It was great to see the sun as four intrepid GoodGymers headed out for Session 5/5 at Knaphill Lower School, continuing our mission to help the PTA restore the garden and outdoor classroom to create a safe, active space for the pupils. Olalekan teamed up with Mark (PTA) to finish the second wigwam, providing another cosy space for imaginative play.

Meanwhile , Kirsty and Julie worked with Alex, a mum from the PTA, to transform a pile of cut branches from last week into a habitat hedge. They were supervised by the local robin who was intrigued to see the final structure, and all the buglife we had disturbed for his breakfast. Anne continued with her mission to restore the wooden climbing equipment from a green slimy mess back to its former glory. The festive Goodgym red tutu and colourful rubber gloves were a great outfit combo. Kudos to Anne for also running to the task.

Vicky, and Mark, members of the PTA, and their son, a former student, have worked so hard to fund, plan and create this new space for the school. The Woking team have done a great job with all the autumn / winter sessions. Watch out for further opportunities to continue to support them in the new year.

Woking GG Xmas Meal 🎅🏽

Goodgym Woking members got together for a Xmas meal last night at Zizzi's 🍕.

What a great turn out last night was it was fantastic to see so many turn up to celebrate a great year together as Woking GG.

Firstly big thank you to Nadia who organised the venue 👏🏻.

Karen arrived first as she was already in town helping out at another local charity 😇 followed by Wayne. The table setting was impressive full of Crackers and decorations 🎗. Adam then arrived without his crutches which was great to see, still not back to 💯 but recovering well. Adam was telling us about his house move last weekend and how grateful he was to his fellow goodgymers who assisted his 😄 Caterina arrived shortly after looking very glam and sparkly ❈. Karen was telling us about her up and coming trip to India 🇮🇳 traveling around for a month just after Xmas, sounds amazing. As the conversation was flowing Kirsty & Bryan arrived followed by Melanie he had come straight from work. Stephanie arrived followed by Julie everyone was looking very festive 🎄. Just behind Anne arrived wearing her GG Shirt as well as her red tutu ❤️ Nadia & Andy arrived followed by Alys who had brough us all little choco treats ❤️. And finally Rebecca arrived straight off the train. It was great hearing about Rebecca 1/2 marathon that she did in New York 🗽 few weekends ago.

Now that everyone had arrived we could order food and drink. Plenty of food was ordered from Pizza's to Risotto's To Pasta dishes everything looked and tasted great.

All in all it was a great night celebrating a great year with fantastic people. ❤️

It may have been cold, raining and generally behaving like Woking in full autumn sulk mode, but five determined GoodGymers donned their waterproofs and headed out for Session 4/5 at Knaphill Lower School, continuing our mission to help the PTA restore the garden and outdoor classroom to its former, slightly less jungly glory.

Wayne teamed up with Mark (PTA) to engineer a rather impressive wigwam, because when conditions are inclement, why not build a small architectural marvel? Wayne engineering mind was in full flow, and before long the structure had a base, fixings, and all the promise of a very cosy den.

Meanwhile Olalekan, Stephanie, Kirsty, Julie launched into branch hacking mode, carving out what will soon become a magical zone for the children. With her horticultural wisdom, Julie quickly sized up the piles of pruned branches and suggested transforming them into a living hedge… or was it a dead hedge? (We’re still not fully sure, but either way it’s definitely a hedge.)

Olalekan, channelling an upgraded Edward Scissorhands, sliced through the overgrowth with alarming speed and style. Stephanie wore gloves so fabulous they prompted immediate gear envy, and after valiantly battling thick branches with secateurs, she was pleased when Julie allowed her to use the mighty lopper instead.

Rainy? Yes. Muddy? Cold? Yes. Very. Productive? Completely. Another brilliant GoodGym session, and only one more to go this side of Christmas in this mission to bring Knaphill’s outdoor play zone come classroom back to life

Woodhill Church

This bonfire night 5 Goodgym Members met at Woodhill Church To Help With An Outdoor Task 😊

A big Welcome to Ben who joined us for his first task, hopefully first of many 👍

Wayne & Olalekan get to the church a little early and were met by Jules who looks after all the projects around the church grounds.

First task was two get all the 40 compost bags from around the front of the church to the back of the church as they got delivered and dropped off at the wrong side. Wayne & Olalekan started to move them around after 2 rounds Olalekan asked if there was a wheel barrow available which we could load up and save us many trips back & forward. Jules did have one available which made life very easy. After 4 trips all 40 bags were brought to the bedding area. Julie, Stephanie & Ben had arrived at this point. At this point we followed instructions from our garden expert Julie. We placed the bags all along the perimeter and cut them open in readiness to spread the compost.

Above us in the night sky we can see and hear fireworks going off 🎇. Using forks and shovels we spread the compost all around the bedding. Withing 40 mins the job was completed.Jules was very grateful what would of taken her hours we done in no time 😊.

We put the tools away then Jules treated us all the some pasteries and bread which were very tasty ❤

"This Girl Can" #letsliftthecurfew 🏃🏼‍♀️

This evening Woking GG met at the leisure centre to do a community litter pick run and the highlight the "This Girl Can" campaign. The litter pick part of the task did not happen as Wayne could not find the litter pickers so it was a gentle run around the leisure centre 🏃🏼‍♀️.

Anne, Katie, Julie, Nadia, Luan, Caterina, met at the entrance to the leisure centre they were joined by our newest member Olalekan. After introductions we switched on our head torches and headed off.

It was great seeing Julie who has been very busy of late and also fantastic to see Caterina join us for an evening run 😀.

While we were running we got to know Olalekan who many years ago represented his country in a number of athletic events 🏃‍♂️ Olalekan has just moved to the area and is so far loving Goodgym.

Let’s Lift The Curfew launched in 2023 to showcase women’s stories and concerns around getting active outdoors in the darker months when the clocks go back, as well as calling on wider society to acknowledge their role in making getting active outdoors safer for women. 😀🏃🏼‍♀️