Centuplicate

It was good to be back at Lewisham with you all tonight to see some familiar faces and the new faces that has since joined since my departure.

Welcome Mahala to her first GoodGym group run, hope to see you again soon, reckon you can get anywhere near Jacqueline's record?

Hundredth

Every Monday there is always something to celebrate in Lewisham, but tonight was even more special, **Amber completed her 100th good deed, I remember being at the first GoodGym run and being here tonight to celebrate her 100th was a very special moment. I can remember her first parkrun, first 10k, first half marathon, first marathon, not forgetting her first booth camp I been to where the quiet person I knew was no longer quiet but a very hard task master, she had us all sweating in foster park. Its been a great pleasure running alongside her and witness all those achievements. She's come a long way from where she began.

Ton

Congratulations Kim and Tom on who ran 100km at the weekend, in race to the stones.

Centenary

Well done guys we salute you both! Not forgetting their supporting team of Amber and Nykolette as if training for and running 100km wasn't a big enough task Kim even had time to prepare them an itinerary of the run route and pit stops she pictures.

Centennial

A warm Lewisham welcome to Gaj and Sarah on tourisim from Cronx. Sadly Croydon's loss may be Lewisham, Greenwich or Southwark's gain, Gaj has recently relocated to New Cross and is presently looking for a new GoodGym area, we over in Croydon are sad to be loosing him but I'm sure whichever area he decides to make his new home he will be well looked after.

Century

Tonight 22 runners ran 7.5km to Seniors to help in their garden, the route to and from senior's is always filled with great hill climbs and rewarding views. We were met by Cathy who had an array of task to be completed. She met us in the front garden where she explained what she would like us to do but not before asking us to be a little quiet as there was a yoga class going on in the hall.

We had people trimming the edges along the walk way, weeding the grass that had grown between the bricks on the patio area, repotting plants for plant sale which takes place on Tuesdays, working in the polly tunnel and shifting compost from the compost heap to one of the raised beds.

As they say more hands makes light work and that was surely the case today or maybe it was the though of the trip to Mama Dough's.

On the run back there was an interesting conversation going on about the best S@*T to be used for compost and this time I can confirm the conversation was not being led by Oli, king of the thrones. Clare, is an expert of manure and has a shortlist of the best so if you're ever unsure which to get I'm sure she would be more than happy to provide a recommendation. (there were 3 Claires today)

As we came into Ladywell the group got smaller as some shuffled of toward Mama Dough's, while the others who had left their belongings in the gym accompanied me back to Glass Mills, for the sprint finish and cool down session before heading back to Mama Dough's to celebrate.

Well done all and thank you for your efforts and energy you provided today.

Community mission coming up on the weekend, Litter picking pre-Hilly Fields parkrun, Tending to the saplings in Hilly Fields

Next week we will be going into the wilderness sign up here

Well Done Tom and Kim, you've done us proud.

Kim completed her run on behalf of Cancer Research if you would like to sponsor her click here.

With the sun on our faces and joy in our hearts, 27 runners covered 5km of running, helped at Crofton Books and took on a fitness session in the park.

What an epic weekend of goodness! We had volunteers at Bellingham Children's Centre, we had a whole posse of helpers at the Hilly Fields Fayre and we had a determined two, clearing away the Chelwood Nursery summer festival. All that goodness (and all that fun, the Hilly Fields helpers also enjoyed the Midsummer Fayre into the bargain!). A special mention this week for our four-legged mascot, Molly, who won herself a rosette at the dog show on Hilly Fields, she looks so proud of herself! Well done Mol!

All our Lewisham Love this week goes to Ben and Ruth, who joined us for their first ever GoodGym group run, what a fabulous evening to make your debut!

Opportunity to get involved!

• We have a community mission this Saturday, helping at Beecroft Garden Primary School. You can go along from 10am, but there will be someone there for a few hours, so you can go later if you have to go to the cafe after parkrun...:)

Knees and toes! Knees and toes!

We always have a bit of fun warming up before we leave, so a quick game of knee-tag and some heads, shoulders, knees and toes (and elbows and hands) got us working together before we had even arrived at our task. A big thank you this evening to Emma, for very kindly leading the way and to Clare for back-marking and keeping us together.

We were greeted in the front garden of the library by Jason, who quickly ran through all the jobs to be tackled this evening. If you take a look at the photos, you will see the sheer variety of jobs being done around the library and bookshop. We had:

• strimming, lopping, pulling and cajoling of weeds and HUGE thistles in the side area
• pruning the beautiful tree
• weeding between the tiles in the front area (this became an intense activity, with a butter knife being employed to remove moss)
• raking and clearing under the front hedge
• organising books in the bookshop
• bringing out recent donations and sorting, then pricing them

The figure(s), the better

It's always interesting when we visit Crofton Books, where certain character traits become apparent. We soon know who alphabetises their books at home and who has a niche interest. This time it was Emma's turn, as she took on a whole section of books, categorising them as 'Reading By Numbers' and, instead of filing them by name, they were put in number order. Really, how wonderfully nerdy?!

File like you mean it!

Time ticked away and books were put away, the gardening tools were silenced and gathered up and it was time for our group photo. You might have noticed the lovely new murals in Crofton Park, painted by local artist Lionel Stanhope (he is responsible for a few in the area). We couldn't resist using this as our group photo back-drop, with Jason risking life and limb to get the perfect shot!

Sow good to be outside

This week we didn't repeat the hills of Hilly Fields, with just one run up to the top. The GoodGym Olympics are coming up very soon (August 3rd) and we need to get more of our group signed up and REPRESENTING! In previous years we have had a strong Lewisham presence, so let's make sure we show those other areas what we're made of in SE13! To get us in the mood, we played a few (silly) games, including a bit of egg-and-spoon. It was interesting watching people who normally run very fast suddenly having to go very slowly! If you want to join in the GG Olympics, sign up here and get your heads together to think about which events you would like to enter (the deadline is this week!).

Next week Kim is leading the run (thank you Kim!), taking the group to a brand new task at Dalmain Primary School. There will be a few jobs to do, including gardening and painting - if you have your own gardening gloves, please bring them with you (there will be some spares). The run is longer than this week, totalling around 7-8km, so be prepared to push yourself a little bit harder!

Thank you Oli, for once again gracing our run report with his awesome punning skills!

Have fun!

On a fresh Bank Holiday Monday, 16 runners covered 3km to help out at Luxmore Gardens.

What a great turn out for a Bank Holiday, these people know how to wrap up a long weekend! A very big welcome and all our Lewisham Love this week go to Sarah and Rob, who joined us for their very first GoodGym group runs.

It was a busy weekend of volunteering, with some of our regulars up at Hilly Fields parkrun to help with the pacing, then nine of us were over at St Mary's Church in Lewisham to continue painting the railings that we started last summer. It was freezing cold, but we kept ourselves warm by chatting, sanding, painting, more chatting (and the cups of tea and biscuits provided by Marion really helped). You can read all about this community mission in Oli's run report. A shout out must go to Marta, who attended four missions over the weekend and tonight's group run, that's some impressive volunteering!

The top news item this week has to be Oli's 50th good deed. Oli joined us for the first time last May, when we were at the Hither Green Scouts, painting the walls. I knew from the start that we would get along, with his awesome ability to come up with puns and his willingness to share them (once again he has given us tonight's title pun and others in this report!). Well done Oli, here's to many more Mondays in Lewisham!

Prince announces arrival... of the garden tools

A big thank you goes once again to Kim, for leading our runners to the task, with Emma being a super back-marker, keeping us safe along the Lewisham Way. We arrived promptly at Luxmore Gardens and some of us helped to collect tools, while others got stuck straight in to the weeding. We carried on where we left off the other week, pulling out weeds and grass from where they weren't wanted, creating little mounds along the path. It turns out Mary is pretty knowledgeable about these things and became our go-to gardener for answers to the 'is this a weed or isn't it?' question.

Weed have you back every week!

It wasn't long before Jacqueline had found her first piece of treasure (I'm thinking she could open a museum with all the quirky things she finds) and Vic told us about her 20-mile recce of a potential race route (yes, 20 miles before a group run task!). Across the park smaller groups covered different borders, some using spades, some with trowels and some with their bare hands. We were joined at one point by a lovely and unusual-looking cat, so some weeds may have been overlooked. We made sure our furry friend wasn't scooped up in the piles of weeds being placed in the wheelbarrow, before tipping everything into a newly-formed compost heap. As everyone stepped back to see just how much had been achieved, I busily put out cones for a quick fitness session. It's interesting what happens when you divide the group into two teams...so competitive!

Thinking outside the box-squats

Back at Glass Mill, we stretched, congratulated Oli, ate lemon cake and looked forward to next week. On Sunday there is a chance to head into the Wilderness to help fix the outdoor kitchen roof. You can find out more here (thank you to Caireen for organising). On Monday we will run a bit further, to help in the garden at Seniors. There will be a number of jobs to choose from and a run of around 7km in total (with an awesome view en route).

Some of our runners will be joining the GoodGym Race Team in Sofia over the weekend, to race over various distances and enjoy a massive get-together. Good luck to all of you and we look forward to hearing all about it!