Paul, Rosie, Mark and Hannah met at Penge East Community Centre to help some windows sparkle like their true selves, both inside and outside. (In fact, one member of the party was so keen that they managed to get there an hour early, but we won’t mention any names…) A system of washing, scrubbing and dry-wiping was quickly established, and we worked our way round the building, indoors first and then outdoors. We finished up with some admiration of the noticeboard of local activities and all the great initiatives going on at the Centre - take a look!

You wouldn't know autumn 🍂 was long gone at St John the Evangelist Church's ⛪️ meadow, but GoodGymers are deft with a rake and keen to lend a hand 🤝

At Bridge House we introduced ourselves and answered tonight's question - What is your favourite leaf? We had answers like maple leaf, oak and monkey puzzle - a good selection! The run was a gradual incline over 2km, but kept us warm 🔥

Piles of plant matter were quickly put together as the team worked fast to uncover the grass and get those leaves into the composter where they can rot back into soil.

Job done, we enjoyed the downhill jog 🏃back to the pub.

Good stuff everyone! Next week Cat will be leading the run to the park, where we'll be prepping a fence for a painting...

Six of us made our way up Anerley Hill tonight (it never gets easier...) to meet James and Teresa at the St Christopher's Hospice charity shop on the Triangle. Once there we sorted and steamed clothes, organised wall art, vacuumed and dusted to make the shop spick and span for Christmas shoppers. A couple of us even picked up our own bargains in the process!

Excellent work on our final group run of the year!

We had the first of our bulb planting tasks tonight, with nine volunteers making their way to Alexandra Recreation Ground to plant some tulips while the squirrels were asleep. The task almost didn't happen as our task owner Millie wasn't well (get well soon!) but Mark saved the evening by cycling to pick up the keys to the tool shed on his night off. What a legend!

Once we'd got the shed open, we had fun trying to work out which bulbs were tulips. Luckily our resident horticulturalist Rosie was on hand to guide us and give us tips on optimal bulb planting.

Our next challenge was breaking into the soil: as we've had very little rain over the last few weeks, the ground was rock hard, which definitely put the Gym in GoodGym. After a bit of trial and error, though, we perfected our hole digging technique (the spade as a pogo stick approach worked best) and in less than half an hour we had planted all our bulbs. Big shout out to Michelle who was taking part in her first task - I appreciate that digging holes in the dark is a pretty unconventional way to spend a Monday night (and definitely attracted some bemused looks from dog walkers...) so well done for getting stuck in!

After filling in our holes and covering them with leaves to confuse the squirrels, we ran back to the Bridge House for stretches. Excellent work team!