Bloomin' 'eck

What a muggy evening for a run - Big up newbies Thea, Maddie, Juliette and Louisa for joining us!

And talking of mugs - Congratulations to Tim Wheatley for winning our SPOTM, which included a mug! Tim is not a mug. In fact he's been smashing out missions, group runs, temporary tattoo illustrations and many other artistic GoodGym-related things, so our collection of mug, vanity kit, hip phone holder thing, coaster and bottle were very well deserved.

Nice one Tim!

This week we were heading off to Kennington Park, a lush green space near Oval, to help them with a multitude of jobs ahead of an inspection they've got tomorrow for Britain in Bloom. Nicky led a group on a 5k long route while the rest of us went the direct 3k.

When we arrived, Marietta showed us the huge pile of equipment they had and gave us the lowdown on what we needed to do:

🌱 Bindweed removal

🥀 Dead-heading roses

🍂 Getting the leaves off the shelter

🗑 Litterpicking

🌳 Hedge Trimming

We found that bindweed is a sneaky plant that gets everywhere. We discovered many undesirable items whilst litterpicking. And we have some quality topiarists in the Lambeth ranks!

Having collected up some huge bags of leaves and weeds, it was time for us to leave. Marietta was super grateful and said they'd have enough time to finish the last few bits ahead of the inspection on Thursday.

Some of us decided that we weren't sweaty enough already so squeezed in some fartlek on the way back whilst others were far more sensible in taking a leisurely jog!

Awesome work GoodGym Lambeth

Next week we've got a couple of options - Portico or Ruskin Park and don't forget to sign up for our community mission helping set up Stockwell Festival on Sat 6th July.

OH MY GIDDY PLANT

Last night was all about the plants and the planters and thankfully we had a massive gang of GoodGymers to tackle our two tasks. They probably quite fancied the pub afterwards too.

Big up Angela, Mira, Georgina, Kerry, Em and Clare for coming on their first ever GoodGym run! And nice one to all the tourists who came for a piece of the Lambeth pie. 🥧

Tonight we had 2 run options: * George took a small group on a serious 6k trek to Crown Dale Surgery in West Norwood to help the GP Food Co-op rearrange some planters and fill them up with soil. * The rest of us went on a 2k jaunt to Myatt's Field for some bindweed removal and FITNESS FUN.

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George's group arrived in West Norwood to be mysteriously greeted by nobody... but then they discovered the plans for the planters and they were off, lifting and shifting to get them into place. There was some excellent lifting from the legs (see pics) and they even had time to fill a planter and a half before heading back to base. It was a warm evening for all this work and those guys absolutely smashed it. 👏👏👏

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Everyone else had a quick warm up with a classic knees up and kick-ass and began the run to Myatt's Field Park. We were greeted by Eliza who showed us the task - removing nasty bindweed from the compost heap. Unfortunately it was wreaking a bit of havoc and needed to be removed pronto.

// For all those keen gardeners: Apparently growing plants in compost with any hint of bindweed is a bad idea. It'll just wrap around your lovely plants and suffocate them. //

So we removed the pallets and the tarps to find an absolute tonne of the stuff, still managing to grow in the dark. Everyone was then very diligent with removing all traces of bindweed (as well as any rubbish we could find, obviously. #goodgym). We filled up a couple of big sacks and made a reasonable pile of rubbish.

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The highlight was undoubtably the discovery of a family of frogs and even some newts! Despite a couple of screams, some brave souls moved the frogs to avoid them getting squashed.

We then had a quick game of RUNOPOLY in the park. It's basically circuits:

• Community Chest - Press Ups
• Pass GO - Sprints
• Squatting (it's a property-themed game after all)
• Chance - ??? It's a mystery (I tell you what to do).

30 seconds on, 30 seconds rest, next exercise. Twice round. Everyone smashed it. 👊

After that, we ran back to Papa's, had a nice stretch, decided that Papa's park's concrete bench needs to be painted GoodGym red (more on that in a few weeks time...) and then we hit the pub.

Ace work, everybody. 👌

Next week we've got 2 tasks; finishing off the soil shoveling at Crown Dale and back to Ruskin Park Community Garden. Sign up here.