6 Month Streak
Mon 5th Jun 2023 at 6:30pm
Wandsworth Report written by Sophie Humphrey
On a glorious evening in Wandsworth, a fantastic bunch of sun-seeking goodgymmers celebrated the start of summer. The lighter evenings allowing for more activities was the main highlight for the group in a summery discussion so Goodgym was definitely the right place to be!
We were off back down to one of our favourite spots - Doddington gardens. We were greeted by Malissa who heralded the arrival of ‘groundforce’! Rosie was already hard at work and dragged some of the braver amongst us to lug some rocks up to the garden. Alice signed up to be Chief Sweep and the rest of us were mainly hunting various pots around the garden which needed planting. It was a real hive of activity as everyone threw themselves into different jobs. A highlight was watching Frances and her bindweed battling - it didn’t stand a chance!
After all that hard work, we did 5 quick exercises of 6 reps (or 12 when Sophie felt mean) inspired by the date of 05.06. Thanks for the suggestion Eva! The success didn’t end there though as one Goodgym team won a well-deserved second place at the local pub quiz!
Well done for starting the week on such a high Goodgym Wandsworth!
Mon 5th Jun 2023 at 6:30pm
Lend a hand at this lovely space for local people
Read moreMon 29th May 2023 at 11:45am
Wandsworth Report written by Anastasia Hancock (she/her)
On a sunny bank holiday five GGers met at Doddington roof garden to help move an enormous number of plants that had been donated by Chelsea Flower Show up to the community space.
It was off the back of a huge success for Doddington and its volunteers at the show, who won gold for their exhibition - a sanctuary garden. And very well deserved it was too!
The sheer number of plants to move was incredible, and along with the new pizza oven, swing and other fabulous elements are going to transform the community garden even more.
After a good stint up and down the stairs the next job was the tackle putting up the huge new sign to welcome people to the garden. It took a lot of preparation, discussion and planning - and the rising wind added an extra challenge - but we soon managed to get the sign in place. This was thanks to a lot of muscle, Edress' rope, Malissa's vision and Steve directing from the ground. Plus a few very sturdy knots!
Some of us were even treated with ice cream as a reward while the rest trotted back to the BAC. Great work everybody! Next week we're be back at Doddington for our usual monthly session at the garden. Have a great week everybody!
Mon 29th May 2023 at 11:45am
Chelsea flower show have given their plants to a Battersea community organisation - but they need our help to move them!
Read moreTue 2nd May 2023 at 6:30pm
Wandsworth Report written by Anastasia Hancock (she/her)
Since May is practically loaded with bank holidays we had a first in Wandsworth last night. Instead of a group run on Monday we switched it to Tuesday and thankfully six GoodGymers came along to get a whole lot of good done!
Jo, Matthew, Ros and I met at our usual spot at the BAC and ran together down to our monthly session at Doddington community garden, where we met Jamal and Divya.
Our first job was moving some unwieldy pallets from the bottom of the steps right to the top of the garden. It's so lovely having a space on what was once a disused rooftop, but those stairs do make it a bit tricky for the regular volunteer group - which is where GoodGym comes in!
We were greeted by the many cats who live there, and keeping our eyes open for the family of fox cubs that share the garden, we got stuck into our first job.
The strawberry plants needed to be dug up and transported, so we carefully prised up the berries and moved them into pots, while also transplanted the teasel to make way for sweetcorn and other plants. Every visit we learn new horticultural related words and skills!
While Ros and Matthew got busy creating a waterfall of strawberry plants using an old pallet, the rest of the team laid down cardboard in the raised beds ready for filling with compost. It's a great tip for keeping the earth rich and weed free. We were careful to preserve the bags which will be used for growing eight different types of potatoes. Great to see that nothing is wasted.
Next week it's the Big Help Out, which we will be getting involved with in collaboration with Beautify Balham. Sign up here for a lunchtime session helping clear litter before a GG social! Hope to see you there.
Tue 2nd May 2023 at 6:30pm
Help out at this beautiful community space
Read moreTue 17th Aug 2021 at 6:30pm
Wandsworth Report written by Sophie Humphrey
It was great to get Goodgym Wandsworth back together once more and see more friendly faces after too long an absence. It was the first time many of us had visited Christchurch Gardens outside of winter and we certainly couldn't miss the big pile of wood waiting for us with what appeared to be last year's pine Christmas tree thrown into the mix! There were a variety of tactics at play with some magnificent sawing technique attacking the bigger logs and brute force appearing to win over tools for many on the smaller bits. With some satisfying cracks of branches, we certainly ticked off the Gym element! There was a healthy amount of competition trying to beat the number of bags achieved in previous missions and we walked away very satisfied leaving behind a much smaller pile. To be continued I'm sure...
A very warm Wandsworth welcome to Chris on his first mission too!
Wed 18th Aug 2021 at 12:13pm
Thanks for the warm welcome Sophie! Hope to see you again at some point soon. Chris
Sun 17th Jan 2021 at 9:00pm
Wandsworth Report written by Anastasia Hancock (she/her)
This week's fitness challenge in Wandsworth saw runners covering between 7-11km in an orienteering run around Battersea's many points of interest - well done to those of you who cracked the questions and ticked off all 6 sites!
Here are the clues with the answers:
Clue 1: At almost 130 years old, the former Battersea Town Hall is a listed building that survived a devastating fire - our former meeting point and culture hub - Battersea Arts Centre
Clue 2: Mary Tealby originally established this furry refuge in north London before moving down to Battersea. David Gandy, Paul O'Grady and Tom Hardy are all ambassadors at this safe place for (wo)man's best friend - it was of course the one and only Battersea Dog and Cat's Home
Clue 3: This beautiful Battersea structure was built by monks and nuns who believed 'Civilisation is not to kill human beings, not to destroy things, nor make war; civilisation is to hold mutual affection and to respect one another.' It represents the life of Buddha and is looked after by Reverend Gyoro Nagase - the beautiful Peace Pagoda in Battersea Park
Clue 4: The oldest church in Battersea, this was where William Blake got married and Turner painted his iconic views of the Thames from the vestry window - St Mary's Church sits in a prime spot right by the river (it also has a coffee van run by a social enterprise which is worth a visit!)
Clue 5: Battersea is famous for being the biggest producer of asparagus in the UK in the 1800s - they were known as Battersea Bundles. But can you find its namesake pub? It's a 'Spoons of course! The Asparagus pub on Falcon Rd
Clue 6: Built in 1900 and with acts ranging from Charlie Chaplin to Oasis, this old music hall has more recently hosted white collar fight nights, famous Queens from Ru Paul's Drag race as well as comedy and immersive theatre - From club nights to literary events, The Grand has something for everybody
Congratulations to everybody who took part - check out the brilliant photos from runners who nailed the clues. Look out for the next challenge coming very soon!
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