Wednesday 29th November 2023
Report written by Sam Lefevre (he/him)
Old Spike Roastery was a welcomed sight for everyone on this cold night. Sam welcomed in Daryl, Gemma, Isaac, Lindy, Maria, Nelly (who reach her target tonight, hooray!), and Tim. We even had Andy come back for his second group run in a row and Alex came back too! But more importantly, we celebrated Emma's major milestone of reaching 100 good deeds! She earnt her wings!
Sam did his customary GG intro speech and highlighted that we are close to the end of the year. Noticing that it was a cold night, Sam did a more active warm-up to ensure everyone's core was warm. After the warm-up, everyone gave their answer to tonight's ice-breaker question.
Since it was French Toast Day on Tuesday, Sam's ice-breaker question for tonight was: What is your favourite topping on a French Toast?
A few people couldn't remember the last time they had a French toast, whilst the majority had a sweet tooth with sugar, lemon, cinnamon, maple syrup, fruit compote, bananas and berries. Some went for cheeses and hams...
A petition to bring back gooseberries...
Off we went through the backstreets of Peckham as Sam lead the way whilst Daryl backmarked as we ran up Grove Hill and down towards Camberwell and eventually to the back roads where Salvation Army Camberwell Corps is. Valentina let us in as Alex, Mikhail and Olive had just arrived to met us there at the task. Then Phil arrived slightly afterwards.
Like we have done many times before, we were here to clean and disinfect the children's and baby toys that is used at this nursery as many kids use them daily and germs do spread, especially during the winter months. Yet, tonight, Valentina wanted us to clean the blue mats on both sides and loads of chairs too. Since we were a big group, we managed to clean, dry and put back all the toys and equipment within the 45 minutes that we were there. To lift the spirits and keep the mood festive, Sam put on his Spotify Christmas playlist (but no Coldplay please...).
By the end of the session, Sam asked those who hadn't answered the ice-breaker question to give their answer. Everyone seems to have a sweet tooth, but we got into the topic of bringing back gooseberries as they are very much an underrated berry. We will look out for Isaac's petition soon.
After our group photo, we said our goodbyes and ran a more pace-y pace to get back to Old Spike for a lovely stretch before a few of us decided to go to The Gowlett Arms for a pint.
Thank You to all the GG-ers
A personal thanks from me to all those who came out tonight! Firstly, we welcomed back Alex and Andy. I feel it's harder the second time as you know what to expect - hahaha! It ended up being a 3k run each way, so I don't know where I got 3.5k each way.... The task was done in an efficient matter, so thank you for arranging yourselves in small teams. Finally, thank you to Daryl for backmarking the run and to Mikhail for taking the photos!
Thank You to Valentina
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 Valentina for preparing all the tools for the task in advance! We will be back in the new year (on Valentine's Day) to paint the hallway walls!
Southwark
The residents will be able to sow wildflower seeds and improve bio-diversity