It was lights, camera and plenty of action last night in Wandsworth as we not only had a busy session at our regular Doddington task, but we had our monthly pub quiz and a visit from the global press. What a way to kick off the week!

We started the evening with our usual warm ups, and a run down of all the news. Well done to everybody who came to Sunday's mission where we grappled with an enormous sand pit - if that's given you the fomo (fear of missioning out), then why not sign up to this great Saturday mission in Streatham clearing out Unigate woods.

After getting our muscles warmed up for the run ahead, we did a few sprints up and down the hill, and, blinded by the bright lights of the cameras I forgot our regular name, number and question of the week. Sorry about that - although it did mean we got an extra run up and down that hill. Silver linings?

After a quick run down to the task we were met by Malissa, who deployed us around the garden to tackle various jobs. Doddington roof garden is a beautiful area used by local people who don't necessarily have access to green space to grow their own fruit and veg. It is used for community events, kids clubs and is a real urban oasis. It is great to see how it changes and evolves every month when we come for our regular session - and there is always plenty to do!

We were soon busy shifting an enormous barbeque, stripping grass, pulling up mallow and turning compost. In between jobs Catherine, Sophie and Jason were interviewed by the AP, revealing themselves to be consummate professionals in front of the camera.

The time flew by and before long we downed tools, waved goodbye to the Doddington team and headed down to the square for our fitness session. This week we tested our brains and body with a group challenge featuring maths and squats, before moving on to our cardio and conditioning workout. Great effort, everybody.

While some of us ran back to the BAC for stretches and one final run up that hill (that must be some kind of record), the rest of the group ran to the pub to reserve our space for the pub quiz. The rivalry was definitely heating up, and it was a strong performance by both GG teams.

Next week we're back to Larkhall park for some lifting and shifting. If you needed any extra motivation, we've completed 42 of our 125 good deeds target, and have run a 25% of our distance goal for January. We're already almost half way through January - can you help us make it?

Great session, hope to see you at the next one!

Team Wandsworth were embracing the January challenge in style with a fantastic group turning up today to transform a nursery 60 minute makeover style. We had a big job on our hands and so we split up to cover the various areas. One team may have landed the inside job but had multiple storeys and a lift to contend with to get their items out of the door. The outside team received an education in nursery life discovering spaces from the mud kitchen to the forest cabin! AstroTurf was rolled out to create a new space and we cleared out a whole host of unwanted and sometimes unexpected things (including the largest rubber deck we have ever seen) to ensure the children had the best play area possible. Once we had done our removals work, it was time to tackle the main event - the sand pit! It felt as large as a long jump pit and the clearance certainly felt like an Olympic effort. We furiously shovelled away and filled all of the bags that we had at our disposal. The bags didn’t always keep up with our ambitions but we ploughed on and filled a whole parking space with all our collected items. Impressive work Team Wandsworth! Well done all and a special shout out to James who achieved his first good deed today!

The temperature was dropping quickly last night but the energy levels were high for our first group run of 2026.

Maybe that was because we had a lovely warm inside task waiting for us at St Saviour's in Battersea? This church and community hub had asked us for a hand coming to take down the decorations we put up the year before, which nicely coincided with the freezing weather.

Or perhaps it was because we got to welcome Katharine and Rohan to their first session - great to meeting you, both!

It could have been the prospect of a great community mission helping a south London nursery create a space for under fives in the garden this Saturday. Jobs will include removing all old sand from the sandpit, putting in plants, sorting and cleaning the greenhouse and creating a seating area round the fire pit. This will be a fun task that will really make a difference!

I think it probably had a lot to do with the fact that we were coming together for another great year of GoodGyming, running and fun in Wandsworth. We started off with a warm up and pledged how many GoodGym good deeds we wanted to complete in January. Answers ranged from 3 to 125 - which I'm excited about seeing happen!

We enjoyed a nice downhill run to the task where we were met by Layton and Catherine who manage the space. After a few instructions we got started removing baubles from trees, shifting chairs, hoovering up pine needles and the mammoth job of unstringing all the lights around the vast space. Knowing what a tricky job it was unwinding the many metres of string lights when they had not been put away so carefully, Felix and Jordan (having put them up) were extra diligent in packing them away neatly. At the end of the year we'll thank our past selves for doing such a good job.

We got the task done quickly, with Catherine and Layton both commenting that it would have taken them hours. Great work everybody. There was time for a lovely toasty strength and conditioning session on the floor of the centre, and it was good to see that the spirit of insurrection against the weekly fitness session was still alive and kicking this year!

After a run back to the start, we did some stretches and even started making plans for GoodGym Wandsworth's 10th anniversary this year - summer '26 in Paris, anybody? Looking to the more immediate future, we have next week's session to get excited about. We'll be heading to Doddington community garden for our regular task followed by a pub quiz social.

It's been a busy old year at GoodGym Wandsworth and we have climbed to an extraordinary 11 071 good deeds!

We marked this amazing milestone with a night of even more doing good, a festive task, delicious baked treats and some amazing singing. Not only that but we were able to celebrate Ali's 30th birthday. What a way to see off the year...

During our warm up we discussed our favourite things to eat on Christmas day - we're looking forward to Christmas pud, yorkies, cauliflower cheese, risotto, pasta, smoked salmon and even...parsnips!

It was great to be going back to a task we hadn't visited in a while. Arriving at the Venue community centre we were met by Hadas and split into three groups. One team tackled the decorations, one had the job of packing away chairs and tables and the third got to grips with clearing the outside space.

It didn't take long for the place to be transformed. It had been looking a bit neglected but with all hands on the deck making space for a big local event and giving it a festive makeover it quickly became a community Christmas wonderland.

The final step was to switch on the lights, so after a countdown it was up to Ali to do the honours. Great work everybody - it doesn't take much to make a big difference.

We ran back to base for stretches, even managing a sprint up the big final hill and perhaps an even quicker sprint over to the pub for a night of sweet treats and plenty of karaoke. Turns out that GG Wandsworth has a lot of hidden talent in its midst - take a look at the photos to see the star turns in action!

There are missions happening over the Christmas period, including the opportunity to help out with a big community meal at the BAC on the day itself. Our first group run of the year will be on Monday 5th January - join us to kick off another amazing year of GoodGyming.

Have a great break everybody and thank you for a year that has been filled with unforgettable memories and a huge amount of doing good (and squats). Roll on 2026!

We spent a lovely morning getting into the Christmas spirit at St Saviour's! There was a lot to do to turn the church into a winter wonderland fit for their carol service but we set to work to pull off a Christmas miracle. Our group of elves set up (and untangled!) six sets of hanging lights, swept up eleven bags of leaves from outside, sorted and decorated two Christmas trees and made sure every surface was looking fabulous with cloths, nets and candles galore. Special shout out to Letizia who took on the task of brightening up the scaffolding and to Jordan and Felix for patiently stringing five hundred lights back and forth.

It will be a wonderful event for the community and will hopefully get everyone feeling festive. It was great to welcome Tom to his first festive group task and to see everyone else ahead of our last task of the year on Monday winding up another fantastic year of doing so much good!