A bright and breezy Wednesday night took 5 GoodGym-ers to Glyndon Community Centre in Woolwich for tonight's task. With a spring in our step, we set to a spring clean in the outdoor area at Glyndon. Lots of sweeping and clearing of fallen leaves (not just ordinary leaves but super long palm tree leaves) later, we also started on much-needed declutter of the storage shed, making sure to recycle whatever we could.

Dismantling some broken planters was also on our to-do list, including a donkey planter, the front and back of which we just had to keep- hence this report's title...!

This left us time for a quick but effective littler pick, before a welcome downhill run back to Woolwich town centre.

Thanks all & see you soon! 😀

Today we met at the common for the monthly litter pick with the friends of Woolwich common. I'd just like to say I did a lovely 5k to get there - what a treat in the Sunday morning sunshine!

Ashton, Khai, myself and a lovely DofE student headed off into the wilderness to find some benches reported to be surrounded by bottles and cans and before long we found one bench with quite a haul. A little while later, our intrepid explorer, Ashton spotted a den of cans and bottles (probably near on 200) so we ploughed through the brambles to reach them and filled 5 bags - we'll have to return there next time to finish the job! The challenge was returning back to base with many heavy bags. Ashton and Khai attempted a stick over their shoulders technique - I could resist a Snow white and the 7 dwarves moment -Hey ho, hey ho, it's home from work we go

It was great while it lasted. "The bags dropped" Ashton said but "I'm still standing." 🎶 Had to get that one in there.

We staggered back to base (me wondering if I could make it, Khai saying "yes, you can-can")

Job well done. On Wednesday we're back at Glyndon and next Sunday we've got our green chain walk!

And so this week, ten of us met for another task at James Wolfe Primary School!

There were 5 steps to this task and our merry group proved our mettle by getting it all done with lots of detective work.

Step one: Treasure hunt to find the pictures of items that needed to be moved to different locations in the playground Step two: Roll all the tyres across the playground and up some steps Step two: Move all the crates Step three: Locate and move all of the piping and giant cable wheels Step four: Move a very heavy metal bench Step 5: Do a litter pick and general tidy up

The result? All the items were moved to the correct place (we hope) and the playground was a little tidier and cleaner.

Well done team and thanks for mucking in as always.

Next week we're back at Glyndon with a Woolwich start. Don't forget our green chain walk on the 6th April!

Until next time.

With 92 young runners at Eltham Park junior parkrun this morning, there was plenty of high fiving by Johnny and Sarah as they marshalled the course, while Peter was on timekeeping duty, recording those all-important finishing times.

Why not give it a go to get your Sunday off to a great start? We are lucky to have lots of parkrun opportunities in Bexley, so check the listings, sign up and don't forget your barcode!

And this was one of our last dark tasks because guess what folks, by mid April we will be finishing our task when the sun is up 😎☀️ Happy days!

But what a job we did tonight with our headtorches. After a run from the Naval College, the running group joined forces with the group meeting at St Richard's and after catching up on the ice breaker (what's our favourite thing about Easter -- unanimously chocolate), we got to work.

Some of those pesky weeds had come back so our task was to continue digging them out by the roots and laying down plenty of fresh cardboard and pinning it down with slabs to prevent the weeds growing back.

The time flew by as usual and half an hour later most of the alley was a sea of cardboard. Job done! Some of the team ran back to the naval college to top off the evening. Well done everyone and special welcome to Claire on your first session with us - hope to have you back very soon!

Next week we're meeting on Tuesday to help at James Wolfe Primary School .

Until next time!

*credit to Khai, pun-king

Yesterday 8 of us gathered for a foray back into Charlton Manor Primary School.

The task: paint the cloakroom, cubby room and construct a load of crates for the kids to throw their coats in rather than across the playground when they get hot.

Julian and Sarah got to task outside, putting the crates together with Joe. Meanwhile the rest of us got to work painting walls and skirting to freshen up inside. 45 flying minutes later and all the crates were up and most of the cloakroom and cubby room given a fresh lick of paint.

Good work team!

Next week we're at St Richards with a Naval College start.

Until next time!