Twas a chilly September evening when 10 Goodgymers gathered at the edge of Petersham Common to continue their work helping with the conservation of the flora and fauna around this wooded area. We were glad to see Carla join us on her 2nd goodgym mission, and were all eager to congratulate our Richmond Hero Anita on reaching her 200th Good Deed. This milestone is even more impressive considering that Anita only got her 100 Good Deed wings at the start of lockdown! Another Lockdown Legend to add to the growing list :)

After the ceremonial Cape was donned, task owner Ken talked us through the task du jour, where he announced that we would be shovelling s**t from one side of the path to the other to create an environment conducive to growing indigenous wild flowers, and then doing some litter picking around the edges of the common.

So half the task was a load of horseshit, while the other half was a litter better! To begin with, we manurevered up the path through the wooded area where horses should neighver be allowed to take a dump, only to discover a whole lot of poo in the ditch running along the the side of the path. Despite the s**t getting real, we made our way up the path singing along to 'One Two - shovel the poo, Three Four - pick up some more'... no mater how much crap we have to deal with, we'll find joy and carry on singing!

The second half also involved picking up crap of another sort! With bin bags and a variety of litter pickers in hand, and head torches on full beam, we paired up and headed into the woods to clear away the shocking amount of trash that people carelessly toss or leave behind :(

Once we had cleaned up the area, we headed over to a local pub to toast Anita's achievement with a drink and some specially made celebratory brownies :) I hope we get to cut some more trees down in next month's edition of the Petersham Common mission!