Southwark News

• Next week the awesome new trainer Ian is taking the group on a 7k round trip to Galleywall Nature Reserve to get stuck into the allotments. Find out more and sign up here.

• Saturday 7th September come on down to paint Peckham Rye parkrun red. Sign up for a volunteer spot on the spreadsheet found here. And if you're looking for an extra fix of good there's litter picking pre-parkrun for Peckham Rye Summer Fete.

• Final call for Big Half community places! Only £10! Email me lucyj@goodgym.org for details, you must be signed up by the end of August. I'll be coming back for it so look out for a pub lunch being organised afterwards.

• Surrey Docks Farm are putting on a gardening workshop for us! Date yet to be confirmed but keep your eyes on the website for it.

A flipping good handover

Last night an all time Southwark-record-smashing 37 people (THIRTY SEVEN!) descended on Old Spike Roastery to run 6km to Bell House in Dulwich. There was a queue for the sign up sheet! There's never a queue for the sign up sheet! Unbelievable scenes.

Bell House is a stunning Georgian House that currently houses an educational charity that offers support outside the mainstream school curriculum, lifelong learning, short courses, exhibitions, talks and musical events. You can find out more about them here. We've been visiting for nearly two years and seen the garden taking amazing shape.

The rain stopped, just for us!

We set off in two groups - party pace (slower) and 'in a hurry' which quickly became three groups because there was so many of us! To get to Bell House we run straight up Barry Road which is a solid mile of uphill - tough going! Then we pass through gorgeous Dulwich park before ending up at Bell House. Our tasks? One group turning and moving compost, one group weeding (and fussing over Clementine the dog). We got an insane amount done - giving the beds a good sorting out and turning over huge amounts of compost - that would have taken George hours to do on his own.

Hello and welcome to Ineke who came on her first group run tonight!

Before we knew it time was up and we needed to split into three groups to run back home where we stretched and went immediately next door to Batch.

And now the soppy bit

Being at Old Spike Roastery every single Wednesday evening come rain, shine or anything in between has been the joy of my week since February last year. There is no other job (or anything) in my life that has grown my confidence, strength and compassion like GoodGym Southwark. Last night saying goodbye to people individually I realised that as trainers we are in such a special, privileged position. We are a constant in lives that twist and turn around us, we are a reliable friendly face, a hug, a question about that race you did, we are there to support every single runner in whatever capacity they need that day. How do I express what that means to me? All I can really say is that whether you've come once or you've come a hundred times to a group run please know that your presence has at some point made my day.

There are many, many thank yous to say. First of all to the amazing individuals on Southwark taskforce who have been with me every step of the way, from last minute task cancellations to finding new task contacts to being the lively, joyful heart of the group. Thank you to those who arrive early and chat with me about their day, thank you to those who arrive (just about) on time and scrabble for the sign-in sheet. Thank you to the people new to running who bring their enthusiasm, their interest, their fresh energy and thank you to the veterans for their wisdom and encouragement. Thank you to all of you for putting up with the same exact intro speech and jokes for the last year and laughing politely at the particularly bad gags about peanuts. Thank you to those that organised and contributed to my gifts - what an amazing peanut butter gluten free cake! Who knew such wonders could exist! I look forward to putting my fabulous tea towel to good use and of course those amazing gardening tools. Thank you for becoming my friends and my family. I cannot wait to see what you all do next.

And last but by no means least, thank you to Ian for taking on this wonderful group of people and undoubtedly taking GoodGym Southwark to new and exciting heights. I know you will love it as much as I do because, after all, there's really nothing quite like it.

Keep running happy,

Lucy J

Southwark News

• Next week Ian Gostling, GoodGym Lewisham alumnus and musical-theatre extraordinaire and NEW SOUTHWARK TRAINER will be joining us and leading part of the run. Come along and have a chat! Task and distance TBC. Find out more and sign up here.

• I still have Big Half community places left! Instead of £40 something the places are only a tenner. It's 1st March 2020 and you need to claim your place from me before the end of August. Email me lucyj@goodgym.org fo info

• 14th August is my very last run, I would love to see you there! We're running 6km overall to Bell House. Find out more and sign up here.

• Simon Fitzmaurice is leading a long run on 25th August. It starts in Greenwich and there's a 25km or a 10km option. Find out more and sign up here.

That's enough of the business

Last night we ran 3km overall to do watering, weeding and woodchip shifting at Grove Park Allotments.

The allotment space can be used by anyone and has plots specifically reserved for community groups like Refugees in Southwark and Primary Schools. It's currently a community group but it's applying for charitable status soon.

Shout out to Abigail who came on her first ever group run tonight! We hope to see you again soon :)

The space looks amazing at this time of year, with asparagus, artichokes, raspberries, plums, lavender and more blooming beautifully. We set to work in groups: one group weeding around the apiary (that's bees not apes), one watering specific plots and another shovelling the last of the woodchip to be spread in certain plots. In 40 minutes we'd moved all the wooddchip and spread it, thoroughly helped Gian Franco (the beekeeper) with his area and given plenty of plots a good drink! And we may have had a few cheeky raspberries and plums along the way...

A big thank you as always to Liz for having us over. They've got a pond in the works so it looks like we might have some mega digging tasks coming our way!

Great work team, see you next week!

Lucy J

21 runners ran 8km to empty planters and do a general tidy up at Camberwell Subterranea

Southwark News

• We're doing a parkrun takeover! 8th September, Peckham Rye Parkrun. Bring your red (or black) tshirt and a smile. If you're interested in pacing sign up on the spreadsheet. Let us know you're coming here.

• Rutland Water, the penultimate of the Big Six this year is coming up. Sunday 16th September - there's a half marathon, a marathon and a marathon relay. Find out more here.

• A big woop to our new runners - Caitlin, Sarah, Natalie, Emma and Eleanor! Give them a cheer!

That's enough of the bee-sness

Bee-n and done it!

Last night a whopping 21 of us went Camberwell Subterranea (part of Bee Urban) to meet Nick. We split into two groups - one 'in a hurry' and one at 'party pace'. The 'in a hurry' group arrived first (because they're in a hurry!) and Nick put them to work. There were countless planters on the roof where the bees hives are that had shrivelled up in all the heat and needed bringing down. The good earth in them then needed spreading on the planters below by the bike workshop. We shifted at least 15 planters! Core blimey!

It was heavy work but we got all of them spread out on the fruit trees and such like. We also set about generally clearing up the area - sweeping leaves and moving rubbish. It was all fun and games - Theo found a mandrake!

Looking forward to seeing you next week when we're off to Galleywall Nature Reserve, it's a 7km total run. Sign up here.

Keep running happy!

Lucy