Last night we celebrated nine glorious years of GoodGym Wandsworth – and we did it in classic GG style: with a run, a task at our own GG garden, a lot of laughs and even more potatoes.

We kicked things off with a warm-up and a guess at just how many good deeds have we racked up over the years. The answer? A huge 10,772. That’s a phenomenal amount of digging, weeding, painting, planting and moments of kindness.

We set off to the Omnibus Theatre, where we’ve been cultivating a garden space over the past year. This isn’t just any community garden — it’s one where the produce goes straight to charities supporting families facing food insecurity. With summer in full swing, everything had sprung up— and that includes the weeds! We rolled up our sleeves for a big clear-out. But amidst the weeds were some real treasures. The black gooseberries, figs, beans and chard were all looking lush and leafy, but the highlight was a huge haul of homegrown potatoes – check out the photos to see just what we have produced.

We then dashed over to the road for our traditional birthday fitness session, where last night everything was decided by the roll of a dice. There were squats, sprints and side planks as we battled it out. Even after nine years, the GG Wandsworth competitive spirit is strong– and we never miss a chance to make burpees "fun".

Celebrating what we’ve achieved together in nine years was pretty special. From community clean-ups to massive missions, planting gardens to growing friendships – it’s been a super fun ride powered by the energy and generosity every GoodGymer who’s ever pulled on that red tshirt.

To round off the evening, we returned to the theatre for our party which included double amazing cake courtesy of the legendary Jordan and Catherine, an amazing quiz crafted by ace Quizmaster Paul and of course a toast to the next nine years of doing good and getting fit together. Thanks to everyone who came, ran, weeded, rolled, quizzed, caked and celebrated. Here's to many more miles...

Happy Birthday, GoodGym Wandsworth! ❤️🥔

A beautiful evening by the riverside awaited GoodGym Richmond at the plot we sponsor at Buccleuch Gardens. Starting at the Tap Tavern, the group welcomed Ian for his first GoodGym mission, and shared news on the upcoming packed diary of tasks and social races. A team of runners set off from the Tap to take in full evening sun views on the way, while others headed off as a walking group.

Task owner Anita was awaiting our arrival at the plot, where she had already been hard at work for some time. Anita was as efficient as ever ensuring that everyone had a job to do to maximise time:

• Spot-weeding the lawn with trusty dinner knives, the best tools for this particular job!

• 'Haloing’ around the tree in the lawn : removing weeds and grass cuttings in the halo and sharpening up the edges of the circle.

• Sweeping the Arcade and Arcade shuttering.

• Dead heading the stachys (but still leaving plenty for the bees).

• Weeding the rockery to remove ever-keen chickweed.

• Removing hypericum and other weeds growing out of the pointing in the wall below the Petersham Road bus stop.

• Watering and weeding around the new bench planting that we started in Big Green Week.

And on top of all of this work, we were able to find the time to admire the views of the setting sun over the river and the vibrant flowers that fill the riverbanks at the moment, the stunning Purple-loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria).

A light jog back to the Tap completed the session before monthly drinks at the pub to celebrate another month of good deeds and milestones.