GG Lambeth were back last night visiting Jennie Lee Garden to help out our friends at Lambeth GP Food Co-Op as we continued to move the compost from the front to the back in the garden where the octo and nonagenerian patients can use it!

We were delighted to have Adam back with us this evening after a little time away following a health scare (welcome back!!) as the crew met at Papa's ready to run and cycle our way down to the task. The group was also fortunate enough to meet a rare Hungarian Sheepdog as Dyfed from the committee popped by on an evening walk!

Dan, Tilly, Fi and AA Yianny headed out across Brixton on a slightly longer run which makes this task so enjoyable as you really do get a cardio and pump session in and made good time arriving just as Heidi was pulling up on her back to meet us, armed with four short handled shovels (always handy in South London!)

We grabbed our wheelbarrows (including one now nicknamed Willy Wonka due to a flat / wonky wheel) and set about moving as much of the 4 one tonne bags' compost as we could. Without blowing our own horn the group managed in 40 mins to bring 3 bags inside and top them back up to almost full meaning there is only bag left - a fantastic effort from the team and Heidi.

And so after much enjoyable conversation, the saving of little cats lives and plenty of grunt work we were done. A big thank you to all and I will see you at the next one!

Our wonderful GG Lambeth team met at Papa's yesterday and we were delighted to have a special guest speaker (it was a bit like Primary School!) in the form of Dyfed who is chair of the Papa's Park Committee of volunteers.

He took the group through the exciting plans for the park and community centre and we discussed ways that GoodGym could support this going forward - we are of course happy to help out our friends however we can.

And so Ben, Tilly, Dan & Fi set off with AA Yianny to Jennie Lee Gardens over at King's College Hospital's sprawling campus, a nice flat route but slightly longer than most runs recently so a real workout when paired with the task.

Conversation this evening was focused around the awesome holidays people were either going on soon or just returning from.... thanks for sharing guys ;0( (joking!!)

We were met by Heidi on site who had prepared 6 shovels and two wheel barrows for us to move compost from the 4 one tonne bags outside the gardens to the bag and planters inside - simple hard graft shovelling sh** - a GG classic.

By the end of the session not only had we done our gym session but added a km to our running going back and forth while preparing two planters to be used by the patients as part of their rehab, we were feeling pretty good and it was time to head back.

There is still plenty to be moved so keep your eyes peeled for a follow up session in early March.

Thanks to all and see you next time :0)

Last night was a chilly one -- temperatures headed down towards freezing however the rain thankfully cleared and we were able to stay dry if not entirely unfrozen.

Ben and Yianny met at Papa's while Tilly headed directly to the task as she was carrying precious cargo (more shortly) where we were met by Jonathan who was covering for Mohah to let us in.

After the usual issues with the annoying padlock we managed to get in without having to break in which was great and Mohah had helpfully sprayed all of the items that were to be disposed of.

There were an incredible range of items including bed frames, timber, plastic items and everything in between so the three of us cracked on wheelbarrowing and carrying as much as we could over to the estate bins round the corner. This was a classic GG task with large piles of 'stuff' that needed to get from one place to another, so proper fitness was got.

It was muddy, it was soggy, our fingers were frozen but it was good fun and it was all worth it as Tilly had baked for the sweepstake and made delicious (I mean honestly they were amazing) Black Forest cookies.

We didn't quite manage to clear everything so one more session before year end is in order - keep your eyes open on the website for that one.

Thanks to all and see you at the next one :0)

So last night we had a bit of a change of plan - Ed from LGPFC called and emailed and they are having some logistical challenges meaning they were no longer able to meet at Pulross centre to do the planters. In the time available it wasn't possible to secure another task and so AA Yianny decided to put it to a group vote - do we bring forward the Social or head out for a run and litter pick....

Given the weather it was no surprise that the group decided to turn the session into a Coach Mission (sitting with an old man the AA) and instead chat all things GoodGym, Park Run, Races and beyond.

In light of this a big thank you to Katie, Michael, Fi and Tilly (who baked banana bread for us!) for coming out despite the weather ready to roll and for spending a lovely evening on a bit of GG team building!

In case you haven't seen it yet - check out the Great British Bake Off Sweepstake on the WhatsApp Group and get signed up if you want to be part of it.

See you next week at the Thor Lands :0)

Sometimes the best laid plans can come a cropper. This evening fell into that category for our intrepid Lambeth GGers.

Michael, Tilly, Fi and Yianny met at Papa's for a quick 1.5kms on the way to Swan Mews and we were met by Kymm at the task. Mohah and her sister Zara from the Grantham Road GP Practice were also there to meet us but unfortunately had been given the wrong combination code for the padlock to the gate this was issue number 1.

No matter, we managed to hop over the fence, pass some little wooden benches back over and everyone (even those wearing long skirts!) made it over the railings safely. Nothing like a bit of breaking and entering to get the blood flowing as they say.

Issue number 2 followed quickly after, the padlock key for the tool bin was not in fact the padlock key to the tool bin and so now we had tonnes of mature compost and no tools to shovel into the wheelbarrow and move. Being GoodGymers that wouldn't stop us as we'd made it this far so we scoured the gardens for anything makeshift we could dig and shift the manure with (plastic pots and a BBQ lid did the trick) and we were away.

Given the challenges we were happy to have completely filled one planter and at least the patients can get on with some planting and can slowly move the rest over a period of time.

All that was left was to clamber back out and take our group selfie - not a bad night's work if I do say so myself.

Huge thanks to all and if you are reading this then don't forget we have our end of summer social next week after the Group Run so get signed up!

See you next time :0)

Let's talk about last night! It was a perfect crisp evening for a run and physical task - the quintessential GG as we called it.

Michael, Tilly and AA Yianny met at Papa's for the 2.5km jog and discovered that we had our meeting room back which was welcome given the chilly temperature outside. We set off in good time and good spirits through a quieter than usual Brixton, heading to meet Caroline down at Jennie Lee Garden.

Frances cycled to the task directly and met us there as we headed in for a briefing and to pick up tools.

Despite a couple of shovels having gone missing we had two barrows and 3 shovels, just enough to ensure plenty of relays from the 1 tonne top soil bags to the planters in the gardens which needed filling. By ten past eight we were packing up having filled one planter ready for today's gardening session where many older patients will be outside getting some fresh air and learning how to plant lots of herbs and vegetables.

We set off with a sense of achievement after a very pleasant task so thank you to Ed and to Caroline for hosting us and coming out in the cold!

Once back at Papa's Michael was discussing the upcoming London Jazz festival and conversation turned to the Tokyo Jazz scene and from there it was a light hop to one of AA's favourite authors Haruki Murakami. If you're a fan then you already know ;0) but if you haven't come across his work I recommend you dive in!

Thanks all and see you next time!