It was an early start in Avery Hill Park to give a hand to the amazing Community Hospice team for their Fun Day setup. The air was crisp but our GoodGym spirits was high.

First task was unloading the van. With good team work and some heavy lifting, the gear and boxes were soon laid out ready for action.

Then came the nine marquees 🎪. With four of us pulling together on each they popped up like giant umbrellas. We fastened weights round the legs and hammered in pegs to anchor everything down 🔨. No chance of these structures taking flight on our watch!

We then fitted the back panels and laid out tables, making the space ready for the event.

With perfect timing we headed across the park for parkrun 🏃🏻‍♀️🏃‍♂️.

A perfect blend of doing good and getting fit on a Saturday morning 💥

At this month's session at Holy Trinity Lamorbey Primary School, the fading daylight meant recent outdoor tasks gave way to a new indoor project - painting a well-used communal area.

With only 50 minutes in hand, our team focused on a single wall. Protective floor coverings were carefully laid to save the carpet from splashes - none of us are decorating professionals after all! Kam even took off his black his trainers to avoid paint-splatter. Wise move!

Then some of us set to work with brushes to define edges around skirtings, noticeboards, ceiling and corners. Others got a great arm workout with rollers - gliding fresh paint over the tired surfaces.

The change from cream to... cream... was subtle but it was nice to see the wall looking brighter.

Often the worst part of painting is cleaning the rollers and brushes afterwards, but luckily for us the school's site manager said he would do that. Happy days!

The work continues next month. Come along and join us to help make a difference in this lovely school.

Nothing discourages me more than the amount of work I see ahead of me. Every day walking down Westwood Lane, near the A2, I thought: this area really needs a good litter picking session. The rubbish piling up, the brambles and spiky plants making the path hard to walk – it all felt overwhelming. Too much to take on alone.

And that’s when GoodGym support became indispensable. Just one hour together – and look at the difference! Street cleaned, brambles cut back, litter picked (with some unusual findings like a broken guitar, a flag post (?) and even a huge throw!).

Several locals stopped to thank us as we worked, which made it even more rewarding. But the best part for me will be Monday morning: walking this road with my kids on our way to school and sharing the excitement of how much good can be done when a bunch of committed people come together.

Thank you, my amazing fellow GoodGym-ers! John Sarah Rachel

We had lots of fun at Eltham junior parkrun today, marshaling and timekeeping for all the young runners and their grown-ups.

It was smiles all round.

This morning we gave the big conifer outside Danson House a proper makeover. First we battled through lots of very spiky plants, then spread a fresh circle of mulch all around the tree. It now looks brilliant – like it’s ready for a photo shoot!

We also collected a huge 29 bags of wilted grass, weeds and rubbish. The area looks so much tidier, and the tree is definitely the star of the show.

Well done team – spades, mulch and teamwork made the magic happen!