14 GoodGymers convened on Bermondsey this morning to help Crisis get ready for Christmas. Crisis provide people with shelter, food, healthcare and advice on housing and employment over the festive period. Their central warehouse / logistical centre is in Bermondsey and it has been empty for most of the year. There was a lot of prep needed to get it ready to receive donations for Christmas 2018 and GoodGym was here to help!

After a highly professional briefing and safety talk, and fortified by tea and biscuits, we were set to work on various tasks including hoovering, organising furniture, cleaning the kitchen and jet washing the floor of the massive warehouse. Quickly realising the warehouse jet washing was the biggest of the tasks, we all migrated over there to help out.

While we were jet washing and sweeping en masse, a forklift arrived with a crate of out of date sparkling water. A breakaway team was tasked with opening the bottles of water and pouring them on the floor. This had the dual benefit of getting rid of the water, and adding extra lubricant for the jet wash/sweeping team. As an added bonus, the water was sparkling and lemon flavoured, which made the warehouse smell lemony fresh.

A big shout out to Aysha and Poppy, who were first timers at GoodGym today - they definitely didn't choose the easiest task to begin with (admittedly both were coaxed /cajoled by more seasoned GoodGymers to come along!)

The Crisis team were really impressed with the speed and enthusiasm of the team that attended, and we hope to coordinate more tasks together in future. Thanks to all that made it along!

If you are interested in volunteering with Crisis, check out https://www.crisis.org.uk/get-involved/christmas-volunteering-london/ Volunteering is not restricted to the Christmas Eve/Christmas Day/Boxing Day period, but there are opportunities to get involved in loads of other ways.

Southwark News

• She's been doing good since May 2017, she's a prolific gatherer of wild garlic. Yes that's right, Girija reached her 50th good deed tonight! A huge congrats to Girija, looking forward to seeing her in her black tshirt soon!

• This Saturday 3rd November Anna has organised an amazing Community Mission to clear up Crisis at Christmas's warehouse in Bermondsey so that it's ready for use over Christmas. Crisis at Christmas provides shelter and services to people without a home over the Christmas period so we are delighted to be abe to support them. Find out more and sign up here.

• Next Thursday 8th November is the last monthly GoodGym Social of the year. Expect International Pun of the Month and Treasure Thursday (bring your race bling). This week it's in Bethnal Green, find out more here.

• Don't forget the GoodGym Christmas party is on 1st December and we're having a decorations making party on 24th November.

• Next week we're going back to Theatre Deli to do another coat on the floor - sign up here.

That's enough of the business

Last night was quite the adventure! Liz at Grove Park Allotments got stuck on a train so couldn't make it BUT lo and behold, there was a community mission happening in Herne Hill so off we set!

We arrived en masse to see what we could do. The Community Missioners had done most of the work already but there were still about 7 gazebos standing. After a quick briefing we set to work taking them down. We got it done so quickly! The Herne Hill Forum were surprised and delighted to have us there and said that they were able to go for pizza much earlier because of us. A good deed for sure!

Fa-boo-lous dress-up last night, super scary!

We helped the team pack away all the gazebos and tables and set off for the run home. We ended up running nearly 8km overall. An amazing job everyone considering it was advertised as a 3km run. We were a flashmob for good last night!

After we went next door to Batch for spooky cocktails (or just beer!).

Great work team, see you next week!

Lucy J

16 runners ran 4km to leaflet, litter pick and tidy up Southwark

Southwark News

• Interested in what happened at the Shindig back in July? There's now a write up of how we're moving forward and details of how you can get involved. Have a look here.

• Next week we're painting benches at Tigers RFC. It's a 6km run overall - sign up here.

• Hello to Sian who joined us for the first time tonight!

• We're already talking about the GoodGym abroad trip next year - it's in Sofia, the website isn't up yet but you can find out more and sign up on the GoodGym website here.

Good bin? That's rubbish!

Sadly Stuart Road Allotment's wasps are still in residence - the weather hasn't changed as much as they'd hoped so they're still there! So what did we do instead? Scavenger hunt time!

The basics - a point system for:

*picking up rubbish

*doing a boomerang

*good dogs

*shops/pubs with a 'A'

BONUS POINTS

• Most creative team photo

• Best pun

*Leaflets GONE

We had 45 minutes in our teams to rack up as many points as possible and meet back on the Rye for - guess what? Squats! Everyone loves the Sally Squat Challenge (google it for more info). We were leafletting to advertise missions to local people and to raise awareness for a Community Consultation Coffee Morning that Age UK Southwark are holding on Tuesday 9th October at 10.00am. The consultation is designed to hear the community's voices on how the Yalding Healthy Living & Learning Centre should move forward. It's a great opportunity to get involved with what's happening for older people in the local community. Spread the word!

Scores on the doors: Baggers in wooden spoon position with 31 points, The Raccoons in third place with 37, Swingbin were the runners up with a whopping 77 points and in peak position with 89 points were the Fishy Four!

In total we bagged up 7 full bags of rubbish from all over the Peckham/Nunhead end of the borough. A serious bit of cleaning up. Nice one! We also shifted all of our leaflets - bonus points for everyone!

We had fun, we did some good and we ended up at Batch after, enjoying a few Hump Day beverages and much needed food.

A great night everyone, look forward to seeing you next week.

Lucy J