The temperature was dropping quickly last night but the energy levels were high for our first group run of 2026.

Maybe that was because we had a lovely warm inside task waiting for us at St Saviour's in Battersea? This church and community hub had asked us for a hand coming to take down the decorations we put up the year before, which nicely coincided with the freezing weather.

Or perhaps it was because we got to welcome Katharine and Rohan to their first session - great to meeting you, both!

It could have been the prospect of a great community mission helping a south London nursery create a space for under fives in the garden this Saturday. Jobs will include removing all old sand from the sandpit, putting in plants, sorting and cleaning the greenhouse and creating a seating area round the fire pit. This will be a fun task that will really make a difference!

I think it probably had a lot to do with the fact that we were coming together for another great year of GoodGyming, running and fun in Wandsworth. We started off with a warm up and pledged how many GoodGym good deeds we wanted to complete in January. Answers ranged from 3 to 125 - which I'm excited about seeing happen!

We enjoyed a nice downhill run to the task where we were met by Layton and Catherine who manage the space. After a few instructions we got started removing baubles from trees, shifting chairs, hoovering up pine needles and the mammoth job of unstringing all the lights around the vast space. Knowing what a tricky job it was unwinding the many metres of string lights when they had not been put away so carefully, Felix and Jordan (having put them up) were extra diligent in packing them away neatly. At the end of the year we'll thank our past selves for doing such a good job.

We got the task done quickly, with Catherine and Layton both commenting that it would have taken them hours. Great work everybody. There was time for a lovely toasty strength and conditioning session on the floor of the centre, and it was good to see that the spirit of insurrection against the weekly fitness session was still alive and kicking this year!

After a run back to the start, we did some stretches and even started making plans for GoodGym Wandsworth's 10th anniversary this year - summer '26 in Paris, anybody? Looking to the more immediate future, we have next week's session to get excited about. We'll be heading to Doddington community garden for our regular task followed by a pub quiz social.

It's been a busy old year at GoodGym Wandsworth and we have climbed to an extraordinary 11 071 good deeds!

We marked this amazing milestone with a night of even more doing good, a festive task, delicious baked treats and some amazing singing. Not only that but we were able to celebrate Ali's 30th birthday. What a way to see off the year...

During our warm up we discussed our favourite things to eat on Christmas day - we're looking forward to Christmas pud, yorkies, cauliflower cheese, risotto, pasta, smoked salmon and even...parsnips!

It was great to be going back to a task we hadn't visited in a while. Arriving at the Venue community centre we were met by Hadas and split into three groups. One team tackled the decorations, one had the job of packing away chairs and tables and the third got to grips with clearing the outside space.

It didn't take long for the place to be transformed. It had been looking a bit neglected but with all hands on the deck making space for a big local event and giving it a festive makeover it quickly became a community Christmas wonderland.

The final step was to switch on the lights, so after a countdown it was up to Ali to do the honours. Great work everybody - it doesn't take much to make a big difference.

We ran back to base for stretches, even managing a sprint up the big final hill and perhaps an even quicker sprint over to the pub for a night of sweet treats and plenty of karaoke. Turns out that GG Wandsworth has a lot of hidden talent in its midst - take a look at the photos to see the star turns in action!

There are missions happening over the Christmas period, including the opportunity to help out with a big community meal at the BAC on the day itself. Our first group run of the year will be on Monday 5th January - join us to kick off another amazing year of GoodGyming.

Have a great break everybody and thank you for a year that has been filled with unforgettable memories and a huge amount of doing good (and squats). Roll on 2026!