Last night, 8 intrepid GoodGymers gathered to take on a mammoth task at the Katherine Lowe Settlement (KLS). For those whose first visit it was to this Battersea institution, KLS is a truly wonderful community centre that provides support for older adults, refugees, young people and vulnerable communities in the area. Not only do they provide a warm, supportive environment, but they also offer vital social services and activities for local people, so we were more than happy to help out!

KLS is having two floors redone, and they needed all the old flooring transported downstairs to be picked up this morning. We knew it was going to be quite the session so after a warm-up (where we spent way too much time discussing whether we were motivated by the carrot or the stick – turns out, most of us are stick people, which we should probably look into a bit further!) we set off on a quick jog down to KLS.

As we arrived and were met by Tracy and Tony. The scale of the job soon became evident with Tony's first question, 'how strong are you feeling?', which gave us an inkling about what lay ahead! We were working in a beautiful Victorian building, but those narrow stairs were definitely not designed for moving hundreds of planks of wood. Still, we are GoodGymers. And we fear no floor.

The plan was simple: Start at the top, and move planks down, all the way to the bottom.We were soon sweating, but there was a job to be done and we were going to do it no matter what. It was like a full-body workout, but after half an hour of intense work we managed it - after all, many hands make light work. We celebrated with a very artful group photo and headed out into the night.

The fun didn’t stop there. After all that lifting, we finished the night with even more fitness- a workout based on the classic game, I Have Never. We soon found out who has run more than 15km in one go, who has recently moved house and even who has broken the law. But there is a golden rule - what happens in GoodGym fitness stays in GoodGym fitness!

If you're free this weekend, Jordan will be leading a session on Saturday at the GoodGym Garden. You can find all the details here. Next week, I’m away, but Steph will be leading the session and you can find the info for that here

Great work, team! Another task well done, with plenty of laughs along the way. Until next time! 👏👏

What a session! A big warm welcome to Hollie , who bravely joined us for her first ever GoodGym session and we also had the pleasure of welcoming Michael from Tower Hamlets, who joined us for his first group run in Wandsworth. Lovely to have you both with us.

We had a new task for the evening, one that was short in distance but big on impact. Wandsworth Bereavement Services provide invaluable support to people coping with grief, offering a compassionate space for those navigating difficult times through free counselling. With a paint job last done over 30 years ago, they asked for with some much-needed painting and decorating.

We jumped straight into the task with typical GG energy – tackling the rooms named August, Summer, and Winter. Armed with tape and rollers, we delved into the technical jargon of the painting world. Words like "cutting in" were casually thrown around as if we were all seasoned pros even if the techniques were slightly more mixed.

There was some debate over whether we were getting more paint on ourselves or the walls, but I think we all know the answer – it was a bit of both. By the end of the session, however, we could all agree that the rooms were looking much fresher, and progress had definitely been made.

Next week, we’ll be back to finish what we started and finish giving the place a great facelift for the service users. If you're in the mood for some more fun this Saturday, join Jason at Age UK Wandsworth where we'll be washing buses and tackling a few other bits and bobs. It’s a task that's definitely cleaner than painting. Fingers crossed.

Thanks again to everyone for your hard work and enthusiasm for a massive task, hope to see you all for the big finish next week!

We were a lovely big group last night, which was brilliant as we had a lot to celebrate!

We got to welcome G to GoodGym for the first time - great to have you join us! It was also lovely to have some visitors from Merton - hello Rachael and Jade, and welcome!

Perhaps the good turnout had something to do with our very own Catherine leading the session to become a fully fledged run leader? Catherine absolutely smashed it all, taking us seamlessly from warm up to stretches with a killer fitness session in between. Give her a big cheer!

It might have also had something to do with the double social night - we had not one, but two fantastic social options to choose from. It was our regular monthly pub quiz as usual, but as it was Shrove Tuesday there was also the choice of going for pancakes. What a decision!

We kicked off the night with some great warm ups, and the question of the week was suitably themed. What is your favourite pancake filling? Answers ranged from savoury to sweet, from the classic sugar and lemon to the more avant garde biscoff and nutella!

We set off for Doddington, where we met up with the rest of the team and set about doing various jobs. There is always loads to do at this community garden, which has been transformed from a derelict space on top of a multi story carpark to a thriving area which local residents use for growing food, educating children about nature and composting.

We were tasked with all sorts of jobs, from pruning to digging trenches, to cardboard laying and transporting strawberries, to dispatching a Christmas tree!

If that wasn't enough of a workout, little did we know Catherine had even more in store for us. A fiendishly inventive Shrove themed circuits challenge, complete with star jumps, high knees, repeater lunges, oblique crunches, vertical jumps and explosive squats. See what she did there?! The result was a great all over workout.

Then came the big decision of the night - quiz or pancakes? The majority came down on the seasonal side of things, and had a lovely time eating the sweet treats. Meanwhile a smaller group hit up the pub, and managed a place on the podium in second position! A good time was had by all.

There is lot of fun stuff coming up, including this international women's day run on Saturday - all welcome! Next weekend there is a lovely community mission to help spruce up an day care facility while Monday's group run is a painting job at Wandsworth bereavement services. Hope to see you there! And once again - congratulations to run super leader Catherine.

More than two million pieces of litter are dropped in the UK daily and 70% of that is food packaging. Nine billion tonnes of litter ends up in the oceans across the planet each year and animals most affected by litter in the world are all sea creatures – fish, whales, turtles, and dolphins. Around 60% of global water pollution is linked to littering.

Ok, so they're not exactly fun facts, but the good news?

There is something positive we can do about. And last in Wandsworth, that's exactly what happened

12 of us met at the bAC as usual, and this week it was over to Steph to come up with the question of the week. It was a belter - when is the official date it is acceptable to start getting festive for Christmas? Answers ranged from anytime after Bonfire Night, to the 17th December. The majority went with the 1st December, but we decided the winning answer goes to Adam who said it was after his birthday - so the 2nd December it is!

We grabbed our pickers, which helpfully fold up so are easy to run with, and made our way to the first stop of the night. The road between Shillinghurst Park (better known as Banana Park!) and Doddington (home of the lovely community garden) is one that is well trodden for us. As the weeks have passed we have noticed the litter problem growing and growing and last night we decided to do something about it.

We divided up into two teams - recycling and general waste - and got picking. There was all the usual detritus, including more bottles and cans that you could shake a litter pick at. Then there was the challenge of how to dispose of the dozens and dozens of empty bottles of fast gas that we found, plus some more unusual items. Laura bravely tackled the soggy cow/cat/unidentified furry item, while Catherine demonstrated some amazing picker dexterity by managing to snare a penny. Skills!

Shout out to Chris who did his regular Monday morning litter pick on Wandsworth common, collecting over 0 empty cans of beer, and was back for more in the evening with us! What a great effort to make our area cleaner and safer

We got rid of our bags at the big bins, and then made our way back to the BAC for a mega fitness session. Teaming up, we added a competitive element by seeing which pair could do the most hill sprints interspersed with conditioning exercises. Kudos to Team Chris and Adam, and Team Catherine, Alice and Jo and to everybody, the efforts last night were amazing!

Some dates for your diary.

• This Saturday there is a great community mission to plant a new orchard between Tooting and Streatham that promises to be a lot of fun and a great workout!

• Tomorrow evening why not join this nice, short inside task to help an environmental clothes charity

• Get your glad rags on and join us for all the fun of the festive season at our Christmas party on the 12th

If there are ever any missions, runs or socials you want to shout about then just let me know!

So much has changed since our last monthly visit to Doddington community garden, and the joy of going regularly means that we can see the difference we're making over time! This visit we were delighted to see that the beds we had dug last time were flourishing with courgettes and other crops.

But first things first. We kicked off the session at our usual meeting spot for some warm ups, and it was brilliant to welcome back some familiar faces and to have Rida join us for her very first session - great to have you part of the team!

We did some warm ups which tested our coordination as well as our muscles, and given we have just had a bumper week of fireworks, Halloween, Diwali and there are now 50 days until Christmas, we asked the group which is our favourite holiday. Answers ranged from Christmas, Boxing Day, bank holidays, Easter, Eid, Halloween and our annual leave. Goes to show we all love a party!

It was just a short run or cycle down to the Doddington, where Malissa wasted no time getting us to work. There was weeding to be done, trees to transport and a new bed to be dug, lined with cardboard boxes and then refilled with compost again. This is going to be planted with red onions for the community to enjoy, so keep your eye peeled next month!

After a good 45 minutes of hard graft we downed tools and went down to the square for a lower body challenge. Three minutes of seriously tough exercises with no break, all working those glutes, quads and calves - and everybody rose (or squatted) to the challenge. Great job!

All that was left was to run to the pub for the monthly pub quiz, and this time there was two bumper teams ready to battle it out. Team IstanWool (who will ever forget from this day forward that angora wool comes from the Turkish capital?) were pipped to the post by Paul, Dave, Jo, Laura, Justin, Jason and Catherine's megabrains...but we still have to beat our nemesis at the bar! Definitely next month.

Speaking of which, don't forget to sign up for our Christmas party where there will be plenty of festive fun to be had, and also this special mission to get everybody a warm coat this winter.