It was a quiet Sunday morning on the banks of the River Thames, and as others were rolling out of bed, 6 GoodGymers (plus parental support!) were rolling up to the Canbury Garden Bandstand to join forces with the fantastic Plogolution team.

It was a STELLA turnout and we swapped our red shirts for white tops and were split into 2 groups of runners and walkers. With the runners taking a 5km route to reach the rubbish treasure troves further along the river, the walkers headed through Canbury gardens at a much more sedate pace.

Before we set off we celebrated a GoodGym hero as Samia hit her 250th Good Deed! A truly awesome milestone by an inspirational lady! What better way to celebrate than with a bouquet or welshness and carrot cake!

Our briefing was simple: pick up litter, save plastic bottle tops, avoid sharp glass and bring back your finds to the bandstand for sorting!

At first it was just the odd cigarette butt and piece of sweet paper, but as we got closer to the riverbank the size and weight of finds definitely increased, as Rob hauled a broken chain out of the bushes! We then found the rubbish party gold mine, an area of overgrown bushes, complete with discarded pants, buried bottles, hundreds of Stella Cans and a children’s purse filled with an interesting selection of greenery! Sometimes the “grass” isn’t always greener on the other side?! It turns out we were cleaning up Kingston in more ways than one!!

We headed back to the bandstand to survey our rubbish collection with the piles of recycling quickly mounting up with each plogger’s return. The cans, plastic bottles and glass will head to recycling and the plastic bottle tops will be used to help make children’s play areas. It was yet another great example of local community in action and great for GoodGym to be a part of it.

Another month, and can you believe it, another month of good weather on the second Saturday morning of the month! (Yes, I may have just jinxed our fortune...).

Today there was no need for our usual "bollards or Tesco?" meeting point conversations or being fetched by Sufiyo or Chris from the Friends of Ham Lands as their high vis jackets were visible from the lane. We made the most of the new path that we had created last month and headed along to meet them.

Our task today was a GoodGym favourite: bramble hacking!

We cut, set them free and then...

Heave ho!

Yanking, pulling, tugging, we drew them free and piled them into one giant heap of super bramble-ness. Through all the hacking, we made our newly-formed path wider and more accessible. And we got a very cathartic workout in the process - Eva could be heard giving the brambles a real run for their money from the other end of the path! We were left stumped by some resistant brambles, who will patiently wait to be dug out another time - we will get to the roots of this one!

Sufiyo told me how they're seeking a shed (4x6 - or a "smaller than Sufiyo by taller than Chris") as they have a space to put one to house the tools that they've secured funds for. So, if anyone knows of a spare shed going (and transportation!), do let me know!

Lots of achievements to cheer:

• Awesome work Eva on your 15th good deed and parkrun PB this morning!
• Fantastic to have Vanessa from Kingston and Jane from Richmond join us for your first good deeds - we loved having you along and hope to see you again soon!
• Well done Hannah on your second good deed in as many weeks - and rocking the T-shirt too!
  
• Thank you Rob for the photos and pun!
• Great to have you battle the headwinds to join us again and providing the mandatory Hounslow representation Mike (although feel free to leave the gusts next time!).
• An extra well done to Kate who overcame sickness to make it, such is her unstinting dedication to the butterflies - I'm sure the butterflies are grateful!

We'll be back next month (look out for the listing later today!) - see you there!