Last night Julian, Marta and Khai ran the distance in the heat to Brooklands, the rest of us making our own way there. In no time we were ready to get stuck into the earthy business of shifting a mountain of soil to their newly built veggie beds. During two previous sessions we had depleted the store and filled two beds but we still had a lot to go.

Armed with shovels, spades, and a surprisingly musical fleet of wheelbarrows, the team got straight to it. Soil flew, sweat dripped, and laughter echoed as we powered through the task—step by step, barrow by barrow.

But tonight wasn’t just any GoodGym task. No no—we had a centurion in our midst. 🥳 HUGE congratulations to Khai on completing his 100th good deed! 💯 Incredibly humble and kind, always looking out for everyone else and a pleasure to spend time with, Khai is a highly valued member of our group!

Anyway, that's quite enough praise, Khai will have his head in his hands at this point. As the evening settled and the barrows rolled on, someone started humming a familiar tune... and soon, the soil-shifting spell was cast:

Shovel shovel toil and trouble, Wheelbarrow squeak and sweat a’ bubble. Load it high and push it fast, Make this veggie bed built to last. Soil on boots and sun on brow, No time to stop—we’re shifting now! Dig and dump, the wheel spins true, With Khai the centurian leading the crew. Spade and scoop and compost thrum, Helping hands till the job is DONE.

And done we were! By the end, we’d shifted a serious amount of soil and left the veggie beds ready for action—Brooklands students will be growing their greens in no time 🫛🥬

Thanks to everyone who came and mucked in (literally).

Next week we're back at Charlton Manor, this Sunday we've got the Hornfair Parksfest and remember our Sunday walk next week!

Until next time

Rachel 👋🏼

What a fantastic time we had helping out at The Community Hospice!

This was our most popular community mission so far, with GoodGym members coming from Greenwich, Tower Hamlets, Camden, and of course, Bexley. It was great to see so many friendly faces ready to get stuck in!

Jason, the Head Gardener, had lots of jobs for us to do to get the garden looking at its best before the Open Gardens Festival next weekend. And wow—we got loads done!

✅ We pulled out weeds

✅ Cleared ivy and brambles from the wall

✅ Cut back some bushes

✅ Tidied up the whole area

Everyone worked hard and made a big difference. The garden is now looking fresher and ready to welcome visitors!

We also had some brilliant milestones to celebrate:

🎉 A huge congratulations to John gaining his GoodGym crown with his 500th good deed—amazing 👑!

👏 Well done to Zita, Robert, and Caroline for reaching 10 good deeds each.

Go team!

Thanks to everyone who came along—it was such fun, and we’re already looking forward to the next one. 🌼🌳

This evening we gathered at Charlton House (Khai unexpectedly starring in a wedding photo shoot) and shared which gameshows, past and present we'd like to go on. We also did some balance and core exercises - remember to stand on one leg while you brush your teeth, guys - suck your tummy in and squeeze your bum = strengthen your core for the Big Half!

Today we were celebrating Marta reaching the 900 good deeds milestone! 😇😇 She's hoping to get to 1,000 by next march and then she gets a new t-shirt with a sun on it because she will have then been deemed to have reached godly status (I for one think she's already there but the Tshirt will prove it!)

A lovely evening for a lovely task and after a short run and meeting Robert, Annie, Bobbie and Ivar (email not ipad) at the task, Annie got ten of us got to work watering, weeding, planting some fox gloves and sewing some seeds. We got loads done tonight and it makes such difference!

Bobby gave Annie a hand back with the wheelbarrow on the rest of us trundled off back to Charlton House and during a quick stretch we discussed upcoming tasks: we've got the Community Hospice (celebrating Johnny's 500th good deed) and Hervey Road again on Saturday; next week we're back at Brooklands on Wednesday and the following week we've got helping at Horn Fair PARKSfest .

Until next time :)

Rachel