T'was the last Tuesday in November, which meant it was Shit Prize of the Month (SPOTM) time...who was to bag the goodies such as a notebook in the name of Steve Jenkins, some trolley pound things, a pen, an oven timer and a compass? Why, it was none other than task force member and good deeder extraordinaire Vix, who was on her 11th deed of the month and counting. WHAT?! Top work and may your good deeding be recognised by Father Christmas this year.

It was a chilly evening and so after some lovely warming up, we split into two groups.

Team one conducted Operation Rustle - led by Tom Benson....

A crack team of nine of us decided one task was not enough, so decided to double up our duties. First things first we busted into 4 teams and hit Brixton with loads of flyers to spread the word for a cracking homeless charity who believes everyone should get to open a gift on Christmas day.

After operation flyer was done we regrouped and all agreed it was flipping Baltic, so decided to peg it quick sharp down the road to Hillyard House to meet Julie. She had a special mission for us. In the main garden of this residential home she showed us a large pile of twigs and leaves that required moving into a compost patch. Now for technical reasons outside my knowledge, Julie had been told she was not allowed to move them and wait for someone to decide what to do with them. Well Julie was having none of that and so she may have showed us what to do and somehow all the pile ended up moving, as if by GoodGym magic. A lot of it involved piling leaves into a large pink plastic sheet and moving them that way. After we dusted ourselves down and had a group shot we hopped on our good feet and pegged it back to papas. Well done team, Operation Rustle was a clear success!

Team two conducted Operation Hustle - led by trainer Katie....

We split into two groups - those who wanted a 5km round trip to reach Brixton Youth Club and those who wanted to take the shorter 1-mile stretch down Brixton Road. Once we arrived at the youth club, we all knew what to do! There were many, many leaves to be gathered and bagged ready to be taken away. Armed with an assortment of rakes and brooms, we gathered SUCH LEAVES!

With momentary jumping jacks warm up breaks we finished the job and headed back to base for some stretches and then home for a hot shower to warm back up again!

TOP WORK LAMBETH!

This week 12 GoodGym-ers ran 4km to shift sawdust and sweep leaves in a local park.

We started with intros at the Phoenix as always. I mentioned that there are 10 coaches in waiting for runners - so if you're interested in visiting one of those people, please do complete your coach runner training so you can get the ball rolling!

Shout out to our two new Task Forcers: Nicola and Paul – Give 'em a cheer!

Damian lead us to the Northway Gardens while Graham was our trusty back-marker.

Brian was waiting for us with two cars full of tools and leaves, ready for shifting. We split into teams to grab all the things and head through the park to our drop off point. Luckily, there were many of us with lights, as the gardens had no lights. We are now running in full-blown darkness, so I really recommend getting yourself a head torch. My fancy hand light was from Morrisons - £7. My head torch from Poundland no longer stays on my head – but still makes light and fits in my palm.

We shifted many wheelbarrows full of sawdust from the chopped down trees from around their stumps so the people could come back and finish the job. We also swept many leaves into buckets for compost.

We'll be back on 7 November to do the next bit. Be sure to sign up!

We then played Duck Tag and Squat Runs on the tennis courts, where we discovered Paul and Nicola are incredibly spry.

We soon ran home, with a little sprint finish UP the hill. Props to Graham and Jack for being so speedy!

Next week we've had a change of plan - We'll be running to the WDP not Community Focus. 3km each way.

Headtorches were donned and black cats were met as Lambeth carried out two tasks and loads of work at the Portico Gallery and Hillyard extra care home! Plus BREAD WEEK in Bake Off

We had a new task this evening, supporting Hillyard House extra care home. They support older residents who may have mental health or physical difficulties to live out their old age in a fulfilled way. The site has a lovely garden and GoodGym was tasked with creating a SECRET GARDEN towards the back of the site. We had to sneak around behind some shrubs and then clear an area that would be hidden from view by hedges. Residents will be able to explore this new garden and hopefully enjoy the peace and quiet. Armed with saws, secateurs and all manner of other garden implements, we set about this fun task. Soon, huge branches were appearing from the undergrowth and the compost pile became a mountain of old shrubbery. Rebecca Nellis got seriously busy sawing down an old tree and in 40 minutes we had cleared a massive area and swept up for good measure. The task leader Jenny was just delighted, as were some of the residents who came out to watch our work. We ran the 1km back to base and did some strength work before stretches.

The second group took the 8km round trip to the Portico Gallery. John Hunter tells all:

14 of us went up to the Portico where another member of John’s family empire, Sholto, was deputised to instruct us on moving piles of florist’s tables from one bit of the yard to another. After we nailed the table task, it was onto a Portico stalwart - the soggy tarpaulin. We made a human chain to do this. Passing this down the human chain made everyone sad, but then Methusulah the cat came along to visit each person in the chain like at a wedding or funeral, except it was definitely more like a wedding by the end of Methusulah’s visit because everyone was so happy.

Sholto said “I am happy because that would have taken me all afternoon to do that”. And he was happy too.

Sadly John H's camera went into meltdown so the lovely snaps got lost, but here they are described in words:

1: A variety of people looking sad because they got dripped on by the tarpaulin

2: Elise werking the “I’m not currently doing anything” look

3: Elise carrying a bit of fence

4: Sholto standing proudly by his work lamps

The brilliant Jack and Beth also completed a mission with the run time - clearing a garden so an older person can enjoy it. Brill!

On return to base, everyone enjoyed Katie's Bread Week offering after Flo really screwed up her Captain's Treasure Trove last week. OH FLO! We tucked into some delicious cinnamon buns and headed off into the night. TOP WORK.

This week 16 GoodGym-ers ran 5.5km to help the Barnet Furniture Centre with a flyer drop around Muswell Hill.

We were treated to a guest appearance from GG Barnet oldie Mark this week – give him a cheer!

Lots of hills for us to run up – with even more stairs for us to climb. Damian lead us to a residential part of Muswell Hill while Heather was our trusty back-marker. We split into teams to cover as much ground as possible.

We regrouped under the bridge, where Freya lead us up the stairs to a secret pathway up above London with the most beautiful view. Danica donned her badger face for the photo op before we ran back down to continue the flyering.

My team ran up a giant hill to flyer houses all a million steps away. GG Barnet is building legs of steel. Prima said flyering with the GG crew made running up hills a whole lot better – which everyone agreed with. Running up is always better with company.

The two teams then came together to split up for a final flyer push, before putting the remaining stacks back into our bags and heading towards Cherry Tree Woods for some games and burpees.

After all the running, I figured I'd be nice and let everyone sit down. So we played Duck, duck, goose. After several rounds, we played a game of Bulldog before finishing with the Barnet Burpees. Shawn and Paul were pretty speedy with the burpees and Heather requested we do the worm instead. Turns out none of us can do the worm. Something to work on.

We then ran back to base for this week's Barnet Biscuit: Flapjacks, courtesy of Damian

Well done, team!

Anyone looking to do a Parkrun with Freya this Saturday, sign up to Ally Pally here. More hills, beautiful views at the top.