Despite the December chill, Julian led a determined crew of runners to yesterday’s GoodGym Greenwich task. Khai, Ceci and Kerry joined him on the run, while the rest of the team met us at the Brooklands School. We were especially pleased to welcome back Sevan, making a triumphant return after a work Christmas do, and Aman, who left Bristol early just to make it in time. That’s the kind of commitment that keeps GoodGym glowing - heroes, all of you!

Our mission for the evening was to paint the staff room and finish cleaning the cupboards. And true to the evening’s punny title (No Whisk, No Reward) we kicked things off by seeing what on earth we could use to stir the paint... it actually wasn't a whisk but we couldn't resist Khai's excellent pun anyway. With slightly fewer rollers and brushes than ideal (and absolutely no spare whisks), we embraced classic GoodGym ingenuity and made do with what we had. Before long, the first coat was on the walls and the cupboards were sparkling.

We didn’t quite manage to get around the whole room this time, but fear not, we’ll be back in January to finish the job!

Looking ahead, there’s plenty more GoodGym goodness on the horizon: 👉 This Saturday: Talk and Tidy and Westcombe Woodlands 👉 Next Wednesday: get ready to flex those painting muscles again for an indoor task at Arthur’s school!

Brilliant work everyone🛠️🎨💪🏽❤️

Until next time,

Rachel

What a glorious morning we had at Mycenae Gardens yesterday! After joining a post Junior Parkrun coffee with those double deeding heroes amongst us, we had a warm up and quick discussion on what we're looking forward to this winter. Answers ranged from mulled wine to winter being over!

Twelve runners set off on the 3km run, including Roshan who completed his first ever good deed with us - great to have you along Roshan! On arrival, after a briefing from the amazing Fiona we got straight to work.

The task for the day was pruning bushes and low-hanging branches, then dragging the cuttings over to the dead hedge. Everyone pitched in, weaving branches into the hedge to reinforce it and make it sturdy. Seamless teamwork and the hour flew by faster than we expected.

With the hard work done and a few thorny fingers to prove it, we rounded things off with the best reward: coffee and cake. And just when we thought the morning couldn’t get any better, Ceci choreographed some dances to make it an extra memorable session (check Instagram for those!).

I absolutely love our community and how we all bring something different to make it special 😁

Next up: This Wednesday we’ll be painting at Brooklands

On Saturday we've got Talk and Tidy with the friends of hornfair park And maintenance at Westcombe Woodlands.

Until next time! ❤️

Rachel

With most of us coming from a thwarted leafleting task earlier in the morning, and Ceci meeting us at this task, we were back at the Community Hospice for a second session of thorn-thrashing - cutting back a prickly area of brambles so that hidden fruit trees and other suffocated plants can thrive again.

We had cleared about half the area last month, and this time we were determined to get the rest done. Before the rain.

And we did just that!

Just as we were taking the tools back to the shed, the rain set in. It was definitely a lucky escape as the forecast would have seen us getting very wet much earlier. Or perhaps the weather gods recognised that GoodGymers giving up their time to help others deserve a break!

The hard work done, a few of us enjoyed a tasty lunch and good natter in the Hospice canteen, then headed home.

Jason, the Hospice's head gardener, is sure to have plenty more for us to do on our next visit, and the more hands the better, so come along and join us!

This morning was all about helping two brilliant local charities and supporting a local parkrun.

First up Bexley parkrun - Manish in hi-viz handing out finishing tokens; Marta, Julian, Johnny and me running. Afterwards we mingled with the other runners, giving out Mind in Bexley's leaflets promoting their Mental Elf run in the park next weekend. So far, so good 👌!

When Ivar arrived, we donned jolly elf hats and set off to pop lots more Mental Elf run leaflets through letterboxes of houses close to the park. Well, that was plan at least.

However, a resident at the second house told us he already had a leaflet because someone else had delivered fliers along the street earlier in the week 🤔.

Not wanting Mind in Bexley to receive complaints from locals about having been targeted twice, we called it a day on that task, said 'bye' to Manish and moved on to the Community Hospice for some bramble-bashing.

Things may not always go to plan with GoodGym, but we always have fun time when we get together, so it's never a wasted venture.

Come and give GoodGym a go.

7 goodgym-ers met in central Woolwich on a festively chilly November evening. After a warm up & ice-breaker discussing recent movie dates, we made our way uphill to one of our favourite haunts, Dee's Childcare Nursery.

Our past tasks have included various garden projects such as putting together a tyre slide which we were happy to see is still in use.

Tonight's task was originally planned to involve putting up outdoor decorations for the childrens' Christmas party, however this was scuppered by squirrels having their own party and chewing through the lights' wires last year 🐿

So we bounced to plan B, partly dismantling a trampoline to turn it into a stage for the party. Helpfully there were plenty of crates and planks of wood around for building purposes, so we stacked and balanced and added some screws for stability. Task completed, we tested the stage with a group photo, then it was on with the show (well, a downhill run then heading home).

Thanks all & see you at the next goodgym mission! On sunday we're gardening at Mycenae and next wednesday we're painting the staff room at Brooklands Primary School.