It was GoodGym Richmond's monthly signature task: heading to our sponsored riverside plot to look after the grounds. We started with a warm-up stretch in Richmond town centre before setting off to the task, celebrating our progress so far in the January challenge. From there, some jogged, some walked and some cycled down the high street and along the riverside to our tool lock-up where we split into two groups: those getting straight into the task and those joining in a 15 minute fitness session. This involved squats, press-ups, standing ab crunches, lunges and some shadow boxing, all carried out by the light of headtorches and the music from Lucy's phone! The actual doing good bit was lively and energetic with a thorough sweeping of the arcade area, hefty turnover of the compost, litter picking, weeding and saving a willow support that had toppled over. The task finished with an annual tradition: making the year number ourselves. Previous versions have been hilariously illegible but it turns out headtorches make much better pens than bodies! Ken and Lucy even had an extra go at the GoodGym logo too! One final stop for the night: a nice sit down and a chat at the lovely White Cross, just along the riverside. All-round a lovely GoodGym evening that had it all - exercise, volunteering, socialising and feel good!

Two GoodGymers turned up to cut halos around a feature tree. Ken explained what this meant which was to remove the scrub around the tree to make it more prominent and reduce the competition from the adjacent trees. So in effect you are making a ring around the tree or cutting a halo around the tree… One GoodGymer on his first task (welcome Rowan!) was initiated into GoodGym by cutting angels features (halos) around a white popular tree. We tackled the magnificent white popular tree to the drip line taking all the scrub out in quick time and stacked it up for the Friends of Hatherop Park and Richmond Council to send in their woodchipper to finish the job. Task done, halos earned and one more step closer to earning our wings but Rowan already earned his halo.

The rain cleared, making it a lovely evening for a riverside task! Three of us made our way down to our regular spot at the 3 Pigeons plot by Richmond Riverside, and it was especially lovely to welcome Cecilia to the task.

With our handy garden tools and a lot of “…is this a weed?”, we got stuck into the task. The dandelions were out in force, one even managed to break a trowel, but between us we managed to clear a good amount. It was great to chat and catch up as we worked our way across the 3 pigeons plot.

By the end we’d made a really good dent, leaving things much tidier and ready for the next session. We’ll be back soon to keep this little riverside corner nice and tidy.

It was a lovely way to spend an evening — fresh air, good company, and the beautiful Richmond riverside right beside us.

Just three of us this evening but three hard workers who cleared as many of the leaves all over the lawn as possible, a full body workout!

No, Halloween hasn’t started early. We just used a plant fertiliser that had an interesting name! 4 Goodgymer’s spent a Monday evening task at the 3 Pigeons plot, where we cleared up autumnal leaves, did some weeding, cleared litter and sprinkled some fertiliser around the plot and in Buccleuch Gardens.

First time without our lovely Anita! We hope the move well!

This evening we headed to our sponsored riverside plot at the Three Pigeons. We go every month but this one was different as we were saying goodbye to a very special GoodGym Richmond member: Anita

Anita has been a member since 2017, was the first Richmond member to hit 500 good deeds and is already 150 beyond that. Beyond how much Anita has done for the community, she has been instrumental in the taking on, designing, leveling up and maintaining of our riverside plot. On task nights that means instructions with military precision but behind the scenes there has been even more work, liasing with the council, getting plant donations, planning task nights to make the most of them, and single-handedly looking after the area through drought periods and special events.

Although there is sadness at Anita's leaving as she heads off to an exciting new chapter in Swansea, the evening was a celebration of all that Anita has done - including her signature tasks: watering from the river and weeding with table knives! You can see more of what we got up to here: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DOX_wlTCBPT/?igsh=cDYxanUzbm43eXJ5

❤️Thank you so much Anita, from all of us and everyone who has walked past the arcade and Three Pigeons ans enjoyed the results of her hard work. ❤️