Twas a bit of a chilly one as our brave runners set out to complete 2 tasks.

First up, we had a small group, lead by Victoria, heading down the road to empty, move and refill a planter. GP Food Co op turn local surgery’s gardens into little allotment spaces where patients can grow and eat fruit and veg!

Words by Victoria:

Jonathan has been at the surgery for 20 years, and since the setup of the GP food Co-op, he’s pleased to see it’s having the desired effect. Fewer patients needing quite so many appointments, perhaps because of the healing power of nature and the great outdoors! The garden was in great shape and many residents and local green-fingered garden users walked by to say hello! We moved a planter to a sunnier spot in the garden ready for summer. It took some coordinated 1,2,3 lift (shuffle). We have it a spruce up with a litter pick too. Then were back to base to warm up.💥

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The rest of us split into 3 groups, spreading some leaflets about an event happening for Lambeth residents looking to gain EU settlement status. 👌

Lambeth-regular Paul said we saved him a day’s work at the council offices by delivering them to community centres, GP surgeries and leisure centres between Brixton and Streatham. With runs from 6k to 12k, we blitzed the running, and figured out where some of the mysterious venues were from a slightly cryptic map!

Nice one everyone and MASSIVE congrats to Pippa for her SPOTM 💩! 80 deeds, a 25 month mission streak 🔥 and a new 10k PB as of this weekend 🏁 A well deserved winner of various cosmetics samples, a chocolate brussel sprout, a piggy bank and a limited edition Star Wars pin badge! 🚀

And big up new runners Diane, Victor and Jessie for joining us!

See y'all next week for a little trip to Jubilee Primary School! Sign up here.

Despite a last minute cancellation, we had TWO tasks on offer.

Nicky lead the run to option one: ☝️

Our group of excellent group of GoodGymmers braved the cold to run to the beloved Remakery. After a quick introduction to the brilliant work they do there, reusing and upcycling materials into furniture/sculptures etc, our first challenge was to divide into three groups - one large, one medium, one small.

Two groups were sweeping and hoovering the woodwork workshops. Armed with a Henry Hoover and very attractive face masks, they quickly made a huge difference. The other group were moving large piles of wooden planks and sorting them into small, medium and large. They quickly got a system in place and GoodGym efficiency won again. On our way back to base, we did a quick meet and retreat fitness round Myatts Fields park. And then it was time to head home and warm up.

Good work everyone! - Nicky

The rest of us headed had a longer run to flyer for Brixton People’s Kitchen, actually nearer Vauxhall...

By day, it’s a cafe serving good value grub to locals. By night, it provides cooking workshops using food from supermarkets that would otherwise go to waste!

We split into 3 groups to cover 3 separate areas in the immediate vicinity. Unfortunately we couldn't get into the upper flat block levels... but hopefully those on the ground floor will spread the word to their neighbours! After a solid 20 minutes avoiding finger-biting dogs, we took a few beautiful posed photos and headed back.

Oh and there was even a lovely lit up heart. GoodGym's theme for the month is #GiveItHeart so that was nice :)

Cracking running guys!

And nice one Clem and Michael for joining us for your first ever GG run! 💥

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See y'all next week for another two tasks: Clearing out furniture at Brixton Rd Youth Centre and pulling up the rest of the ivy at the YELLOW QUBE. Also, it's pub week! 🍻 🍻 🍻

Lambeth brought it's A-game tonight with not one but TWO tasks completed.

We first up congratulated looooads people on fantastic Januarys, smashing the GG milestones. Massive shoutout to Nicky for picking this run as her two hundredth good deed.

And topping the GG Lambeth heroes wall for January and rightfully receiving this month's SPOTM, the untouchable Francis Collier-Wright. Some A-grade hand cream, biscuits, sports bar and even a champions plaque, which I'm sure will go atop her mantlepiece.

We also welcomed some new runners to the gang. Tom, Jamie and Martin, you are so welcome!

We then had a super quick warm up, split into two groups and got going.

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Nicky lead most of the group, truly earning that 200th deed. Here's what she had to say:

A brilliant team of GoodGymmers headed up the hill to a brand new task at the Yellow Qube. We met Mel and had a brief interlude in the warmth whilst she told us about this brilliant community space and what they needed us to do tonight. Our task was to clear up the space below the walkway. Our first hurdle was a literal one - jumping the fence. Everyone managed this with aplomb and displayed a variety of styles/techniques and different degrees of gracefulness. Once over the fence, we got to work clearing up rubbish and pesky ivy. Mel was very happy and after a quick group snap, we headed back down the hill for some stretching at base camp (aka Papa's).

POW

The rest of us hung around at Papa's to do a bunch of jobs around the cafe. First up, we needed some warming up. Obviously a game of tag was just what the doctor ordered. Then we got cracking:

🎨Painting a wall white, to brighten it up, after spending about 10 minutes trying to open up the paint...

🔩Removing the weird notice boards - hunting down the screws and trying not to pull down the fence...

🌱Pulling up the weeds/knowing which ones are the weeds...

We threw in a few some chilled circuits to warm up halfway through and were even treated to hot chocolate and marshmellows from Valcie from PAPA's cafe.

YUM 👅

Nice one everyone! Next week we're back at Jubilee Primary School - sign up here!

The Portico Gallery is an absolute gem of South London, hosting art exhibitions, tea parties, ceilidhs, yoga classes, an outdoor gym, craft workshops and even the occasional GoodGym wedding!

Tonight a killer team of GoodGym runners slogged it up the hill to help out with yet another interesting task;

SORTING GAZEBOS

We welcomed some fantastic new runners - Fenella, Tarig, Charlie and Eva and then split into 3 pace groups: speedy, medium and gentle, to take on the 4.5k run up to the Portico.

When we arrived, John told us about the West Norwood Feast - an awesome community gathering with food and crafts stalls which happens on the first Sunday of the month. John keeps some of the gazebos they use in the Portico and some live in the nearby leisure centre/swimming pool.

Our job was to sort the clean sides from the dirty sides. We got straight to it, with half the group heading to the leisure centre/swimming pool to do the same thing.

In no time at all, all gazebos were sorted and we hit the road, back to Papa's.

They were brilliant - John (via email)

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NEXT WEEK we've got a NEW TASK - half the group will stick at Papa's for some gardening jobs and fitness drills whilst the other half will be heading to the YELLOW QUBE, a super cool community space on the way to Tulse Hill.

Be there or be cubed. Sign up here.

51 absolute heroes were out last night to start the year with a bang 💥

And some of those heroes were totally fresh to GoodGym! Massive cheer to Molly, Lawrence, Charlotte, Lara, Clare, Kirsty, Campbell, Jasmine, Faris, Mitch and Jessica. So great to have you along :)

Our task was simple - give Lambeth council a hand by picking up some of the trees from the roadside (they don’t have enough space for all of them in their van when they pick them up) so that they’re not clogging up the streets - and take them to the TREE-CYCLING (😅) plant in Clapham Common.

And after a quick warm up, we split into 5 fabulous teams heading to different areas to pick up as many trees as we could.

After worrying that we wouldn’t find any, we were blessed with absolutely loads - some on the pavements, some hiding behind bins, some small, some massive and some so dead they must've spent their Christmas getting intimate with a radiator.

Trees in hands, we all descended on the centre of Clapham Common like some sort of weird tree cult. Each tree was ceremoniously thrown on top of a big pile and then we ran back to base with plenty of bonus FITNESS DRILLS thrown in.

TREE-MENDOUS

Amazing stuff everyone and such bravery shown when awkwardly carrying trees through some very crowded areas...

Next week is Lambeth’s 6th Birthday!! To celebrate we’re going to Jubilee Primary School to do some GOOD. Then we’re going to the pub to eat cake. 🙌 Sign up here.