in the next session in October before leaving.

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out last night! Alan and Jane were pleased to have GoodGym back and can't wait to have us again! Thank you to Mikhail for backmarking the runs and taking the photos.

After attending Dawson's Heights for five group runs this summer to help create and build their community garden, we've finally arrived at our last session with Ellie and the Dawson's Heights residents.

Sam met up with Mikhail, Steve, Paulin, David, Emma, Daryl, Rebecca, James, Gemma, Alex and Andrada at Old Spike Peckham.

Sam briefly mentioned about the protests and riots to reassure that if anything should be planned in and around Peckham, he would either have to cancel the session or take a different running route as safety for runners is paramount. He went through his usual GG intro speech and his ice-breaker question for tonight was to do with the Olympics as it's still on: "What has been your favourite moment or athlete at the Games so far?"

There's been so many outstanding moments at these Games, but the majority said Simone Biles as well as the other gymnasts. There were special mentions for the Team GB athletes, but every athlete at the Games are doing incredible things for themselves and their country.

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Let the garden flourish

After a quick warm-up on the Green, Sam led the group out and along Peckham Rye park before turning into Dunstans Road and climbing up Underhill and then Overhill Road to reach the top. Mikhail backmarked the run and we met Phil at the task as he had cycled there.

Ellie and the Dawson's Heights residents couldn't believe it was our final session and wanted to show their thanks for our work and effort at the community gardens over the last three months. Yet, before gifting us with a lovely designed and heartfelt card and biscuits, we had some work to do:

• Rebecca and Steve took on the first role of painting wood planks to be used as signage.
• Andrada and Emma were on watering duty as they watered the community garden.
• James and Paulin took care of filling up the water tank whilst preparing the compost heap with cardboard too.
• Gemma and Nathan
• Finally, Phil, David, Alex and Daryl used secateurs and a lopper to cut and trim back the overgrowth around.

These group runs seem to go by in a flash as before we knew it, it was 5 to 8 and we had to put back the tools. Yet, before we left, Ellie gift us with a handmade card which was signed by a few residents of Dawson's Heights and of course, the customary biscuits to fuel our run back!

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out last night! Ellie and the residents of Dawson's Heights appreciates everything that we have done at Dawson's Heights Community Garden this summer. Thank you toMikhail) for backmarking the runs to / from Dawson's Heights and for taking photos too.

It's been awhile since we did a group run to Thorlands Gardens and although, we have our Saturday sessions there, Simon was looking forward to a bigger group to come and complete loads of tasks.

Sam opened up Old Spike Peckham as Maria, Lindy, Alex, David, Daryl, Nelly, Isaac and Paulin all gathered to catch up with one another as a few had been away for the summer.

As 18:45 arrived, Sam promptly went through his usual GG intro speech and his ice-breaker question for tonight was to do with the Olympics as the Opening Ceremony is just two days away! However, Isaac said it's Cambridge Folk festival on the Friday too, so we added a question about your favourite folk artist on top of the sport you are looking forward to see at the Olympics.

There's just too many sports to choose from, but the classics like track and field events plus new sports like Breaking and Climbing also got mentioned. Yet, we all agreed the fact you can switch and watch any sport and get invested in it, is the highlight.

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Need someone who's OCD

After a quick warm-up in the alleyway, Sam led the group out through the backstreets of Peckham and up Chadwick Road (the hill) and down towards Denmark Hill station and King's College hospital. Maria backed mark to ensure no one got left behind. Upon arriving at Thorlands Gardens, the group met up with Simon as well as Benjamin and Richard, who both cycled to the task.

Simon had already gathered the tools we needed, so we proceed to the "Kitchen Garden" to put down the tools and split the group into two:

• Benjamin, Daryl, and Nelly took the wheelbarrows to do the woodchip run.
• The rest concentrated around the division between the "Kitchen Garden" and the "Wild Garden" to tackle the bindweed that had grown back after months of neglect as we have been concentrating on the "Wild Garden" development.

We needed to be thorough as if we pulled out a bindweed and left even a small part of its root, it would come back with a vengeance! Even in the 40 minutes, we were there we couldn't justify putting down cardboard and woodchip as the area had not been completely over turned to eradicate the bindweed.

We did the best we could knowing that we will be back. After putting back the tools, we said goodbye to Simon, Lindy, Benjamin and Richard before running off back to Old Spike.

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out last night! We are back to our regular monthly sessions at Thorlands Gardens, which Simon is always appreciative for. Thank you to Maria for backmarking the runs to / from Thorlands Garden and to everyone for getting stuck in.

As Sam opened up Old Spike Peckham, he was met by Richard who came for his first ever GoodGym experience as he wanted to get more involved with his local community on the days that would allow him. With his son, who practices karate on Wednesday nights, but had a week-off, Richard made sure he could be present and get his document checked for the DBS checks.

With Alex coming back from a weekend road trip to Berlin (to support England) and Emma getting ready for her trip to India in a months' time, we all contemplated on the lack of a summer in London. Yet, the night belonged to David, who on Saturday reached his 50th good deed, but we celebrated his milestone with the traditional black cape, ballon and party hat! Congrats David on reaching this first major milestone!

Sam got going with his usual speech and his ice-breaker tonight was about World Emoji Day as well as World Snake Day (which was the day before). The snap poll showed that half of us are afraid of snakes, but he also asked that: "What emoji would you be?"

🤗😬☺️🫶🤝

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Hampton Court edible garden

The eight of us headed out for a quick warm-up in the humid weather before dashing off to make it to Dawson's Heights in time. With Sam leading from the front and Maria back marking, we took it in our strides to make it to the top of the Overhill Road to meet Ellie and a few Dawson's Heights residents including a few of the young ones.

Ellie told us that they had a whole edible garden donated to them from the Hampton Court Flower Show. Although, the garden was beautifully re-planted, it still needed to be mulched, watered and have a woodchip path going through the middle.

Emma teamed up with Paulin to collect, wheelbarrow and dump the woodchip whilst Alex, David, Nelly and Richard collected bags of mulch to spread around the new garden and the existing garden beds. They all had a few little helpers as the young kids of the estate wanted to get involved where they could. Maria took on the last remaining job of watering all the plants, but needed to get the hose from the garage.

Despite the simple tasks we had, we still needed the full 40 minutes to finish off all three tasks. By the end of it, we had a thick woodchip path, all plants mulch and absorbing all the nutrients and minerals from it after being watered.

We said our goodbyes knowing that the next time we come back would be our last session in 2024. Emma and Richard dashed home from Dawson's Heights whilst the rest of us enjoyed the downhill run back to Old Spike Peckham.

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out last night. It was our penultimate session at Dawson's Heights allotment after going there for four sessions prior. We have been a massive help in getting the allotment setup. Let's finish it off with a bang on the 7th of August. Kudos to all and if I don't see you next week, see you soon!