Not our usual type of group run as this Wednesday, Teach First needed us for their event. They reached out a few months ago to source more volunteers for their fundraising, Run the River. So, instead of meeting at Old Spike Peckham, we headed to our spot along Southbank and Potter's Field.

Sam had to inform the Teach First volunteer coordinator that we could only help out 18:30 - 20:30, so she offered us spots closeby to the start and the middle of the race. We also had to go straight to our spot instead of the volunteer tent at the start. Our area/section manager had our t-shirt, high vis and dinner pack, which had our lanyard too.

In position, we had Mansur and Gemma were placed at the start whereas Daryl, Lindy, Maria, Paulin, Sam, Sander and Sian were placed between kilometre one and kilometre five (for the 10k) as Route Marshall.

As each wave started at 19:00, 19:15 and finally, 19:30 as there was no 19:45 wave, we cheered and directed the runners ensuring they kept to the route and minded out for the tourists and general walkers walking the Southbank.

After 20:00, it started getting dark and cold really fast, so everyone was wondering where the backmarker was. We waited and waited until Sam was the first person to get relieved of his duties at around 10 past and the rest soon followed suit within the next 30 minutes, but felt like hours... We all handed our high vis to a volunteer that was heading back as it was easier for most of us to head off from where we were.

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out last night! It was a lovely evening until it got cold, so I hope you all managed to have something nice and warm when you got back home. This was a one-off, so I appreciate you signing up and volunteering. Next week, we're back to normal!

We helped put up the gazebos and foldable chairs and tables. Many hands make light work, so we finished about 15 minutes after the official start time.

Has it been half a year already?! With Summer solstice behind us, it was time that we came together to celebrate the summer in true GoodGym Southwark fashion - summer social at a rooftop bar in Peckham!

However, before we could get to that stage, we needed to put in a good shift. The night started with everyone feeling the heat from the hottest day of the year as they arrived at Old Spike Peckham. Sam opened up coffee shop for Maria, Sarah who came visiting from GG Greenwich, Emma, Nelly, Paulin, James, Nathan, Daryl and Louise. Sam knew a few GoodGymers would meet him at Cossall Estate, so even before it turned 18:45, he got going with his usual speech and his ice-breaker question. Tonight's ice-breaker was a little bit depressing as it was Day Against Drug Abuse, so he asked: "If I mention the word "Druggie" or "drug abuse", who do you think of or what film, book, documentary?"

Books like A Little Life, Films like Trainspotting and people like Pete Davidson and Matt Healy were mentioned.

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Breaking soil ground

We headed out to the Green to warm-up, but since it was already warm in terms of temperature...it didn't take much to get an elevated heart rate. After the warm-up, Sam led from the front and Maria from the back as we run half of Peckham Rye Park before venturing towards Nunhead to drop off Paulin, James, Nathan and Emma who kindly volunteered to help with a last minute second task that wasn't completed on Sunday and so the task owner, Serife, asked for a small group to complete the job on Wednesday, which they did.

The rest of us ran another kilometre and a bit to reach Cossall Hall to meet the other GoodGymers: Folarin, Jess and Sander as well as Alan, Jaki and Oscar (the dog).

Alan needed four people to come with him to litter pick Kirkwood Nature Reserve, so Maria, Sarah, Nelly and Louise went along with litter pickers and bin bags to pick up unwanted and discarded items throughout the Reserve and in front of both entrances. Whilst Daryl Folarin, Jess, Sander and Sam followed Jaki with a trolley and wheelbarrow of tools to tackle the growing beds which had loads of weeds, grass and nettles growing in it. However, the task proved more difficult with hard soil. Still the group managed to fill 10 bags of garden waste...

Time flashes by during our GoodGym sessions and after 40 minutes, we had to put away tools and throw away the bin bags. A quick photo call inside the courtyard of Cossall Hall before we said our goodbyes and had to rush off back to Old Spike Peckham as we had the other group waiting for us as well as a social to enjoy!

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out last night. Two tasks done within 40-45 minutes and a delightful time spent at Frank's Bold Tendencies for our summer social and to celebrate our achievements so far. Great to see faces that I haven't seen in awhile and hope to see you soon. Kudos to all and if I don't see you next week, see you soon!

After some bike orienteering, I found the sports field, which was strangely empty for a beautiful Sunday. Richard gave me a pitchfork and I could get started on the weeding. It was mostly about removing tussocks of grass from a lavender bed. The ground was dry and hard, so we managed about 4 square metres in 1h40.