Tonight we had another lovely sunset run / walk to the Crystal Palace water tower where John split us into two groups: one excavating the delicate clay pipes running around the perimeter of the water tower base and the other clearing away the last of the foliage towards the back of the base. We made some interesting discoveries as we cleared, including a massive spider and a decades old crisp packet which sadly still hadn't disintegrated :(

As ever, the conversation was varied - from race day strategies for the Big Half in two weeks' time to favourite sweet condiments (Maltesers spread is now firmly on my list to try!)

A sudden and unexpected rain shower brought our session to an abrupt end, but not before we'd made good progress with our tasks. Have included a couple of before and after photos with this post - excellent work team!

We were back to the Water Tower at Crystal Palace this week after getting rid of many of the new weeds last Monday.

We met at Bridge House and gave our opinions on the best barbecue and other summer foods. From halloumi to aubergine to sardines, we had a great diversity of choices! After a quick warm up at the base of Crystal Palace Park, we ran up 🏃 and around the edge of the inside of the park 🏞️, which was nicely populated with locals enjoying the summer evening ☀️. Tackling the serious hills of the winding paths, the team arrived at the Museum and Water Tower ready to start work.

Clare and Cat tackled cleaning out the delicate pipework around the edge of the tower to get rid of the soil so that it can hopefully be restored. The rest of the group continued weeding, clearing loads of unwanted greenery in the 40 minutes we were there.

As we neared 8 o clock, we finished up and took the remaining waste out to the recycling pile before heading back down through the centre of the park back to Penge.

Brilliant work over the last 2 weeks, everyone! It looked like a jungle in there 10 days ago and now it's maintainable again 🙂

The bushes bit back as we returned to the Crystal Palace Water Tower 💦🗼 to discover that, despite our best efforts to remove the soil over the past 2 years, nature found a way.

We met at Bridge House on a hot day 🔥, but not too muggy and starting to cool off, ready for a run. This week's question - what's your favourite Olympic sport 🤸 to watch? Paris 2024 having begun to grace our screens from the start of the weekend, we had a diversity of answers from aquatics to gymnastics to archery.

With introductions done, we powered around the park 🏃 on Crystal Palace Park Road, climbing the steep hill (though less steep than the direct routes!) and reaching around the top to drop into the water tower (figuratively), where we met John and the news that we had our work cut out for us 🧑‍🌾

However, the weeds weren't deep rooted and the soil was ill, so they came out really easily and we did a lot in the allotted time. We bagged up our work and dragged it out, and said goodbye to John.

The run down was through the centre of the park with a beautiful evening view of Bromley and Bexley, veering off and round the south side of the park back to Penge.

John was really pleased with our efforts and we'll be back next week to carry on 💪

A toad-ally awesome 11 of us met up last night for a jog and some good deeding.

We were joined for the first time by Tim and Adam - welcome! 🙌

After a naming and fave biscuit loop, we hit the road. Hannah and Molly took the shorter, direct route, whilst the rest of us opted for the longest hill ever.

We arrived to meet John who was fully prepared with tools.

The water tower base at Crystal Palace Museum is an amazing historic structure and the museum team are keen to clear it out of soil, weeds and rubble so that it can be safely accessed as part of visitors’ museum experiences.

We focussed on a couple of specific areas, aiming to reach down to the concrete and pipes below.

John found a massive toad, hence the pun! 🐸

10+ bucket-loads of soil sieved later, we called it a day and headed back down the hill for some stretches.

Great stuff everyone 🥳

It was lovely to see so many GoodGymers join us for another trip to the Crystal Palace Water Tower 🗼 this week 😁

At the Bridge House we introduced ourselves and answered this week's question - "Where would you like to run a marathon?". A wonderfully diverse range of suggestions came up, from the self-indulgent ("Edinburgh, because it's a flat course and I'm lazy" - your report author) to the far away (Tokyo), the safe bets (London and Boston) to the classical (Vienna and Athens).

We then headed out to Crystal Palace Park for some warming up, before splitting off into long distance and shorter distance run groups 🏃. Cat, Clare and James headed round the perimeter of the park with their group, while Hannah and I took advantage of the light to cut through the middle with all its steepness leading our group to get to the Water Tower.

There we met John, impressed with our number, and got to work inside. Having removed much soil and foliage over the last couple of years, we're now into the detailed work of removing stones and small rocks 🪨, as well as carefully uncovering the remaining pipework that sits around the edge of the tower, alongside the last bit of soil removal.

Hannah found the old furnace 🔥 and confirmed she'd fit inside (thankfully it's been turned off for a very long time), while James did a sterling job of cutting out the shifting of soil into our makeshift soil sorter (a supermarket trolley) using a shovel by simply lifting the wheelbarrow the soil was in over the trolley. Fast work, if not light!

At 8pm we still had good light, but it was time to say goodbye to John and head back down the west side of the park and back to Bridge House for our cool down stretches.

Great contributions from all - see you next time! 👋

GoodGym X Coopah's Refugee Run Club

For today's session GoodGym teamed up with Coopah's Refugee Run Club - and what a team we made!

After Crystal Palace Parkrun (and a coffee for some!), we made our way to Crystal Palace Museum which sits beside the base of an old water tower (designed by Brunel!). There's a plan for the tower to be accessible to the public to learn about the history of the old Crystal Palace, but first it needs to be cleared of 90 years worth of soil, vegetation and rubble.

Shovel, shovel, soil and rubble...

David provided tools for us and we cracked on:

🌱 Pulling up weeds and shoveling and rubble soil into buckets

🛒 ↔️ The soil was shaken through a huge sieve (a supermarket trolley!)

🍂 The good soil was then wheelbarrowed out of the tower

🪵 We also pulled down a load of vegetation and chopped through some thick roots.

People Power! 💪

It's incredible what an enthusiastic bunch of people can get done in an hour and a half.

Nice work everyone! And we hope to see you again soon. 👍