It’s the end of the month so it was time for the Group Run to Mycenae House, a lovely local landmark with extensive grounds that the volunteers always need our help with.

Three of us ran the mile or so from Charlton Park to the house to be met by our other members and the amazing Fiona, the volunteer coordinator. For most of the summer we’ve been doing weeding and chopping so it was lovely today to have a more constructive task, namely planting a number of new plants (although the weeding didn’t quite go away). We set to work, digging holes, popping in the plants and watering and between the 5 of us and the volunteers we managed to get 20 odd plants in, including one monster specimen that required three of us to plant it.

All of this was hard work and we were grateful after an hour to be rewarded with some of the excellent cake that is always waiting for us after the task.

After the nail-biting game yesterday at Charlton Athletic, 9 Goodgymers and some friends of CleanUpCharlton ventured out to clear up some of the post-match debris.

While one team tackled the home end of Anchor & Hope Lane, the others took to the midfield of the Woolwich Road to clear the cans, bottles and cigarette ends. The game of two halves ended with a photo line-up at the end of Popeye's Path (formerly Frankie & Benny's Alley) which always needs a good grounds-person or two (or even 11)!

The boys and girls done good and 13 bags were left for the referee (Greenwich Council) at final whistle. Man/woman of the match was awarded to all players in the form of a nice cup of coffee at our favourite M&S cafe (we might tap them for sponsorship next season). They thought it was all over - it is now until next month!

Last night six of us met to do some good in the darkening and slightly damp September evening. And that's what GoodGym is all about - we spread a little joy and the autumn and winter months are a great time to stick with it - as the evenings get darker it makes a difference to meet up with friends and get active each week! This evening we had task to move lots of wood from the middle of the playground to the edges to allow children space to play. It was almost smooth sailing with some dramatic screams from us city folk about the gigantic spiders we unearthed.
We harvested some grapes and some radishes (thank you St Alfege's! I'm going to enjoy nice salad for lunch).

Special welcome to Carolin on her first GoodGym good deed - it's great to have you in the group and we hope to see much more of you!

We parted ways as the rain got heavier, me spotting the 386 and losing any street cred I thought I had running down the road with two giant and alarmingly bulbous radishes. And I didn't make the bus either so ended up running all the way home looking like I'd robbed a community garden.

On Saturday we're back at Hervey Road for some gardening and next Wednesday we're at St Luke's.

Until next time!

Rachel 👋🏻

Pruning & Positivity at Mycenae Gardens

This morning a bright bunch of GoodGymmers swapped dumbbells for hedge-trimmers and headed to Mycenae Gardens to give the greenery a good tidy-up. We welcomed Loren to her first session and hope it will be the first of many.

The Dream Team 🌿 • Julian: Our resident hedge fund manager (of the leafy kind), expertly snipping back branches with precision. • Marta: Proved she’s a cut above the rest, mastering the art of pruning with flair. • Vic: Got stuck into the shrubs, proving that many hands make light plant work. - Kerry made it in to those hard to reach spots pruning .

What We Did 🌳 • Pruned back wayward growth so the gardens could breathe again. • Collected up trimmings and left things looking tidy enough for a rake-over.

Final Flourish ✨

The team left Mycenae Gardens blooming with beauty and buzzing with good energy.