It was a good-sized group who gathered for today’s task in the Borough, courtesy of Beautiful Balin, a local community garden group, based in-and-around the Tabard Gardens Estate.

We kicked off today’s activity with a workout, useful for blowing away midweek blues.

After a short run to Tabard Gardens, the team wasted no time in selecting their mini-band-of-choice and tackling upper body moves (yes, bicep curl and tricep kickback, we’re looking at you), single leg squats, and some full-on seated calf stretches.

Just as we were finishing up, Peter from Beautiful Balin arrived, complete with sophisticated strategy for today’s leafleting task.

Background

Beautiful Balin are a community-run garden group based on the Tabard Gardens Estate. The Estate’s Spring Festival, supported by Southwark Council, is taking place this Saturday, and the group wanted to reach as many households on the Estate as possible. A free event with food and family activity (complete with a fantastic weather forecast), this is one weekend activity that local residents will want to hear about.

Steps, stairwells and door-to-door sprints

With 1500 homes to reach, it was a workout in itself.

Peter had drawn us estate maps, and divided us into teams, with the corresponding number of leaflets. This was a precise plan-and-a-half.

After a brief briefing, which included the how-to’s on dealing with ‘troublesome letter boxes’ (yes, it’s a thing), off we ran to our respective blocks.

Who knew leafleting was such a workout. Steps, stairs, and a quick sprint from house to house proved to be the only way to blitz such a large area.

It was fun, it was fast and it was effective.

Until next time

We raced back to our meeting point a little after 12:30, satisfied that was an hour well spent.

Handing our remaining leaflets back to Peter, we headed back to base for a final stretch.

10 awesome runners ran 4km to help clear the garden at the Age UK Yalding Healthy Living Centre!

Another successful run to do good in the bag! A great turnout from the For Goodness Shakes crew once again, especially on such a cold October morning but thankfully the sun was shining and it was PERFECT running weather!

Since it was Halloween, I thought it would be nice to give everyone a fright by chucking in some intervals before we even made it to the task... The decision got mixed reviews but the effort was 110% from everyone! Kind of.

After 3 fast laps of Bermondsey Spa Gardens, we continued our run and arrived at the Yalding Healthy Living Centre shortly after.

We were greeted by the ever so enthusiastic Catrina who explained a few jobs to be done in the garden. Essentially lots of weeding, leaf clearing and general tidying up so that the visitors and members don't trip up on anything and can enjoy the garden a bit more in these autumn months.

Before we knew it, the shed had been stripped of all its contents and everyone got stuck in! There were some questionable initial tekkers for the leaves with a debate of whether they should be raked directly off the tree.... But we thought we'd concentrate on the fallen ones first!

After half an hour most of the leaves were gone and the tidying up job commenced.

There was a huge pile of rubbish/bags of garden waste, which looked like it had all been there for a number of years and just been forgotten about. The next twenty minutes was all about clearing as much of that as possible and simply transferring to the bins. The wheelbarrow came in fairly handy for this, until it got a flat tire! Meanwhile some of the guys were getting rid of more weeds, turning the soil and raking it out.

It was then time to head back to the office. We cleared everything away, put tools back in the shed, took a couple of photos and ran back to HQ. As GoodGym tasks go, that one was quite a workout!

Hope you all had a nice restful weekend after that!

See you next time!!!

10 runners ran 4km to help at Bermondsey Community Kitchen

Today saw 6th installment of GoodGym runs with FGS which means a whole year's worth of good deeding around the local area!

We started off with a little warm up and then had a little jog down to the task where we were greeted by Shannon who manages the facility. She explained a little bit about the work they do at the kitchen and the cafe downstairs which sounds really amazing and they're really helping out so many people in the local community. AWESOME!

Our main task was unfortunately not cooking or food prep but a much needed paint job instead! A few members of GoodGym visited a few weeks ago but only managed to do half of the room so it was our job to finish it off! We weren't going to leave until we got it done!

Everyone grabbed either a brush or a roller, kicked off their shoes and got stuck in!! The wall had lots of patches on it where holes and cracks had been filled in and needed covering up, although a fresh lick of paint all over was the aim!

After just half an hour it was done and all looking super fresh. Now the clean up operation could commence. It's almost impossible not to get paint where it shouldn't be. It ended up on the floors, chairs, counter tops, people's hair and clothes.... but thankfully it was water-based paint and washed off pretty easily. Phew!

Once everything was cleaned up, we set off to do a few exercises in the park all to be captured by the videographer, he even had to do a bit of running himself! Whatever it takes to get THE shot, right???

After a few minutes and a couple of interviews everyone headed back and we called it a day!

Great work everyone! Shannon and Felix were SO pleased and impressed with your efficient painting and were absolutely delighted with everything you got done so huge thank you on their behalf!

Clearing up at Stompie Garden!

It was a beautiful afternoon in Bermondsey, a lot nicer than it was this time last week when this visit was initially planned for!

Due to a few injuries and bouts of forgetfullness, the group was split into runners and walkers. The walkers set off a little earlier and we met them there a few minutes later!

We knew we had arrived at the garden because of the ginormous tank sitting in the middle of it.

What's the story?!

The tank is thought to have originally been used by the Czech military during the fighting of the Prague Spring reforms in 1968, but was then brought to London for the filming of the movie, Richard III, and later purchased in 1995 by local property developer, Russell Gray. He had wanted to build on the empty lot, but his proposal was shut down by the city council. Gray, who initially bought the tank as a toy for his son, following the council's rejections placed it in the empty lot with the cannon pointing rather conveniently in the direction of the Southwark Council’s planning offices.

Steps were taken by the council to have the tank removed from the property, but Gray had actually obtained legal permission to keep it on the land. The city council approved the permits thinking he had meant “septic tank”!!! And it still sits there to this day, often being decorated or painted by various local artists.

The garden has recently been transformed into a lovely community space which is what we were tasked to help with! We were greeted by Peter who we met on our previous visit at Tabard Garden Allotments. He looks after a few spaces in the area and this one in particular needed some work.

There was a big patch at the back which was totally covered in weeds and a huge overgrown bush of ivy that was covering the fence and beyond. We split into to groups and started clearing as much as possible. Bags were getting filled at lightning speed. It is always quite easy when everything is a weed and you don't have to tiptoe around potential precious plants.

After 40 minutes, the place had been transformed and it was all hands on deck to bag up as much green waste as possible. Matt wheeled the bags to the corner on his little trolley and it was time to go!

Those in running gear joined me for a little core workout in Tabard Gardens. A circuit consisting of 3 exercises - slow mountain climbers, bicycle crunches and dead bugs to get all the different muscles in the abdominals working. A strong core is super important for running as it enables you to keep a nice upright posture and run faster for longer. As soon as your core gives up, you begin to slouch and hinge at the waist and you quickly lose running efficiency so it's certainly worthwhile including a few little core moves a few times a week. Doesn't have to be much, we literally did about 6 minutes worth and you can't say you don't have time for that! Just finish your run 6 minutes earlier and come home and do a few reps.

A little jog back to the office followed by a stretch and we were done!

Great work everyone! Peter was absolutely DELIGHTED with all the work you got done! The garden is now ready to have some new plants put in for the summer. Well done and see you next time for our last GoodGym run!

11 awesome runners ran 5k and helped out at the Tabard Garden's Community Allotments!

Yesterday was the fourth installment of GoodGym runs! So far we have helped at a charity shop, cleaned up the Thames and packed up Christmas presents for those in need... so many good deeds! This time, we kept it very local, just around the corner in fact, at the Tabard Gardens Community Allotments.

Since it was a stones throw from the office, we ran around the block a bit to add a bit of distance and then shortly arrived at the allotment. We were greeted by Peter who helps with the upkeep of the place. He explained a few things that needed doing, the main one being to dismantle the fruit cage and dig out all the plants.

Everyone made their way over to the cage and started untying the net. Within minutes it had been removed and it was time to start digging everything up! Everyone grabbed a fork or a shovel and got stuck in! After about 15 minutes, all the shrubs had been removed and set aside for safekeeping. They will be replanted elsewhere in a few days time. Then it was all hands on deck weeding, clearing leaves and picking litter.

Amazingly you guys managed to fill 6 of the big brown bags full of weeds and leaves. It would have taken Peter hours to do that himself so really well done.

He was quite a shy guy but later in the day I received a lovely message from him saying how thankful he was for all of your help. It's not often that he gets volunteers down at the allotment so when he does it makes a huge difference. Nice work!

Need for speeeeeed!

After 40 minutes or so it was time to head off. Sadly we said farewell to the cyclists while the rest of us headed to Bermondsey Spa Gardens for a mini interval session. The circle is about 340 meters all the way around and hardly anyone there so perfect for some fast running! We did a little ladder of 1 lap followed by 1 minute rest, 2 laps 2 mins rest and finally 3 laps 3 mins rest with the aim being to try and keep a consistent pace throughout each interval. It was great to see you all push yourselves and open up your stride a bit! Lots of extremely speedy people in the group! After 6 fast laps it was time for a nice easy cool down jog back to the office and a stretch!

Until next time....!

13 awesome runners ran 4km to help clean up on the River Thames!

It was the second installment of the GoodGym & For Goodness Shakes collaborations and this time it was all about clearing up our London river!

It has been in the news so much recently about single use plastic and how so much of it ends up in the oceans harming the wildlife. Since plastic never decomposes, it just gets broken down into gradually smaller and smaller pieces called micro-plastic and sadly that is the kind of stuff that gets eaten by seabirds and marine animals resulting in millions of deaths each year. Apparently there are more pieces of microplastic in our oceans than there are stars in our galaxy.... CRAZY!!!!!!

We met at the office, distributed some gloves, litter pickers and bin bags and then made our way towards Rotherhithe where I knew of some good unlocked entrances down to the Thames shoreline. Before we were even half way there, loads of stuff had already been collected. Plastic bottles, coffee cups, straws, cigarette butts, carrier bags, crisp packets, cans of drink.... the list goes on!

We arrived at the steps to take us down to the river where there is usually a lot of rubbish that gets washed up at low tide. The team headed down, split up and went different directions along the cobbly river bed. After 20 minutes, the tide was starting to come in and it was time to move on. We went to another location a little further down for the last 10 minutes to collect more stuff. By this point, the bin bags were nearly all the way full and getting heavy, especially with the amount of glass there was lying around!

After 30 minutes it was time to head back so we went a slightly different way to the office, to try and maximise our pickings! All the full bin bags were disposed of in nearby bins and the last two fresh ones distributed! It was all hands on deck on the way back trying to fill them with as much stuff as possible! And it didn't even seem like a struggle! There was so much waste hidden in bushes, in the carparks, on the streets next to the curbs.. just loads when you go looking for it!

The last two bags were filled and we called it a day! A nice gentle jog back to the office to finish off the run!

Great work everyone!! You collected so much waste which is amazing! Lots of people were really appreciative of all the work you were doing, especially the residents near the carpark we did at the end so really well done! See you in a few weeks time for the Christmas special!

10 awesome runners ran 7km to lend a hand at the ALD Life charity shop in Peckham!

Something a bit different was on the cards for the lovely runners of For Goodness Shakes this Thursday lunchtime! Luckily we had managed to just dodge the rain so no jackets required, woohoo!! Instead a lovely sea of blue!

I picked everyone up from the office and we headed on our journey down to Peckham! 25 minutes later and we had arrived at ALD Life charity shop on Peckham High Street.

ALD Life is a patient support group and registered charity for patients and families with Adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) and Adrenomyeloneuropathy (AMN) which is a deadly genetic disease that affects 1 in 18 000 people. This brain disorder destroys the protective sheath that surrounds the brain's neurons, the nerve cells that allow us to think and to control our muscles.

You can have a read of Alex's story here who was the inspiration and the reason for setting up the charity in the first place.

We were greeted by the lovely Annette who explained all the tasks that needed doing. The shop was just absolutely bursting with stock! Which is amazing as it clearly has such great support from the locals donating so much stuff but also means there is lots to be done to ensure everything is kept tidy and put out on the shop floor!

Everyone got stuck in! We had people sorting and tidying books, CDs, DVDs, games and the bric-a-brac section too. And downstairs there was piles and piles of clothes to be sorted, tagged, hung and steamed.

The place was looking SO much tidier but after 40 minutes it was sadly time to go. They really struggle to get enough volunteers to keep on top of all the work that needs doing but 10 people lending a hand for just 40 minutes would have really helped them out so well done!!!!

We had a lovely photo outside the shop and then headed back the way we came, stopping off for a fitness session on the way. 3 rounds of step ups and single leg squats on the benches to work on getting those glutes stronger and some tricep dips to finish off. As I said, runners tend to neglect their upper body but its so important as it helps you maintain a good posture while you're running and can improve your running form and arm swing!

After 3 rounds it was time to head back to the office. We arrived a smidge before 1, just in time for a little stretch and a post work out shake no doubt!

Well done everyone! Great running and awesome work getting so much done at the shop. The managers were so pleased, if only we could have stayed a bit longer! See you in two months time!