Loughborough Farm wanted some helping hands to do some weeding for one of the gardens in Styles Gardens, just around the corner. When we arrived, they had an extra task for us which was to move a load of freshly delivered compost to somewhere more out of the way. Half of us got on with this extra task while the rest started on the weeding in Styles Gardens, with the compost movers joining shortly after. An hour later, and after learning lots of facts about weeds and plants from Mohammed at Loughborough Farm, we'd uprooted and cleared the weeds, and given back some structure to the garden by discovering some old bricks and paving slabs underneath the top layer of soil and re-laying them!

Sarah, James and I met at Loughborough Farms to help out with some gardening around the corner at Styles Gardens. The gardens are owned by the flats opposite but we're all overgrown. Loughborough farm are helping bring them back to their former glory. Sarah did an amazing job clearing the ivy off the fence whilst James and I weeded and turned the soil. After and hour the garden looked great and was ready for planting!

27 absolute champs met up this evening for some fine running, efficient tasking and a whole lot of cake.

We first welcomed Jessica and William to the crew 👏 and heard about all the fun things going on in and around GoodGym Lambeth.

And then we split; half taking the 9k run option to the Portico Gallery and half opting for a more chilled 3k run to a couple of tasks near Loughborough Junction.

---

Beth and Samantha took the lead on the shorter run and had this to say:

As we approached Loughborough Junction farm we spotted Karen heading round the corner with a wheelbarrow to Styles Gardens so headed there to meet her and three stayed there to do some digging. The bulk of the work though was at Loughborough farm so the majority of the group were based there and tasked with moving soil from a couple of large bags to a couple of other large bags. It sounds simple enough but add in limited light and wheelbarrows with some tricky turns to negotiate and it all became quite the challenge. After half an hour we’d made a decent dent in the original bags and headed back to Papa’s wondering how much cake we could get through before the portico group got back.

---

The rest of us headed off to the weird and wonderful Portico Gallery in West Norwood. They've long been at the core of the WN Feast which happens on the first Sunday of the month, storing all the gear used for the stalls.

John gave us a run down of our task, with some company from a much slimmer looking (in a good way) Methuselah the cat, and we got to work.

The Lighthouse Family

With some expert light shining from Alice and John, we split the gazebo weights into categories based on whether their straps had velcro, clips or needed attention. Once sorted, we neatly put the clipped bags back on the pallets so that John's team could sort fix up the rest.

---

On our return we were all treated to an UNBELIEVABLE array of bakes;

🍰 Matt invented a lovely moist Mojito Cake (& it was vegan 🤩)

🍰 GoodGym Olympics star baker Issy cooked a delicious Dorset Apple Cake 🍏

🍰 On a 1920's theme Beth brought a yummy banana cake with rum-soaked cherries in 🍒

🍰 And not convinced there was going to be enough cake (lol), Sarah brought a sumptious coffee cake AND some Mars chocolate crispy cake 😋

And Valcie from Papa's Park left us some sweets for our community mission work at the weekend!

Same again next week please everyone! 👅

27 brave runners headed out the rain last night for a selection of plant-based good. 🌱

We started off welcoming Cat, Jo and Chris for coming on their first ever GG run 👏 and congratulated Samantha for winning our SPOTM! With 13 good deeds this month and 100km+ ran to make those good deeds happen, she's absolutely smashing it. A killer haul of not one but TWO laser tag mugs, a purple piggy bank, a single packet of hot chocolate mix and of course a shower cap.

---

Nicky took a small but powerful group off to Styles Gardens:

After a 1k run and a quick photo shoot in the playground (all in aid of the nationwide 1k GG Olympics race), we met Karen at Styles Gardens. With the assistance of a tree-climbing tabby cat, we got to work. After 40 minutes, we'd cleared a huge pile of branches/ivy/brambles and litter-picked a lot of rubbish. Karen was delighted with our progress and especially glad that a few residents were interested in what we were doing and how they could get involved. Unfortunately, having dodged the rain until then, the heavens decided to open for a VERY wet (but mercifully short) jog back to Papa's. 💦

Putting the style back in Styles - Karen from Styles Gardens.

---

Getting to the root of it.

Everyone else split in 2 to go to Larkhall Park - George and Lucy leading a longer 3k run and the rest of us taking the direct route.

In a bit of a bind.

At Larkhall, we met Carl who told us the weeds had been growing like crazy this year. We had two patches to get to work on - One with A LOT of bindweed, twisting itself round every single plant it could find - even the weeds. The other patch was filled with small weeds and Chris, Jon and Frances were pondering the age old question;

What counts as a weed?

We decided it was down to looks, which is a bit shallow I guess. 🤷‍♂️

Rooty Pageant

At the end we took a quick snap with our piles of weeds all laid out, Carl said thanks and we blitzed some sprint relays before heading back to base.

TOP WORK EVERYONE 🎈

Next week we've got another couple of tasks: Spreading woodchip at Moorlands Gardens and helping out at Hillside Gardens Park. Sign up here.

Nice one Ellie, Josh, Madeline and Ashley for coming on your first GG run - ace to have you along!

---

It was all about the gardens today - Ruskin, Styles and Moorlands, all going wild in the Summer heat, so we were on hand to do a bit of taming.

So we had a quick warm up, split into three groups and headed off:

Beth had this to say about her group:

A small but perfectly formed team of six headed to meet Karen at Styles Gardens where she needed a hand tending to the gardens of some residents, as they are currently being overrun with ivy and brambles. We had a selection of tools available, some better than others, and after about half an hour Rebecca and Ashley had been so efficient they moved on to a third garden, with Jim’s words of wisdom about dealing with bracken ringing in their ears. Once we were done we gave Karen a hand taking tools back to Loughborough junction farm and found out about all the exciting projects happening on the site and in the local area.

---

Nicky took a group to Moorlands Gardens:

We got to Moorlands to be greeted by Sarah and her team and were quickly set to work doing combinations of digging, chopping and our favourite, bindweed-pulling. After half an hour or so, we'd made two huge piles of bindweed and non-bindweed waste. The team were very pleased and can't wait for us to come back soon.

Good job everyone!

---

The rest of us were headed to Ruskin Park Community Garden where we've gradually been ploughing through a long list of jobs there; cutting back a load of brambles, weeding in the fruit cages and moving compost onto the beds.

We then went for a quick brain and body game in the park: Get the fox, chicken and grain up the hill without anything being eaten. Sprints, mixed with some press ups, planks and squats and a warm evening made for a serious (and slightly silly) workout.

We then ran back and went for a drink at the Duke!

Top work GoodGym Lambeth!

See you next week for a little more gardening at Agnes Riley - sign up here.