8 Good Gymer's enjoyed an evening at the Marble Hill Adventure Playground. It was a sunny evening and we got to work quickly to clear the playground patches to make the playground ready for action for the community to use.

This playground is unique as it has big wooden play structures and offers children a large open space to engage with others and participate in various activities.

Thankfully the grass and weeds were easy to pull out of the ground and we definitely got a handful of grass and soil on our hands! But many hands made light work and we cleared the area fairly efficiently and with a final jump photo, we were off to enjoy the remainder of the evening.

Despite growing concerns over the Covid-19 outbreak and truly torrential weather, a group of heroic Goodgymers gathered at Wholefoods on Monday evening and braved the downpour to lend a hand to the good people of the St Christopher’s Fellowship.

As well as some dynamic stretching to get us warmed up we also put our energy into a game of noughts and crosses (or tic tac toe). We split into two teams, the gloves versus the cones and raced one another to see who had the speed and agility to get our tools in a line the fastest. Most energetic way to play an old skool sit down game but we could not put off the soggy run as there was lots to be done at St Christopher's.

St Christopher’s is a charity whose vision is for every child and young person to be safe, loved & happy, to achieve their potential and have a bright future. Their mission is to create brighter futures for children and young people, by providing fostering, residential and support services where children and young people can feel safe and cared for and supporting them to make positive relationships which give them the confidence to succeed.

We have been to this wonderful charity many times before but this evening we ventured further into the building than before, with the tasks of painting the walls of an upstairs bedroom and building bed frames to go inside. We split into two groups, with Jo, Salwa, John and JP heading upstairs armed with paint, rollers and trays, and Kate, Anita, Naomi and Jenna grabbing the Allen keys and getting to work on the bed frames in the hallway.

Upstairs, the painting group made fast progress. After laying down dust sheets and taping them in place, the butterscotch-coloured paint was poured into the trays and 4 rollers hit the walls. Before long it was time to get some ladders to help reach the higher parts of the walls and soon enough the walls were done. Meanwhile down in the hallway, the group got into IKEA mode and made rapid progress on building two single beds, or rather Kate and Naomi set to work reveling in the chance to have a go at this "adult lego" and they at least made short work of it - if you need furniture assembling they are the ones to call.

Now for the others, I know they say a workman shouldnt blame his tools or the flat pack parts or scream 'Let's Paint the Town BED' but in this case it was true! Lack of working screwdrivers, alan keys and mishapen parts meant , even with Mark's help Anita and Jenna couldn't get past the first couple of steps in the instruction manual - well at least we tried and we were trying so hard that we lost track of time so it was a quick sprint back to Wholefoods for a cool down and pun brainstorm

Now one can truly say hand on heart that in weather like tonight it’s all the more satisfying to do good! A big welcome to John on his first run and all of those that braved the run and bashed out a pun!

Written by Jenna and

As March enters our calendars a clear night was upon us, we even had stars (thanks for pointing them out Salwa). It was dry and we were free from floods but it was cold!!

18 of us braved the low temperatures and met at Wholefoods ready to venture along the river for a 6km run and help out at the Ham and Petersham Sea Scouts.

Our evening started with the usual warm up outside Wholefoods and then some added fun in the form of interval training. We paired up with another runner similar to our ability and speed and jogged around Richmond Green together, 20 steps steady pace and the 20 steps fast ...we definitely showed those freezing temperatures who's boss!

Then is was Stravas set to go and we were off tackling Richmond Hill and gliding down Star and Garter, finally landing at the scouts where they are tranforming their current land.

We were there to get stuck into a multitude of jobs, from clearing ash from the fire pit, clearing the path of mud and leaves, to planting some bulbs and fishing out all the rain water from the boats. The recent bad weather had battered the land but we did our best to revive it again.

Every day we're shoveling 🎶#goodgym #richmond #scouts #ham #petersham #volunteering #fitness #runninggroup #doinggood pic.twitter.com/WmM2eMa5wc

— GoodGym Richmond (@GGRichmon) March 3, 2020

In the darkness , under the stars we posed for a photo and proudly plodded out of the woodland in our mud sodden trainers heading back to Wholefoods for the cool down.

And how do we overcome such a cold night? Well we head to the pub for an ice cold beer of course! Amongest the drinks and jubilations we congratulated the finishers of the Vitality Big Half Marathon, those present as those resting their legs - well done everyone!

Welcome to Sue on her first Goodgym run and welcome to Jo on her second.

Don't forget our guide to help reduce the risk of the Coronavirus

some exciting news....On Saturday 11th April we have been invited to the annual showcase match for the Harlequins Women – The Game Changer! We may be able to get 20 tickets (TBC) to give away so please do email markb@goodgym.org and let me know if you would like a ticket