This sunny Sunday we joined the Friends of Lesnes Abbey and Woods for their monthly conservation session.

After a lung-busting 1k uphill march to The Heath (with a wheelbarrow full of tools) , we continued an ongoing battle with invading bracken, and rampant brambles and holly, to make way for heather to reclaim the area.

Pulling up ferns and cutting back the other foliage is a surprisingly good workout, and time flew by as we chatted with the other volunteers.

After a few photos, it was a scenic downhill stroll to The Chestnuts kiosk for teas and coffees, and more chatting.

Until next month.... 👋.

With a sunny, colourful start line, we were at Lesnes Abbey Woods junior parkrun marshaling 57 young runners around the three lap course.

High fives and smiles galore.

Volunteering at junior parkrun is such a great way to get involved in the local community.

Same place, same time next week... see you there?

I made a long awaited return to GoodGym duties along with Susan, Martin and Cami who was participating in her debut GG task ✨️ - welcome Cami.

We were due to be washing the minibus at Parkview Care Home 🧽💦🪣. However, the evening became somewhat confused when, arriving at the care home, no minibus was in view 🤔.

With the absence of sponges and minibus, the task was aborted. We were offered weeding 🌿, but given the excellent work undertaken by GG Bexley on previous visits, there was a lack of weeds.

So, it was suggested to come indoors and engage with the residents in some games and quizzes.

Susan and Martin played pairs with a number of residents, to match pictures of well-known celebrities such as Morecambe and Wise; Johnny and Sarah were missing from this list.

Cami run a quiz session involving capital cities, while I had a challenge from Catherine, the resident Scrabble champion. A very competitive 40 minutes were spent with Catherine coming out on top.

An enjoyable evening for all concerned and we'll be back to share other activities!

A fab new task found us at Phoenix Football Club painting the home changing room green, to match their team kit. A fitting task during the Women's Euros ⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️ !

From kick-off we had great teamwork and coverage, and tackled the corner with skill. At full time it was job done and no need for penalties. Looking forward to a return fixture for a second coat.

⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️

Well, it was once more unto the breach, dear friends as we returned to attacking the wall of mostly black (but not all) bagged donations, stacked up in trolleys waiting at the Greenwich and Bexley Hospice warehouse. Waiting, indeed, for some ‘expert’ sorting by seasoned old hands and GoodGym-ers Caroline and me.

Once again, we tackled a huge assortment of new, nearly new, not bad, okay, just-about-usable or ‘I don’t think so’ type clothing. During the session, we did uncover a couple of mildly amusing T-shirts, plus a hat which I rather liked.

Supervisors James and Andrew were as friendly as ever, and we were all treated to some onion bhajis and samosas—cooked on a donated air fryer which was being tested. We’re prepared to make sacrifices. It works—yay!

Simon

Who needs the gym when you have an overgrown flower bed and its underlying weed membrane to clear?

This is certainly the case at Holy Trinity Lamorbey Church where we are helping to tidy up the flower beds along their perimeter wall. Left untended for a long time, brambles and weeds have well-and-truly taken over and this was our second visit to continue the makeover.

This time we were tackling a stretch next to the border that we'd cleared on our last visit.

Alongside parishioner Kevin, team Lisa-Sarah-Karen-and-Susan cut back and dug out the greenery then heaved out the buried and tired weed membrane, wheel-barrowing all the debris to a collection point in the woodland area. It was a good workout in the evening heat 💪.

The bed now looks much tidier and the newly-exposed soil will have a chance to recover ready for planting in due course 🌻 .

At the same time, team Johhny-and-Martin tackled a few cheeky brambles 🌿 that had grown back in the patch we cleared last time. It took lots of effort digging out the roots but hopefully they'll be kept at bay for a while.

From our arrival at 7pm to our finish at 8pm the difference was clear for all to see. So it was time to open some bubbles 🍾 and cut the cake to mark Lisa 's 50th good deed. The celebrations continued with a toast at the micropub across the road. Well done, Lisa 🎊.

As an unexpected surprise across the evening Susan told us that her parents were married in this church 💒. This gives us an extra-special reason to keep lending a hand here 💕.

We'll be back again on Wednesday 13 August so sign up now to join us!