3 GoodGymers supported Doddngton & Rollo Roof Garden after-school club for parents and their children.

It was lovely to see Katie & Sahil who came to their first session at the after school club and made lightwork of the pizza , chips, fruit & frozen yoghurt preparation while the serving station was being prepared with tea , coffee and soft drinks for this offering. In the process the after school homework club in another annex seeing all this preparation requested some refreshments too for their students, so we quickly found a way to make this happen. and provided refreshments for two groups instead of one.

Lovely chatty moments with parents including one parent who took it on herself to explain who the people in the red t'shirts are to other enquirers and who also shared she wants to know more about volunteering for the Doddington. So we started talking about GoodGym volunteering too, Watch this space for more .....

Goodgym Merton officially launched with a bang (or rather, a lot of enthusiastic clearing, wrecking and digging!) at our inaugural group session.

With an amazing turnout including guest appearances from Councillor Caroline Cooper Marbiah and Merton Council everyone was full of energy and quickly got to work clearing the area of debris and unwanted items. Within minutes we had made space ready to hack into the foliage and dismantle the decking.

Undeterred by the inevitable mud we were soon rolling up sleeves and removing layers as things warmed up with the unearthing of hidden treasures (including a rat tunnel).

In less than half the allotted time we had filled the large skip to the brim, cut down a tree and levelled the soil, proving that even the most daunting projects can be conquered with a bit of teamwork. Plenty of time left to celebrate our first group effort success and chat over tea and brioche buns, courtesy of the Community Fridge.

What a mud-tastic morning and start to the weekend. Fancy joining us with a future task - keep checking our sessions page and/or follow us on social media @goodgymmerton.

2 GoodGymers completed this new task so we were open and ready to get stuck in. We were there to support an after-school club for parents and children in the roof garden of the Doddington Estate.

On arrival, there was much to set up and get ready, including lots of washing up in an annexe nearby which Laura happily tackled.

In the main building, we were met with lots of children along with their parents/guardians and centre workers who had just finished gardening and were ready for some refreshments enjoying the space and each other's company. Pizza and other snacks were made, and we were on hand to serve and replenish as needed and asked to chat and to strike up conversations with parents as needed.

After being asked if we worked for a Gym - which broke the ice and gave us the opportunity to share about GoodGym, the parents began to open up more.

One of the highlights of this session was when 3 mums - after first establishing that I was also a mother- asked when would be the best time to go back to work/full-time work after having children and how to combine studies with work and or raising children. It was a great discussion leading to lots of information-sharing from all in the room.

The centre manager was also really pleased and thanked us for helping the session run smoothly and started sharing other session's she would love our help with and encouraged us to grab a bag of brussels sprouts and radishes on our way out.

It was a lovely, lively session, with charming chaotic moments which the centre manager hopes to iron out by next week's session - but these were probably more of a feature than a fault.

On Monday night Tabitha , Samina , Pete and Harvey wrapped up warm and met in Willesden green ready for an evening of good deeds and fitness . We started with a gentle run to warm up on the cold evening, and eventually completed the 3.4k run to Abbey Road community centre. The .4k was a bonus I didn't warm them about! . Theresa and Beatriz met us at the centre ready for the task. We received a warm welcome from Jason, who explained a little about the great work that goes on at Abbey Community Centre, and shared out stacks of leaflets for us to deliver to the neighbouring houses . They contained details of the current programme as well as upcoming events for children.

We split the leaflets and worked in pairs . There were plenty of stairs so we kept very fit while doing it.

Once the job was done , we said goodbye to Beatriz then some of us ran (or drove ) to Willesden for a chat and some lovely celebratory birthday cake from Samina . A huge thank you to everyone who came , and a Very Happy birthday to Samina !

Great work tonight , hope to see you all again soon