Wednesday 17th August 2022
Report written by Sam Lefevre (he/him)
After a much needed torrential downpour, Sam sent an email around to those who had signed up that the group run was still on. We gathered in the warm Old Spike Roastery as some of us mingled by the front door to stay cool.
It was such a pleasure to see Hannah after many months away and she explained why. A cycling accident meant she was out of work for two months and is just getting back into the swing of things. Hannah missed GoodGym, but had to focus on herself and her recovery.
Sam went through his normal announcements, but during the milestones section he had to give a special shoutout to a certain Emma. Emma had finally reached her 50th good deed. Hooray! This was her target for the year to claim the coveted black t-shirt. Sam takes out the black GG cape, badge, hat and balloon when someone reaches their 50th or 100th milestone. He wasn't going to let that tradition go!
After everyone warmed up, our ice-breaker question for tonight was in line with Emma work as a vet: If you were to be re-born as an animal, what animal would you be?
Ed started off by saying "Turtle" and his explanation was that they can swim and go on land plus if he wanted to hide from the world he can. Funnily enough, Hannah and Emma before chose "Otters" as they are cute and they like how they play with pebbles for fun! Sam could have stuck with his trusty "Elephant", but he went with "Horse" this time as they are fast, strong and elegant.
The Vegetarian Veterinarian
Tonight's run was much cooler compared to the last two months, yet there was still a bit of muggy humidity in the air. Our 2.5k run took us along Peckham Rye park as we climbed Underhill and then Overhill Road to get to Dawson's Height. It was here we met Ellie from Arbor and Ed, one of the residents of Dawson's Height.
Despite the rain, Ellie still asked if two of us could water the plants, one could transport the leaf mulch that had been gathered and the rest tend to weeding the path as Ellie is expecting a woodchip delivery from the Council. Mikhail, who cycled to the task met us a few minutes later as the directions on the listing weren't accurate and we were a few metres down.
We split the task as such Hannah and Emma stuck together to water the plants - apple trees and tree saplings. Ed and resident Ed took care of the leaf mulch whilst Mikhail and Sam were on weeding task.
The 45 minutes went by quite quickly as there was great company, amazing views and a good mixture of tunes from Sam's Spotify playlist.
We got in our customary group photo before we headed off to the viewpoint and then back to Old Spike Roastery.
Thank You to all the GG-ers
A personal thanks from me to all those who came out tonight! I had my doubts after the afternoon rain, but no fear when we're together. Ellie will always find tasks for us to do. Thanks for attempting to run / jog / walk up Overhill and Underhill Road as it's quite steep!
Thank You Ellie
GoodGym is all about getting fit and doing good! We praise the runners/cyclists/walkers who come to get fit and help out, but we often forget about our task owner. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Ellie for setting this session up for us and having faith that there would be task to do despite the rain earlier. We are happy to assist you next week whatever and wherever the task.
We have acquired an old basketball court which we will be transforming into a community garden! We hope to host a variety of groups in the space to share skills, get outside and eat delicious fresh produce! As well as somewhere to grow veg, salad and flowers, we hope to use the space to host workshops and talks! This space will be led by Arbor Projects, a social enterprise that connects communities through stronger connections to nature.
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Tackles food insecurity and reuses surplus food to prevent food being thrown away!