Big up Emily and JB for joining us on their first GoodGym run - Give them a cheer! 👏

Last night we had a bunch of jobs to do:

👉 Papa’s Park kindly put us up every week so it’s only right that now and then we do some jobs for them. Weeding in some of the ground beds and sanding a big concrete bench in preparation for painting was on the agenda.

👉We also had a load of Food2U posters to spread across Brixton and the local area. Food2U is an Age UK initiative where older people who are less mobile can get their weekly shop bought, delivered and put away for them by a friendly driver who sticks around for a chat. We did this in January and it was really helpful.

Time for a team challenge!

So with 6 different areas to take the posters too, 6 groups were formed. These 6 groups made 6 massive piles of weeds and much sanding was done. Then the 6 groups headed off in their 6 different directions to spread 60(!) posters from Clapham High Street to Herne Hill and everywhere in between.

We were reminded that fly-posting can earn you an £80 fine… Thanks Paul for the heads up! So our teams used their local knowledge to poster in leisure centres, libraries and shops across the area.

See pics for evidence of the mysterious Carnegie library (nice building, but closed), the purple clouds of the Stockwell skyline (actually, it’s a painting) and David Bowie's head.

Ace work everybody! 👌

Sign up for next week’s run here with runs to either the Portico Gallery to move some gazebo weights or a shorter trip to Agnes Riley Gardens.

It was a delightful evening for a delightful run, with 35 runners in pursuit of the Portico Gallery, a community arts space in West Norwood.

We had a quick intro, welcoming 7 new people to the gang. Nice one Alice, Rachael, Anthony, Hannah, Sarah, Emily and Martha!!! Give those guys a cheer.

SOFIA, SO GOOD.

Then Lavinia told us about the fantastic time that was had this past weekend in Bulgaria. There were some incredible finish times from GG Lambeth runners and a lot of fun was had!

Tom Benson gave us the lowdown on the GoodGym Olympics and the plan for a GG Anthem. 🥁

And we congratulated Will on his sterling effort of reaching 50 GOOD DEEDS. Awesome stuff.

We then hit the road, a tidy 4.5k uphill to The Portico. Tom Hunter lead the “keen” bunch and the rest of us took a more relaxed approach!

We arrived to meet John who gave us a couple of tasks:

👉 Cleaning the walls of the arts space with a “sugar soap” mixture.

👉 folding plastic bags to save space

Everyone got stuck in with some people commenting on how scrubbing the walls was very therapeutic!

Soap pleased to clean you.

Before we knew it, time was up and we had to begin the descent home.

SOAP SOLID CREW.

Well done everyone. Next week we’re at Myatt’s Field for another therapeutic task - removing bindweed!

Last night was all about destruction; demolishing the remains of a dilapidated allotment space and a brutal game of Rock, Paper, Scissors.

After a quick briefing, including many a safety warning, we had a speedy warm up and set off to Lee Samuel House, a sheltered housing block, just a few hundred metres from Papa's Park.

Tom took a group on a 4k jaunt and the rest of us took a spiralling route round the houses. We all ran past David Bowie's birthplace but alas, we had no idea which house it was...!

When we arrived, Mandy from Notting Hill Genesis gave us the lowdown on the garden and how it was going to be transformed into a far nicer allotment, with raised beds and levelled ground so the residents could grow their own food.

The task ahead was a big one.

It was a huge space with a monumental amount of wood, metal, trellis, plant pots, canes, tyres, netting, planks, the walls of a childrens playhouse, pallets, bed frames, plastic, bricks, a frog, foam, carpet, rope, multiple large spiders, rods, crates etc. etc. etc. and a whole lot of weeds to avoid. And all this needed dismantling and sorting into piles.

With nothing but our hands and some gardening gloves we set to work. Everyone split themselves between different sections of the garden, working together to decide how best to break everything apart. As soon as one structure was taken down, we'd find something else underneath which needed dismantling. Wood was held together by stubborn nails, netting was wrapped around weeds and wooden planks seemed to have merged with the ground...

But there was nothing than could stop the undeniable force that is GoodGym Lambeth from getting the job done.

When everything was piled up, we took a quick group snap of our efforts and headed back to PAPA's. We had time for a quick game of rock, paper, scissors (lose - you sprint to the fence and back, win - you do a squat or a wall sit) and a nice long stretch to finish off.

Amazing work everybody, and nice to see some new faces to Lambeth! 👏👏👏 to Lucy and Julia who joined us for their first ever GoodGym run!

Next week it's a nice long run to the Portico Gallery in West Norwood! See you then. ✌️