The now familiar visit to Waitrose followed by a short diversion to M&S to pick up tinned fruit for the always grateful Mrs A this morning, and with a combination of Calgon and Finish tablets on today's list both her laundry and her dishes should be sparkling for the next few weeks too...

Last night’s session took us back to one of our favourite places – the incredible St Andrew’s Club in Westminster, which is the oldest youth club in the world. It has been serving the local community since 1866, and is truly special place for so many young people. The club offers every activity imaginable, from music to karate, healthy cookery to screen printing.

It was brilliant to see some new faces join the session – a big warm welcome to Monica, India and Chris! There were two main areas to tackle so we split into teams and got to work.

The first team took on a room packed with musical instruments and kit. From keyboards to amps, mics to mixing desks, the room needed a reshuffle. Lifting, shifting, stacking, and sorting – it was a full-body workout but by the end, the space was transformed and ready for young creatives to make some noise again.

Meanwhile, the other team tackled a room brimming with hundreds of pairs of shoes – all in boxes, all in need of sorting. Thankfully, our dream team included a former children’s shoe salesperson, an expert in prosthetics fitting, and a fashion retail expert – so we were qualified for the task! After 45 minutes of teamwork and sorting, there was a lot more space to use.

With time left for a cardio and conditioning session, we wrapped up the evening with a short but intense blast. Everyone showed amazing form, especially during the brutal mountain climbers and our ski jump finisher. Huge effort all round!

Thanks again to everyone who came. Next week we’ll be out distributing food to rough sleepers and we’d love to have you with us. Hope to see you then!

All was going smoothly around the aisles of the world's politest supermarket this morning, (I'd even avoided being asked for ID at the lottery ticket counter), until I reached the checkout when, having had a very pleasant chat with the nice lady about trying to find something positive in each day (a long story best left for another time...), I reached into my pocket to discover that I'd somehow lost/dropped Ms D's £30...

Another equally nice lady behind me in the queue said she'd seen someone pick up some money in one of the aisles a few minutes ago and hand it in to the store manager, who happened to be passing the checkout just at that moment. When I explained my predicament (and told her it was a 20 and a 10) she went to the desk and handed over an envelope with the money in it. The lady behind the checkout just smiled...

Revisiting Ms S' casa after almost a year, there was a big difference. She decided to make more use of her garden and live an alfresco lifestyle, moving a lot of her furniture and belongings into the sun trap linked to her basement apartment.

Today, her giardino and apartment felt like the Amalfi coast, maybe helped by the Roman style column that Ms S was painting outside. Back inside there was marble flooring visible too.

"I can see the floor now [in the living room]" - Sevan

Being able to see the floor was a change to last time and also important for the mission as Ms S wanted Kash and Sevan to build a tall cabinet. Putting big things on the ground was essential to them building something for Ms S to put her tableware in for entertaining.

The cabinet had been ordered from Temu and this was the first time that Kash or Sevan were building flat pack furniture from there. Sevan had very low expectations for the quality of instructions or materials, but one of them turned out to be surprisingly good.

As the GoodGymers unpacked the 2 large boxes, Ms S offered refreshments. She remembered the tea (chocolate & vanilla rooibos) that the pair had enjoyed last year. Today was too hot though, so some water would be fine, even if it wasn't ice cold. Then, Ms S had an even better idea. She had a bottle of prosecco, nicely cooled in her fridge. Kash thought it wouldn't improve their furniture building abilities, plus they had a 6km run to their next mission on empty stomachs, so they stuck with water. Not to be deterred in getting Sevan into an Italian vibe, a Cornetto appeared, which he couldn't say no to 🍦.

The furniture building was slow and mostly uneventful. The instructions were actually very good, even if the build quality was only so-so. Mostly uneventful meant that there was an "event" and that happened when Kash and Sevan triumphantly pushed the completed top and bottom pieces together and started pinning the back panels in place. A gap appeared above one of the panels and they realised that the 2 main parts weren't actually screwed together 😯. After a quick rifle through the instructions, a fix was made and the cabinet was done... and properly assembled.

Ms S was extremely happy and explained to the pair what would be moved out of bags and boxes into the new storage space. Another step towards her turning her apartment into a liveable home.

Mrs A had managed to burn the toast this morning (both pieces...), and her flat was a little smoky when I arrived at her front door - so my first mission was to open her kitchen window for her as she couldn't reach - a breeze of fresh air was most welcome to us both!

Her list was a little longer this week but hopefully all manageable - in the end there were a few substitutes as for once the shelves of the world's politest supermarket didn't have exactly everything that Mrs A was looking for, but a brief diversion via M&S to pick up tinned fruit ticked off the last couple of items and I was soon back at her (now slightly less smoky) flat to deliver her treasure. As always Mrs A was extremely grateful for the assistance (both on the window and with the shopping!).

** A Towering Team Effort with Tom's Run Club 🌱🏃‍♂️**

Yesterday's session was in collaboration with the fantastic Tom’s Run Club, a friendly and inclusive running crew known for combining social miles with a real sense of community - and plenty of post-run socialising! We met up at Bermondsey in high spirits, so after lots of introductions and a whole load of energy we did a warm-up that got the blood pumping.

With the sound system fired up, we hit the streets—winding our way through the hustle of London Bridge and along the Thames to our destination: the new garden by the Tower of London.

This isn't just any garden. It's part of an inspiring project by Grounded Ecotherapy, a community-focused organisation that supports people in recovery or facing mental health challenges by connecting them with nature. They’ve been transforming what was once a sad, neglected space into a lush, thriving green haven—and we were here to help keep that momentum going.

Once we arrived, we split into teams and got to work. Before we could tackle a huge planting task we had a serious challenge: hauling bags of stones up the stairs. A proper workout, with a purpose! Then it was onto getting the greenery into the ground. It was incredible what a difference it made - what was once just concrete planters suddenly came alive with pollinators, herbs, flowers and a whole range of other plants.

And just when we thought we’d earned a rest… we finished with a squat challenge followed by a cheeky core triathlon that had everyone working hard.

With the job done and muscles worked, we wrapped up with a shorter run back to base, took a team photo, and hung out for a well-earned post-run social. Running with Tom and his crew was a real pleasure—here’s to more teamwork, more miles, and more positive impact ahead. 💪🌿