Eight tinsel-tastic runners spruced up the shelves in the Sydenham Community Library on the last task of 2019.

A big Bromley welcome to Charlie who joined us for her first good deed already resplendent in her red top.

It was a slightly longer run tonight so we did a quick round of jogging on the spot, high knees, heel flicks, sprints and calf raises to prepare us for the dark streets of Penge and Sydenham. Thank you to Sam for backmarking the group.

We were met at the library by Chrissie who was really pleased to see us. Thanks for the Capri-Sun's Chrissie, they went down a storm. She asked if we could clean the shelves and directed us to the cleaning products on the shelf. There weren't enough cloths, sprays and suchlike to go around so we set off on a scavenger hunt of sorts to find enough to keep everyone busy. We're a resourceful group and we soon set to work with a random variety of kitchen sponges, plastic cups and tissues to give the shelves an early spring clean. Thanks to Chris and Jess for the lovely library themed pun.

We split up amongst the various sections, with some of the books proving an entertaining distraction. See the photos for evidence! The shelf which got the most attention, though, was the large print romance section, which was full of Mils and Boons 'classics'. Some of the titles caused some raised eyebrows with their old fashioned, non-PC themes, and I won't mention the content of the first sentence that Hannah read when opening a book at random!

Time was soon up and we bid farewell to Chrissie before pounding the pavements back towards our start point. We stopped by Penge East station to take advantage of the bike racks for our special Christmas fitness session - the 12 days of Christmas. The group gave it their all, working their through the 1 Christmas tree, 2 press ups, 3 jumping squats, 4 triceps dips, 5 high jumps, 6 heel flicks, 7 side to side jumps, 8 side lunges, 9 high knees, 10 second sprint, 11 second squat hold and 12 star jumps, phew. Was that too mean of me?! Sorry everyone, but you were all amazing!

This was our final task of 2019 and we have a break until Tuesday 7th January, when we have a brand new task at a community hall towards Forest Hill. Sign up here to start 2020 with a warm glow. The group runs might have finished for Christmas but there are some lovely community missions coming up, including this one planting saplings at Hither Green Station on Saturday 28th December.

All that remains is to wish you all a wonderful Christmas and New Year, see you in 2020 for another fun-filled year of goodness!

Five fabulous runners covered 5km to help out at Sydenham Community Library.

Did you see that rain earlier (when I say earlier, I mean all day)?! I lost count of the number of pairs of socks I got through. Thankfully our runners are not put off by a bit of wind and rain and five intrepid souls turned out to do some good in our area. Some of our runners were feeling the worse for wear, having taken part in Sunday's Big Half (half-marathon), but two of our racers managed to motivate their tired bodies to come along, so we celebrated Louise and Tim's achievements and enjoyed seeing their lovely medals. Well done both of you!

Some extra chances to get involved:

• On Saturday, our neighbours in Lewisham are joining in a tree planting session at Blythe Hill Fields (which isn't that far), from 10.30am, sign up here.

• On Sunday, we have our own community mission (which I'm very excited about!), volunteering at Crystal Palace junior parkrun, details and sign-up here.

• Ian reminded us that entries are now open for the Beckenham Half-Marathon in September. A nice local, friendly race, with a small field, find out more and sign up here.

This week we were running a bit further than last, over to Sydenham Community Library, so a 5k round-trip. We shook-it-out to warm up and jogged down the High Street and over Penge West Station towards the library. This evening we were met by Trevor, who had stayed behind to open up for us. He told us that the bookshelves needed a good clean (the library is on a busy road, so it can get quite dusty). Everyone found a row of shelves and got stuck in, pulling books off (carefully keeping them alphabetised), wiping down the surfaces and placing everything back in order.

As is usual at this task, conversation turned to what we're reading. This ranged from 'The Taste of Empire: How Britain's Quest for Food Shaped the Modern World', to 'Guest Cat' (and, similarly, 'If Cats Disappeared from the World'), 'Convenience Store Woman', 'Lost Among the Birds' and 'Geek Nation' We're certainly varied in our literary choices!

Dewey need any help?

As we wrapped up our task, having made three or four rows of shelves sparkle, we gathered to tackle a creative photographic challenge for the launch of GoodGym's 50th area next week - watch this space (or rather, keep an eye on social media). Let's just say we had a bit of fun here (and thank you to Trevor for supplying the ladder...!).

Our run back was chatty and, as we stretched and looked ahead to next week's group run, Louise reminded us that she will be taking on her now annual challenge to run very fast up a very tall tower - good luck Louise, we look forward to seeing your medal! After next week's run, we will be staying at our start point for some drinks to wish Louise well on her next big journey, as she moves to a new GoodGym area. Sign up here, for the run and social.

Bromley News

• The first group run of 2019 will be on Tuesday 8th Jan - sign up here

• Adele will also be putting up additional starter sessions during January so keep an eye out on the website!

• Bridge House were incredibly grateful for the chocolates and card we left them to say thank you for hosting us every week. Good work!

• Christmas/New Year can be a wonderful time but also a bit overwhelming. Luckily we have running to help! Read this lovely article about 'running it out' by This Vet Runs.

That's enough of the business

Last night in the surprisingly mild rain we met at Bridge House, whilst Adele was treating her husband on his birthday. I was delighted to take Bromley for the night, particularly with such festive headgear going on (see photos). Louise's christmas hat in particular jingled all the way to Sydenham Community Library.

We were met by Ilse who put us to work on three main tasks: hoovering, book shelf cleaning, upholstery scrubbing.

Louise made good friends with Hetty the hoover and very nearly managed to hoover the entire space whilst we were there. Lucy, Tim, Oli and Ian between them got to work on the shelves - taking books off, cleaning the shelf, replacing them (in the right order!).

We cleaned 150 foot of shelves!

We finished up at 8.00pm and were treated to some delicious cakes baked just for us!

Great work team, hope to see you again next year.

Have a fab Christmas and New Year!

Lucy J

Covering 5km of running, thirteen top athletes took to the streets of Sydenham to help out at the Community Library.

As you can see from the photos, we had a half-marathoner in our midst. On Sunday, Clare took on the inaugural Big Half, a half-marathon organised by the London Marathon team, starting on Tower Bridge and finishing by the Cutty Sark in Greenwich. The event was different in that it was focussing on the communities it passed through, with many participants representing community organisations and charities in the four host boroughs. GoodGym were out in force, with 250 runners taking part and lots of non-running members out on the course, cheering everyone on (I was in Deptford with my son, catching a glimpse of Sir Mo himself as he glided by, before taking the win :) As I sat down to write this, I noticed that Clare was also doing her 25th good deed this evening, so a double well done!

On the subject of half-marathons, we also talked about the very local Beckenham Half-Marathon, which is taking place on September 23rd. It was brought to our attention by Ian, who ran the race last year and enjoyed it. Why not sign up and give yourself a goal to work towards (Kate and Ian have already committed!)?

Shelf life

Tonight's task was over at Sydenham Community Library, so off we headed, doing a little knee-lifting warm-up as we went (the High Street was particularly busy this evening, so we probably provided much-needed entertainment for the static traffic). Thank you to David for back marking this evening, making sure nobody was left behind. As we ran, there was a mysterious rattling noise coming from Bradley's rucksack which, he informed us, was Smarties. Nice! Turns out he was joking and it was actually a supply of vitamins. Bother. Everything was just fine though because, at the task, Ilse had laid on a delicious selection of treats! Who needs Smarties when you have mandarins, coconut macaroons, Bourbons, cheesy twists and cheesy/spicy savoury triangles? Thank you Ilse!

There were a few different jobs lined up for us tonight, with everyone picking something they liked the look/sound of:

• painting the toilet
• cleaning the IT equipment (using fancy spray cans)
• pulling out the fridge in the cafe, to clean behind it
• taking books off the shelves to clean underneath

Everyone got stuck in, pausing occasionally to enjoy a snack, with piles of books building up and cloths getting surprisingly grubby - the library is on a busy main road, with all the grime drifting in from the traffic passing by. Ilse informed us that the Romance section was especially filthy, of course, but Louise found that the Science Fiction was also quite grimy. Interesting. As time ticked by, there was the inevitable chatter about what we're reading and the odd rumble of laughter as a funny title or subject emerged from the shelves. Gathering together our cloths, sprays, brushes and rollers, we wrapped up our work for the evening and made our way back outside.

Witness the fitness!

On our return leg, we like to have a little fitness session if there's time and tonight I had planned a simple version of a classic (I had hoped to use the local basketball court, but it's still bathed in darkness...soon, soon). Running between the grass and the benches, we tried to cover as many laps as we could in one minute (I let Clare rest her legs, I'm not that cruel!). Well done to everyone, it's quite an intense exercise after a 5k run! This is a great way to test your fitness and look for improvement, choosing a space that you will revisit at intervals to see how you are progressing.

Don't forget (I forgot to mention it!) that this Thursday is the monthly GoodGym social, which is in Greenwich this time, so not too far away. Sign up here to meet runners from other areas, to hear from the guest speaker and vote for the International Pun of the Month. While you're at it, why not sign up to next week's group run for more of the same good stuff?

In sub-zeros our thirteen heroes took on 5km and many, many books.

That's right, sub-zero, time for all the layers! How lovely to see Alice and Cath back after a little break (I say break, work took over so it's not like they had their feet up!) and to welcome David, Helen and Joe back after their first visit last week - they weren't put off by the crazy hills! We also welcomed a visitor all the way from GoodGym King's College London, welcome Sophie, I hope we made you feel welcome south of the river!

To get the evening going, we basked in our own glory a little, having won our division in the GoodGym January Challenge; excellent work everyone who took part! We also warmed ourselves up with some dynamic stretches and a few 'bounces', which it's impossible not to do when it's this cold! We were very excited this week to be heading to a brand new task. It's always lovely going somewhere new and running in a different direction, so off we went, towards Sydenham Community Library.

Our run took us past some very grand houses, their beautiful stained glass prompting lots of 'Ooohs' and 'Aahhhs'! We were soon approaching the building and finding the entrance around the side. Here, we were met by Ilse, who ushered us in and told us what we would be doing this evening. The library is run by volunteers so of course, when they are busy doing to the day-to-day running of the building, seemingly small jobs such as cleaning the shelves, are overlooked. We were here to make a difference by pulling out the books in the children's library (which has 90 school children passing through on a Thursday!) and cleaning the shelves. Our taller members were tasked with giving the windowsills a wipe and to do a general dust and tidy up all round.

As everyone busied themselves with these jobs, I wandered around, taking photos and asking what we're all reading at the moment (and I might have shuffled some newspapers and flyers into neat piles, I like a neat pile). It was a delight to see just how varied our reading is:

• Stuart - The Fisherman
• Louise C - The Pie at Night
• Tim - Le Grand Meaulnes (fancy!)
• David - Stoner
• Helen - Homo Deus
• Joe - Prisoners of Geography
• Louise C-W - Thinking, Fast and Slow
• Cath - Swing Time (and Frog Belly Rat Bone)
• Alice - The Distance Between Us
• Hannah - The End of Eddie
• Jane - The Glorious Heresies and The Power
• (Sophie couldn't remember the name of her new book!)
• Me - The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

Isn't that wonderful? So much to talk about while we run!

The space was quickly filled with piles of books, carefully ordered, to be put back as they were found. Once wiped down, the shelves were refilled, with a bit of sorting in the process and some pauses to enjoy the illustrations. There was just enough time to dip in to the snacks that Ilse had very kindly provided, before we guarded ourselves to head back outside. I'm sure we will return soon, to continue these jobs and to do some much-needed painting.

Once outside, it seemed churlish not to venture into Home Park to have a play on the outdoor gym equipment. It's a great little set-up, somewhere to stop off on your run to do some body-weight exercises. Whenever I pass one of these park gyms, they are always busy, with all sorts of people having a go. Heading back up towards Penge, we took The Hill over the railway line at Penge East and reached our start point for some stretching. Next week is a visit to one of our favourite tasks, helping our at Living Well. Expect a slightly shorter run and a great lifting, shifting and sorting task at the food bank. See you then!

Don't forget, it's the GoodGym monthly social on Thursday, this time in Holborn. Details and sign-up here.