Mostly we removed brambles in the sunny sheltered back garden, but many more remain. Also mowed the lawn, planted and weeded.

Gardening at the Marsha Phoenix Trust is a favourite post Hilly Fields parkrun task as it's only 500m round the corner. Today Vic and Jacqueline made this their second mission of the day having volunteered at parkun and helped Sue (the garden designer) with some bramble removal and tree planting. One dead tree was removed (see photo of Jacqueline's removal technique) and three new ones planted: apple, cherry and plum. Should all look great in the spring. 🌸🍏🌸🍒 🌸

(couldn't find a plum emoji) 😉

On Monday we said goodbye to one of our regular Lewisham GoodGymers - Adam! In true GG style, we made him a card full of puns and made sure he had lots of brambles to clear for his last GG task! Adam has done a huge 135 good deeds and has got stuck into all tasks and in all weather. We'll miss you Adam and you're welcome back anytime!

For the task this week it was time to head back to Marsha Phoenix Trust to tackle some of the bigger tasks in the garden including clearing brambles, weeding, pruning and a lot of debate on whether we should mow the lawn or not! Spoiler alert - we did mow the lawn!

We had a visit from the resident cat that likes to show its face whenever we visit the garden. As it was a shorter run we had plenty of time to get all the tasks done and even time for a cup of tea and biscuits (thanks Sue).

We have a regular monthly community mission at Marsha Phoenix Trust, timed conveniently for after Hilly Fields Parkrun - the next one is on 30th September.

GoodGym regulars Vic and Steve headed to the Marsha Phoenix Trust after Hilly Fields Parkrun, both glowing with a course PB under their belts. Expert landscape gardener and GoodGym fan Sue met us there, and we got the lay of the land and instructions from her on what was in store for us to do.

On Bank Holiday Monday 28th there will be a GoodGym group run here, so Vic’s main task was to focus on cutting back and clearing access to the side of the studio building for when a larger group can tackle the brambles and ivy that have overgrown that area. Steve, feeling the effects of the previous evening’s GoodGym Social, decided it best to stick to the meditative task of mowing the large lawn.

And obviously, Grey Photogenic Cat showed up to see what we were doing and adorably interrupt us.

A tea break and a catch-up were a welcome pause before everyone got back to work on some shorter tasks to finish out the session. By the time we said our goodbyes, the garden looked a good sight neater and the compost bins were full to the brim of clippings and cuttings.

Sign up below to join our group run in a few weeks’ time!

On a sunny, cloudy, windy and rainy Saturday morning Isaac and Steve arrived to help out at the Marsha Phoenix Trust, led by local professional gardener and GoodGym friend, Sue. The Marsha Phoenix Trust is a longstanding organisation offering shelter to young women in this corner of Lewisham, and the garden we would be helping look after is an important part of daily life and recovery here.

The three of us started with some tidying of the beds and bushes at the front of the building before moving to the main even of the large back garden. Here there were palm fronds to be gathered and composted, a lawn to be mowed and sadly a mature plum tree full of fruit that had toppled and split.

By noon it was time for a customary cuppa, and biscuits were supplemented with some fresh plums salvaged from the tree. A little more time tidying and clearing away debris and tools and were were ready to say goodbye and head off to enjoy the rest of our weekends.

This mission occurs roughly every month, so please keep an eye out for it on the GoodGym website, and sign up next time!

It was an exciting evening as we headed to Marsha Phoenix Trust to tackle some big tasks in the garden. Marsha Phoenix Trust has been a regular monthly community mission for the past couple of years and it was great that we had the chance to be visiting as a big group. And a big group we were!!

Just one minor hurdle to get over before we arrived at the task and that was the massive hill leading up to Hilly Fields.

Sue was there to greet us at Marsha Phoenix Trust and first job was to bring the brown garden waste bins through multiple doors to the garden.

There were plenty of tasks for everyone to get stuck into including weeding the pathways, mowing the lawn, cutting back brambles, digging up trees (or using the mattock), sawing a tree and sweeping.

We got so much done - it was amazing to see the difference!! We were also very grateful for the end of task jammy dodgers - thanks Sue!

We're hopefully going to be heading back in August to tackle some more big tasks. The monthly community missions will be continuing in the meantime if anyone fancies a return trip.