We gathered at the Old Spike Roastery before setting off for our Christmas addition group run. Emma K and Rosemary were in the Christmas spirit with festive head gear. We did a short run through Peckham Rye park to Nunhead Salvation Army where a few other Goodgymers joined us at the task. Polis set us to work and a smaller group including - Daryl, Katy, Sam, Isaac and Steve helped moved some boxes and large items. The rest of us disinfected the toys they use for the baby groups held at the venue. Once everything was cleaned we had our obligatory photo and ran back to Old Spike for our cool down. Once we finished we headed to Voodoo Rays and where our Christmas Party began with Sam's annual quiz ! Credits to Andrada for the pics 📸

12 Goodgymmers braved a cold Wednesday evening to provide a much needed weeding of the Peckham Rye Tiny Forest

After a quick warm up we headed out around Peckham Rye park, running about 2km to the Tiny Forest. Once there we met Anna, who is a Goodgym Southwark member and Treekeeper for the Tiny Forest.

Though the night was dark we waded into the sea of grass, weeds and even some drooping sedge (a native of this country) and cleared areas around the trees. This helps the young trees grow, as at this early stage they can get out competed by the more aggressive grasses. It was already impressive to see the growth of some of the trees, which are only about 2 years old.

Once we made a big dent in the weeds we headed back to Old Spike, where we celebrated with Benjamin, who had reached his 50th good deed. Santa came early with Ginger cake and we know that there will be be a new tshirt in your Christmas stocking!

For this week’s group run we mixed things up by taking a new route to our monthly session at Thorlands. From Old Spike Cafe, we set off towards Camberwell Grove via Warwick Gardens. We then went through an alley to Love Walk and on to Thorlands from there.

Back in the Community Garden this week. We were picking up from where Lambeth left off the previous night and what we started last month. This involved laying down cardboard overlapped (to make it harder for the foxes to rip up). Before we got to work spreading mulch on top of the cardboard. Big kudos to Nelly who did a great job picking up the litter that had accumulated in the area.

Simon sends thanks for our work! We’ll see Simon again next month when we'll be moving logs to create seating areas in the Community Garden.

Today we went to Salvation Army in Nunhead to help out. After a 2k run Polis met us at the shop. After a quick tour of the old bookstore (which has had a glamorous new makeover) , Polis then introduced the task... smashing chairs!!

Polis showed us a huge mountain of chairs, which we had to move downstairs before dismantling with our legs and hammers. We quickly got organised. David, Daryl , James and Benjamin made a chain to pass the chairs down, to Nathan, Folarin, Sander and Mansur who got really good at dismantling chairs. Finally the helpful bee Nelly was clearing up and taking parts outside. Great teamwork! 🙌

As an added bonus, we were very excited to meet Nunhead Elvis, who was also helping out from Salvation Army.

Today we were also celebrating James' 50th good deed. Well done James! 🎂