Peter and Ivar represented Goodgym at Eltham Junior Parkrun today, and the grass, having the colour of an old Weetabix, looked less like chlorophyll and more chlorof-ill. Some parts were even black from a grass fire.

Ivar, who so far had only ever had to say “testing, testing” on the radio, had to put it to full use to report back on an injured knee. All turned out to be ok in the end and everyone made it across the finish line, all looking to recover for next weekend. The grass might be looking at next summer 🔥

Six GoodGymers met at Sweet Fig Coffee Lounge this morning, ready to take a colourful message out into the local community. Our mission was to deliver postcards promoting Demelza’s Rainbow Run, helping spread the word about this brilliant fundraising event.

We had two young helpers along for the fun, plus Jay the dog, so our delivery team had plenty of energy and four-legged enthusiasm! Three of us had already clocked up local parkruns before meeting up, so there was certainly no shortage of miles in the legs.

With the sun shining, we headed out around the local streets, popping Rainbow Run postcards through letterboxes along the way. Our final stretch took us through The Goat Field (the local name for Holy Oak Tree Park) making for a lovely end to our route.

Then it was back to Sweet Fig for refreshing drinks and some sweet treats. Sam the owner always makes us feel so welcome.

A colourful morning all round!🌈🏃‍♀️🐕

If it's Saturday morning you're very likely to find our very own Peter in pink hi-viz at Avery Hill parkrun, usually in an official role as timekeeper.

But there was more to Peter’s involvement than just keeping his eye on the clock. He also captured the traditional photo of all the tourists and first-timers at the First Timers’ briefing, before taking up the all-important job of holding the “Quiet Please” paddle during the main briefing.

Bravo Peter! 🏃‍♂️📸⏱️

Seven GoodGymers headed to Days Lane Primary School for our very first task there — and we certainly picked a dramatic evening for it.

While the skies were busy putting on a total solar eclipse, we had our own transformation happening a little closer to ground level: turning the school fence a rather lovely sky blue.

Armed with brushes, paint and plenty of enthusiasm, the seven of us worked our way along the fence and made a pretty impressive dent in the job. There’s something very satisfying about seeing a tired-looking stretch of fence become brighter with every brushstroke — especially when you’ve got a whole team working together.

Sadly, unlike the eclipse, our fence transformation wasn’t quite total… 🌘 We ran out of evening before we ran out of fence.

Luckily, this is only the beginning of our partnership with Days Lane Primary School, and we’ll be back next week to finish the job.

A brilliant first task, a very blue fence, seven willing painters and one rather spectacular sky. Not bad for a Wednesday evening!

Over the summer we've made a couple of visits to Mr B to help tidy his garden. It had got out of control, and he wanted a hand bringing it back to a state where it would be easier for him to maintain.

Today’s focus was the wisteria, which was running rife over a trellis across the garden, and had even started sneaking next door over the neighbour’s fence.

Making the most of two hedge trimmers, and we worked on both sides at once to give everything a short back and sides. A second pass with the shears followed, getting it just the way Mr B wanted it.

Once all the cuttings were gathered up, we moved on to the plum tree, cutting back some of the lower branches and harvesting the plums that Mr B insisted we take home (as well as enjoying a few while we worked 😋!)

What a difference just an hour can make. 🌿🍑

We’ve really enjoyed our visits with Mr B, getting stuck in and hearing some of his brilliant stories.

Hopefully we’ve left the garden easier to manage, and Mr B can enjoy working on it in his own time.

There were two of us volunteering at Avery Hill parkrun this weekend - barcode scanning for me, and Peter in his regular role as timekeeper.

It was a very hot day, but everything went smoothly.

It's good fun and pretty busy, scanning runners’ barcodes and finish tokens after they completed the run, helping to make sure their results were recorded correctly 😎.

And not only do you get a GoodGym credit, you get a parkrun credit too. Two for the price of one (but free!).