We had 8 GoodGymers for our group run this week including first timer Annamaria.

Instead of the planned task of cleaning toys, Polis had another task that he needed our help with. A load of items had been left in the wrong place in the building so we created a human train to move them from one side of the building to the other (we've got a lot of experience with moving stuff at Salvation Army in Nunhead!).

We'll be back next month for our penultimate session with Polis before he moves to a different Salvation Army.

Last night 12 of us met at Old Spike @ 6:45pm for the Welcome Speech. After a warm up outside in the cold we split into two groups. Paulin led Sam, Daryl and Emma to Dulwich Village to flyer for GROAD. I led the rest of the group on a short run to Salvation Army Nunhead with Maria back marking. While there we cleaned the kids toys for their playgroup. Maria from Salvation Army Nunhead was very grateful for our help as it allows her to spend more time with the families who need her support. After a sucessful session we all met back at the Old Spike for our cool down.

We gathered at the Old Spike Roastery before setting off for our Christmas addition group run. Emma K and Rosemary were in the Christmas spirit with festive head gear. We did a short run through Peckham Rye park to Nunhead Salvation Army where a few other Goodgymers joined us at the task. Polis set us to work and a smaller group including - Daryl, Katy, Sam, Isaac and Steve helped moved some boxes and large items. The rest of us disinfected the toys they use for the baby groups held at the venue. Once everything was cleaned we had our obligatory photo and ran back to Old Spike for our cool down. Once we finished we headed to Voodoo Rays and where our Christmas Party began with Sam's annual quiz ! Credits to Andrada for the pics 📸

Today we went to Salvation Army in Nunhead to help out. After a 2k run Polis met us at the shop. After a quick tour of the old bookstore (which has had a glamorous new makeover) , Polis then introduced the task... smashing chairs!!

Polis showed us a huge mountain of chairs, which we had to move downstairs before dismantling with our legs and hammers. We quickly got organised. David, Daryl , James and Benjamin made a chain to pass the chairs down, to Nathan, Folarin, Sander and Mansur who got really good at dismantling chairs. Finally the helpful bee Nelly was clearing up and taking parts outside. Great teamwork! 🙌

As an added bonus, we were very excited to meet Nunhead Elvis, who was also helping out from Salvation Army.

Today we were also celebrating James' 50th good deed. Well done James! 🎂

Our final group run of the year.

Everyone descended upon Old Spike Roastery, but there was a new look. Most of us didn't have our running gear on as tonight's group run was going to be a group walk since the task was close enough for both options. For one last time in 2023, Sam welcomed in Andrada, Andy, Benjamin, Daryl, David, Gemma, Isaac, James, Katy, Lindy, Maria, Mikhail, Nelly, Paulin, Sadaf and Tim.

Sam did his customary GG intro speech and since most of us were walking, we skipped the warm-up and went straight to tonight's ice-breaker question.

In the lead up to Christmas, Sam's ice-breaker questions for tonight was: What is the most underated item on the Christmas table on Christmas Day?, What is your most memorable Christmas gift from Santa? and finally, What is your favourite Christmas song?

From bread sauce to brussel sprouts and from chestnuts to the all-essential water, we had the unique and standard answers for the most underated Christmas item on the table for Christmas Day. From toy sets and Pokemon cards to plush toys and the first game console, everyone has something special from Santa. Fairytale of New York had the most mentions for favourite Christmas song.

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Secret store rooms within the Salvation Army Nunhead maze

Off Mikhail went with Andrada, Andy, Nelly, and Sadaf for their run to Salvation Army Nunhead via Peckham Rye as Sam led the walking group via a shortcut to the task.

Outside Salvation Army Nunhead, we met Anna, Clare, Emma, Folarin, Olive and Vic who had walked or cycled over to the task. As Polis, let us in, he was overwhelmed with the amount of volunteers and had to split us into 4 sub-teams:

1. First team had to take care of the shop front by replicating a design from a sheet to make it become a reality. Anna led this team as she brought on Andy and Katy to help her out.

2. Emma, Maria, Nelly and Olive stayed behind in the shop too as they helped sweep, hoover and moped the shop floor.

3. There was some organising and sorting of Christmas presents and the general space in the main hall of Salvation Army Nunhead, so Clare along with Andrada, David, Folarin, Sadaf and Vic.

4. Meanwhile, up the stairs and in the secret storage room, Benjamin, Isaac, James, Paulin and Tim moving and clearing out donations that were broken or old as Polis needed to create space in the secret storage room.

Simultaneously, all tasks took their time, but group 1, 2 and 3 finished their tasks early, so they went up to the bookstore to start clearing that room too as there are plans to change the space in the new year. After our group photo, we said our goodbyes to Polis before everyone walked, ran or cycled back to Old Spike and some went over to Voodoo Ray's immediately.

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out tonight! For those who ran either one way or both ways with Mikhail who led from the front and kept the group together. Also, for taking the photos on the night. For those who decided to walk and chat on the way there reflecting on their day and week. Finally, thank you to everyone for getting stuck in with the tasks at hand! We smashed it within 35-40 minutes.

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Thank You to Polis

GoodGym is all about getting fit and doing good! We praise the runners/cyclists/walkers who come to get fit and help out, but we often forget about our task owner. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Polis for staying in the shop to let us in and for having all the tasks ready for us!

With the day off, Sam arrived nice and early to open up Old Spike as he welcomed in Andrada, Daryl, Elena, Gemma, Isaac, Katy, Maria, Nathan, Nelly, Olive (who reached her target for the year tonight), Phil and Tim! We even had newbie, Andy join us. Welcome Andy!

As we all gathered at Old Spike, Sam did his longer speech for Andy as he talked about the ways he can get involved with GoodGym further. After a few weeks of skipping the warm-up, Sam decided to do it tonight as the run to the task wasn't far. After the warm-up, everyone gave their answer to tonight's ice-breaker question.

Since it was International Men's Day over the weekend, Sam's ice-breaker question for tonight was: The theme of this year's International Men's Day is "Take action and stay healthy", can you give one practical tip for Men or male identify to stay mentally healthy? Secondly, who has been a big influential person in your life that is male/male-identifying?

For big influences, we had people's other halves, Dads, brothers, friends and even primary/secondary teachers made the list. In terms of tips, we had going out for a walk to clear your headspace, but the common theme was to be encouraged to talk about your feelings.

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Finding salvation in cleaning

As we left Old Spike, Sam lead the way whilst Olive backmarked as we ran towards Peckham Rye Park and looped back at the cafe towards Nunhead. We did meet tens of runners running with Peckham Pacers. Yet, we got to Salvation Army on Nunhead Green just in time to meet Tiziana, Emma and Vic who met us there at the task.

With such a large group, Tiziana had to split us into two. One smaller group consisting of Daryl, Emma, Gemma, Nathan, Nelly and Olive were given the cleaning task. They took brooms, hoovers and cleaning cloths as they cleaned the charity shop/cafe's toilets, hallway, stairs and offices. Phil and Vic joined them in sweeping the charity shop as there were a few dusty corners. The rest of the team were upstairs in the library/bookshop space to sort out books in terms of their categories: Biography, Children's, Fiction and Thriller/Action.

The 40 minute session zoomed by and we managed to finish the cleaning, but there were still plenty of books to sort out. We will be back in three weeks' time to finish this task off and give the space another spruce up.

After our group photo, we said our goodbyes and ran literally 600 metres to get back to Old Spike for a lovely stretch before a few of us decided to go to the Old Nag's Head for a Guinness or two.

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out tonight! Firstly, we welcomed Alex for his first GoodGym session. It was a nice short dry run both ways. The task was manageable given the size of volunteers we had. Thanks to Olive for backmarking and ensuring no-one gets left behind. We will be back in 3 weeks!

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Thank You to Tiziana

GoodGym is all about getting fit and doing good! We praise the runners/cyclists/walkers who come to get fit and help out, but we often forget about our task owner. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Tiziana for preparing all the equipment and tasks for us to do in advance! We're back in three weeks' time to finish what we started with the books!