On a grey but muggy Sunday morning, three GoodGym-ers headed down to support Lesnes Abbey Woods junior parkrun.

After the usual lively warm-up at 9am, and the presentation of this week's milestone wristbands, the junior runners were off! We helped the wonderful volunteer team with both marshalling, giving lots of cheering and encouragement to the participants, and tail walking, ensuring that everyone was accounted for.

There were plenty of smiles as everyone completed two kilometres in their own way - by running, walking, skipping, and jumping. A wonderful 57 juniors took part this week, including two coming along for the very first time and five setting new PBs!

It was a lovely morning all round, which was followed by a quick coffee at Chestnuts Cafe before we all headed onwards to a GoodGym social walk along the Ridgeway.

This was our second visit to help get Mr B's gardens back under control so it's more manageable for him to maintain himself.

This time we concentrated on a corner next to the patio close to the house. We cut back a rampant plant, untangled masses of bindweek from the fencing and peeled it away from the ornaments, pulled up weeds, trimmed a couple of trees that were encroaching on the path and brushed up a carpet of crispy leaves. Then we gave the path a good sweep and the transformation was complete.

Mr B chatted with us the whole time, telling us some amazing stories from his life. He also has a great collection of garden tools and provided just the right implement for the job at every turn!

Once we finished the main task, Mr B invited us to collect plums from the tree further down the garden - not being a fan of fruit himself he was keen that we should make the most of them. We were very happy to oblige 😋!

Our instructions were to lop off the branches and pick the plums from them - pruning and harvesting all in one. However, we had to rethink because the plums were still pretty hard. So, anticipating one final visit to tame another area of the garden, we decided to wait until next time to for the fruit gathering.

Our monthly session at the Community Hospice this morning saw us heading down the garden path, well actually two of them!

As usual, we met Head Gardener Jas in the café, for a quick catch-up over a cuppa before making our way to the tool shed to collect the equipment we would need.

With the sun beating down, Jas kindly directed us to jobs in the shade.

Johnny returned to the block-paved path leading to the main entrance, armed with a scraper and on a mission to finish what we'd started a few months ago. The remaining moss and weeds didn't stand a chance!

Meanwhile, Jas, Alice and Sarah headed into the woodland area to work on a path that was steadily disappearing beneath a sea of bracken. Wearing trusty yellow gauntlets, we moved along the route pulling up the ferns as close to the roots as possible. Some of the plants weren't ready to be evicted and put up some resistance, but that just made for an excellent workout!

By the end of the session, the entrance path was looking fully neat and welcoming, while the woodland trail had been reclaimed and was once again easy to follow.

With our work done we headed back to the hospice cafeteria for plenty more chatting over a tasty lunch.

We'll be back again next month to see what Jas has in store for us. He likes to keep us on our toes and always has a new task up his sleeve, which helps make these sessions varied and interesting. If you'd like to join us next time, you can sign up here.

This morning was another three hour session down at the Community Hospice sorting centre in Welling, going through as many of the many donated bags of clothes and whatnots as we could in the time.

Today was the most bags we'd ever seen piled up in the large metal cages. Thankfully Caroline and I were joined by new GoodGymmer Alice to help out. While Caroline showed Alice the ropes, I worked on a separate table. Alice took to it all straight away!

During our regular sessions here, we usually come across the odd thing that raises a smile; this morning was no exception with amusing statements on t-shirts and other items. We posed for the two most worthy of a picture!

I'm often surprised at the statements people are prepared to wear proudly, and our finds today reminded me of the time Caroline and I saw a very well built body builder-type chap wearing a 'World's Greatest Gran' t-shirt!

Hopefully the items we unpacked today will soon be worn proudly by new owners, with their resale raising vital funds for the Community Hospice's amazing work.

Congratulations on your first ever GG task, Alice- great to have you with us! We look forward to seeing you again soon.

If you fancy helping with this much needed donation sorting, drop us a line and we'll find some new dates with the Hospice team.

With Britain in Bloom judges due to arrive next week, Team GoodGym Bexley joined forces with Sidcup & Partners for a final push to help Sidcup put its best foot forward.

Five of us met Colin from Sidcup & Partners outside Sidcup Station, where he explained our task: in a change to the original plan of painting some flower planters (for which Vic was wearing her well-used 'we are doing some painting' GG t-shirt), we were asked to give the sensory garden outside the ticket hall a thorough weed and litter clearance.

Earlier this year we'd helped reclaim the area from a jungle of weeds, ready for new planting, and it was great to see how lovely those plants are now looking. The weeds, however, hadn't given up without a fight, so it was full steam ahead evicting the latest unwelcome arrivals while also collecting the litter that had found its way into the beds.

With the sensory garden looking much tidier, we just had time to turn our attention to the path leading to the station car park, clearing some sneaky weeds there too to create a blooming good first impression from the moment commuters and passengers exit the station.

After an hour of pulling, plucking and picking, the area was looking tidier and well on track for the Britain in Bloom judging. Fingers crossed our efforts help Sidcup get top marks!

GG Bexley spread the cheer, At junior parkruns here and there.

Two teams set out to start the day Helping youngsters run their way.

At Eltham juniors Peter, and Ivar too Joined the volunteering crew.

Across the borough at Lesnes Abbey Woods, Johnny and Sarah delivered the goods.

A perfect way to start the day - so many smiles along the way!