Time for the ladies to take Center Pitch. Did a litter pick whilist on my walk today, lots of cans.

On one of the hottest days of the year, three determined GoodGymers – Emily, Isabella, and Jana – braved the heat to help tidy up the Staywell Garden in New Malden.

On arrival, we were welcomed by the manager Clair, who set us to work on a rather tangled mission: freeing the garden from the grip of bindweed. Armed with patience (and gardening gloves), we untwisted the clingy climber from anything and everything it had wrapped itself around. Once we’d done the delicate detangling, Clair’s friend gave us handy tips on bagging it up carefully – the plan being to treat the roots with weed killer the next day for a longer-lasting solution.

With the sun blazing above, we wisely sought refuge under the shade of the beautiful big oak tree, where we continued weeding and also gave the patio a good sweep and tidy. The whole team got stuck in and – incredibly – we completed the whole task in just two hours!

Shoutout to Emily, who joined us straight from a night shift – what a superstar! Meanwhile, Isabella kept us entertained with fascinating stories about shared living and her house-buying journey – garden chat at its finest.

To top it off, Clair kindly provided us with cold water, which felt like absolute gold on such a scorcher of a day.

All in all, a brilliant task with lovely company, leafy shade, and satisfying results. Bindweed: untangled. Patio: spotless. Spirits: high!

Another great session at Growbaby sorting the toys, clothes and donations.

This morning after negotiating the finding of another way in the building, the task, with some other volunteers was to check out the date of items and lay out some food cans and jars into crates ready for the onslaught of the students tommorow that need to use this resource. Anna then went up and down the stairs taking the resources needed to the correct level.

Tonight we had three missions in one! How did we do it? Four of our volunteers went to Refugee Action Kingston to sort the kid's clothes, another went to another RAK office to hang a blind and the rest of us went to Elm Road... phew! Here's the run report about our amazing volunteers...

Nettled but Not Defeated at Elm Road!

In sweltering heat, the GoodGym crew took on the nettle jungle at Elm Road playground, working with the local community group to help reclaim the space for local kids. Armed with spades, forks, and a few poorly chosen gloves (ouch!), we tackled the stubborn roots - some so long they felt like they were heading for Narnia.

Marcos and Tom kept spirits high with sports facts while litter picking, and Rachel captured the action on camera. Newbie John gave it his all but ran out of water - thankfully, local residents came to the rescue with bottles of the good stuff!

Despite roots hiding under the fence, we cleared a massive stretch and even uncovered some old mosaic tiles. One hot, sweaty hour later, the bed was clear and the team absolutely smashed it. Great work all round!

Such a sort out at Refugee Action Kingston

Claire, Anna, Laurel and Sabir ran and walked their way to Refugee Action tonight.

We were greeted by air conditioning which was a welcome relief plus lots of children’s clothes that required sorting. Having made signs for different age categories we sorted the clothes by size for boys and girls and boxed them up so that they could be easily selected by the customers. The area is now much more organised and I’m sure we will be back to tackle the coats another day.

Driller thriller

Dave went to a RAK office to help fix a blind. In his own words has a hot sweaty mess but at least the charity workers won't be now.

GoodGym Kingston - you are simply tri-mendous!

We spent a lot time sorting the toys out at Growbaby and Charlotte even managed to squeeze into a minion costume in a quiet moment.