Feel like you need to get up and get away from your desk after a tough work day? Feel like you need to get outside to beat that 'change of season' feeling? Or do you need a little reason to get moving just a little bit more? Maybe you want to learn a bit more about which shops, new martial arts places, bars and restaurants are in your local area? Need someone to run your Halloween costume idea by? the answer to all of these is on the little postcards we stuck up on noticeboards and on counters in local businesses this evening - Goodgym on a Monday night!

Six of us headed around Penge to start, and then a few other places on each of our routes home, spreading to GoodGym Word.

Sorry about the terrible photography on my part...

Thanks all for turning out - we'll get a good few new faces from this I'm sure :)

Tonight we had a short run to the Blenheim-Arpley estate in Penge to meet Jami and the other volunteers from the Residents Association. We were tasked with helping the team shift a huge woodchip pile donated by Bromley council which they needed depositing around the estate. We made great progress (even with a brief interlude while Jami calmed down some anxious residents who spotted our red t-shirts and headlamps and thought we were the Russians coming to invade!) and you can see how much we shifted by the markings on the floor in the "after" photo. Great work tonight team!

Last night we were in a spooky Cator Park helping to tidy up some of the bushes and paths ahead of the friends group's dog show this weekend.

After a quick dog vs cats chat in the pub, we jogged down to meet Millie in the park.

We were equipped with hoes, secateurs, shears and a wheelbarrow and worked on a couple of the big hedge sections to neaten them up and clear weeds and pine needles from the path.

It didn't take long for it to look much more presentable, and mean the paths were wider.

Nice one, gang! ✂️

After a welcome chat at our meeting place about our favourite boardgames (from Catan and Articulate, to the Very Nasty Horse Race and Bananagrams) we trotted off up Penge High Street towards Cator Park.

We wondered on the way if we've seen the last of the hot weather - good for plants, good for those running the Big Half in a few weeks, but bad for it being the end of summer already if so.

We arrive at the park and headed over to the Tiny Forest - pleased to see how much the trees have shot up since we were last there. Millie reminds us that we want the tree roots to plunge down deep, so could we empty a bucket of water round each tree if possible. We started with the smallest trees, those in the shadiest spots, and did a bit of weeding around too.

A couple of us move over to the park edge, trimming back the hedge so we can see the millennium marker again, and chopping back holly from the pavement side too, to help pedestrians fighting for space on the path, til the next time the council can cut it all back to the fence.

After buckets and buckets of water have been filled and emptied over and over, we say our goodbyes and head home. Thanks all, and see you next time!

We had our second outing to help Jeannette and Alan dismantle the smaller chicken coop at Dorset Road Allotments tonight. Assisted by some power tools (handled by Alan) we made great progress and managed to take off one of the sides and most of the roof, not to mention many wheelbarrows of weeds and brambles that had grown since the last time we visited. Special shout out to Laura who was visiting from Mali and chose to spend her limited time off helping us out!

Once we'd finished the task, we were treated to a selection of allotment-grown fruit and veg as a thank you for our hard work, which was a lovely surprise!