It was a most lovely summers evening and lots of new runners plus some regulars too were all gathered at Papa's Park. We were ready to do some running and also to help out our community at the same time.

We celebrated Sylvie's 50th good deed with party poppers and then headed off for a warm up. We did a nice 'getting to know you' round where people had a good chat and made new friends. Then we were off down Brixton Road to the lovely Kennington park. Our last visit to the park helped them regain their Green Flag status so we all felt happy and a bit smug about that. There's never time off in this park though, oh no!

The bindweed needed some serious un-binding, the roses needed dead heading - luckily our petal-identifier in Chief Lucy was there to point out what was a leaf and what was a petal and what was alive and what was dead and therefore needed heading.

This is a petal! Said Lucy very helpfully

Rebecca and Kiro took to giving the shrubbery a haircut and we can all thank Kiro's mum for giving him a lesson in not leaving the cuttings on top as they go all brown and look ugly.

A crack team of litter pickers filled many bags with all kinds of wonder, including some bubble blowers, a party horn and a driver's license next to a particularly large and empty bottle of vodka.

It's a much more sophisticated drinker in the park these days, mused Steve as he collected thrown away craft beer cans

Some others watered the trees that were in need of a big drink. It was all a big effort and we got lots done.

With that we headed over to a leafy area and did some walk out planks before heading back to base for some stretches. Thanks Lambeth!

Sometimes the tasks we have at GoodGym, while always helpful to local community organisations, are less strenuous, and sometimes we get tasks which get our heart rates up and working those muscles. Last night was definitely the latter, with not one but two different jobs that required some serious GoodGym power.

But first we welcomed some lovely new runners to the group - everybody please give a big cheer for Holly and Polly who joined us for their very first group run last night!

After a few quick hellos it was off to the basketball court to do our warm up, which featured some manic whistleblowing, side steps, heel flicks and power skipping. With our heart rate up, there was just time for a headcount and a roundup of all the nice things that had happened to us in the last week. There had been some international travel, some personal milestones and more than one good ice cream eaten - what a happy few days!

With Katie feeling poorly (get well soon Katie!) it was George leading the group on a longer run to Clapham Common. This lovely 2.5k run each way has been a regular feature of Lambeth's group runs this summer, and what a brilliant job you've been doing helping to create a wildflower meadow in this lovely space. Last night was no exception, with the crew giving the place a good water and digging over, and also getting a massively good work out at the same time thanks to some hard ground! Sadly this was our final run to the common for this job, but the task owners said that the work you guys have been doing was 'instrumental' in the project.

"They did a little thank you speech for us at the end because we've been involved throughout and provided so much man power" said Alice

Nice work team!

Meanwhile, the second group had set off on a shorter run to the Grove Adventure Playground near Loughborough Junction for a number of jobs at this epically fun spot - which much to our delight featured a climbing wall and adventure playground. Sadly, this space is threatened with closure by the council, but a group of volunteers have taken on the task of tidying up the place so it can be used again for supervised play by kids who don't have access to safe outside space. What a brilliant initiative.

With Freya tackling the huuuge mowing job, there were also a massive pile of branches to saw up, and an even more massive pile of wood chip to spread at the base of the slide. It was action stations almost immediately and half an hour later the place was looking a lot more friendly. Check out the before and after shots! There was even a few minutes left for a little go on the colourful climbing wall.

After a speedy run back with only a tiny diversion (whoops) we got back to the basketball court and the two groups were reunited (...and it felt so good). We just had time to squeeze in a little tabata (TAbata? TaBATa? who knows) before calling it a night. The idea of this session is that you raise your heart rate high enough that you continue to burn calories after you've stopped exercising, while increasing your aerobic endurance levels at the same time. Suffice to say it's a tough work out, but innumerable frog jumps, power squats, plank jumps, burpees and high knees later, we were done. Well done gang.

Next week the lovely John Hunter will be leading you on what promises to be an ace group run to help out the bees before lovely Katie is back from her travels the week after. Thanks for having me Lambeth, it was great to see you!

This evening started with a merry celebration of Katie's 300th good deed and two year anniversary of being Lambeth trainer. Woo! Victoria and Tom dressed all in black and hid in the basketball court expertly decorating gingerbread people into GG runners with sparkly trainers. What more could I want? Thanks gang!

We had three lovely run options:

Group 1 went with Katie down Brixton Road to Kennington Park. The park is being judged on it's Green Flag status on Friday so we helped to tidy it up. One group got busy removing bind weed, another gave the hedges a close shave, some people went on a litter pick and more still did some excellent cleaning of signs all over the park. We did a top job and fingers crossed the park keeps its status as a nice place to be.

Groups 2 and 3 went to GP surgeries to support the GP Food Coop. This great group puts plants and veg in surgeries and hospitals in Lambeth for a nicer environment and also for patients and staff to get involved with.

Group 2 went with Issy up to Streatham. They covered 7.5km and transferred a big bag of soil out pf the surgery, past the security guard and into the garden! They were rewarded with delicious strawberries from task leader Elizabeth's allotment. Yum!

Group 3 went with Tom Hunter to West Norwood...maybe even just Norwood. It was far! 7 runners ran 10km to Crown Dale Surgery in Upper Norwood. Where we were met by Brenda (and Brenda’s excellent doggo Riley). She explained to us all the benefits of the GP Food Co-Op Scheme, in providing community spaces for people to learn about growing some tasty fresh fruit and veg.

We quickly shovelled some soil into the last empty plantar. Then made room for an intriguing sounding vine growing space along the side of the building.

After finally convincing Riley the dog to sit still long enough to be featured in our group photo, we were on our way home. Lovely Summer’s evening for it.

She was so happy! Said Tom Hunter

And with that it was back to base with everyone, some walking lunges, single leg deadlifts and stretches. Then home! Thanks for being great as always - here's to the next 300 runs!