With the promise of a relaxing evening bulb planting, the number of red tshirts (some hidden under many layers) was promising as we headed off to RUSS Community Housing, only to find out we weren't planting bulbs but instead shifting topsoil!

In true GoodGym spirit no one minded the change of task and it was definitely a task that kept us warm!

Part of the group stayed by the time capsule (and hopefully didn't open it!!) ready to receive the bags of top soil and empty them onto some pre-laid out cardboard.

Another part of the group tackled digging up the top soil and putting it into bags. There was a good rhythm going by the end including some lovely delicate shoveling with the small spade!

The remainder of the group wheeled the bags to and from both locations! There was a variety of modes of transport, some could handle the job and some looked like they might tip over at anytime - the modes of transport, not the GoodGymers!!

We were then treated to tea and biscuits to warm us up before we headed back to Glass Mill for a quick cool down. Not before we admired Vic's running technique as she disappeared into the distance and decided to try our best to replicate but we might have all ended up with pulled muscles so we'll leave that to the experts!

Not only were we spreading the word about Age Exchange and their fabulous Christmas Fair...we also took the opportunity to spread the word about GoodGym.

We gathered at Glass Mill and spent a little while deciding who was going where and with how many flyers. All courtesy of Oli's highlighted maps - thank you!

Julian and Oli set off first as they had the furthest to go whilst the rest of us set off in a group.

With everyone assigned to their roads, all that was left for me to do was wait for you all to return to the designated spot. Whilst the flyering happened, I did a couple of walks up Belmont Hill to keep warm, I noticed the professional bowlers go to Lewisham Lanes on a Monday (not sure why we aren't invited to that) and was on hand with extra flyers for the groups that had delivered all theirs.

Flyering done and we popped back to Glass Mill as a group for an early finish!

In Lewisham, the start of the Christmas period isn’t signalled by any TV adverts, baubles appearing in shop windows, or even the first bite of a mince pie. Here, we set our festive clock by the Blackheath Christmas Fair and this week was our first-of-two tasks distributing their flyers in aid of Age Exchange!

Having suffered wet weather in previous years (along with the dreaded floppy-flyer syndrome that can cause!), a dry if cool evening was welcomed by our squad of 7 as we divvied out the 600 flyers before heading out from Glass Mills.

After a short uphill run to our muster point, and having split into 2 mini-teams, meticulously marked up maps were on hand to guide both around their respective streets selected to receive our festive fair tidings (though note-to-self: yellow highlighter doesn’t show up well under yellow streetlights!).

There were even flyers and time-enough to tackle a few extra streets before we all met back up right on time for groups pics (with a graveyard theme?!) and a nice downhill homeward run.

Same time, same place, same task next week? Why not, see you there!

This Monday’s run was the Group’s first since the clocks changed, but the lack of light didn’t deter us from braving our longest regular run to PNK Garden.

There we were met by Victoria, our sister-from-another-mister (i.e. GG Greenwich!), who had organised and prepped all the tools “weed” need to deliver some difference to this little oasis of green near Surrey Quays.

The evening’s efforts would be split: whilst Jenny concentrated on tidying weeds around the wooden benches within the gardens, the rest of us took to the streets (well… just the one street) to tackle all foliage growing external to the fencing.

And quite a bit of growth there was too, with PNK’s linear nature involving a long fence line! Our floodlights came in handy to illuminate proceedings, as well as to alert passing pedestrians of our presence.

After half an hour of graft, more than half a dozen bags had been filled with a mix of brambles (thanks Victoria for leading the charge on those!), small weeds, and rather tougher more established plants, requiring some long-lopper action. With Jenny having filled further bags, we combined the fruits of our labour before Victoria presented us with a thank you gift of some locally grown and freshly harvested Rosemary – a lovely scent in our nostrils before tackling the 2.5 miles back to Glass Mills!

Next week will be a shorter affair, as we begin our annual flyering for the Age Exchange Christmas Fare.

It was time for a trip to Senior's and after a summer of helping in the garden, it was time to move back inside which we were very glad of when we arrived at Glass Mill and it was cold and windy with signs of potential rain to come.

There was no time for hanging around, everyone was cold and we had some hills to tackle. It's always satisfying run when Senior's involved because you know you've tackled the hills twice.

On arrival at Seniors, we were greeted by Di who explained the task for the evening which was cleaning the radiators, tables, chairs and toys in the cafe. We had one strict rule to follow: no leaving water on the chairs. Last time we did this task there might've been a few soggy bottoms the next day!!

Time flies and after getting in our favourite task of the year (putting the Christmas decs up - 16th Dec) it was time to say our goodbyes and head off to either the pub or run back to Glass Mill.