Monday 17th November
Written by Anastasia Hancock (she/her)
We had one of our biggest challenges to date in Wandsworth last night, and what's more it was a time crunch situation!
The task: to move ten huge metal orange planters filled with wet clay and stones to their permanent new homes around the Doddington estate. Within 40 minutes. Using only one manual hydraulic lifter.
Did we manage it? Read on to find out more...
What was meant to be a quick Saturday morning task soon emerged as something a lot more complicated! We hadn't realised that the planters, which are bright, cheerful and massive would also be full! They were also a lot heavier and unwieldy then we had expected. We discovered it had taken a crane to get them there in the first place. On top of that, it turned out the dolly we had been given to use had two flat tyres! Things were not looking in our favour.
So, we drafted in the big guns. We shifted our scheduled task for the evening to another night, and arranged to come down with a bigger group last night. Elizabeth, who runs the hub, had also managed to get her hands on a bigger duty lifter from the council - so this time we had a fighting chance!
We divided up into groups and began the job - knowing we had a limited amount of time with the borrowed lifter. If they weren't put in the right place last night, it was never going to happen.
So with Ali taking the helm of the power lifter, half the team began the massive job of moving the smaller planters around the square. Meanwhile the rest got on with shoveling out the soil in what affectionately became known as 'the beast' - the biggest planter of them all.
Time was ticking on, and we decided to forego our usual fitness session in the hope of finishing the task. Besides which, the job was a pretty hardcore workout in itself!
With just minutes to spare the last planter was ceremoniously lowered into position, and I'm happy to report that all ten of them found beautiful new homes where they will cheer up the square and increase bodiversity - and all GG toes and fingers remained intact!
Fantastic job in tricky conditions - well done everybody.
Dates for your diary!
Saturday 15th November
Written by Catherine Moore
Quiz time: what's the fastest growing thing in Doddington Roof Garden? Answer: Melissa's to do list of course! But who better than GG Wandsworth to tackle it!? On Saturday the team had two tasks - move some planters donated by the council and general jobs in the garden. The first task turned out to be bigger than expected, as the planters arrived full to the brim of heavy clay soil. Felix, Jordan and Ana emptied one and shimmied it to it's new location, but the rest will need the Monday night crew (look out for a task coming soon!) Ana and I then swept up leaves and added them to the in-situ compost along with some of the clay soil from the planters downstairs. Lifting and moving those trugs of soil was certainly a work out!!
Saturday 15th November
Written by Anastasia Hancock (she/her)
What was meant to be a quick Saturday morning task to move some planters soon turned into a mammoth weight training session when we found out they were full to the brim with heavy wet soil! We managed one planter but it soon transpired this would be a job for a bigger group - so tonight we’ll be heading down again to finish the challenge. Shout out to Felix and Jordan for putting in an admirable show of strength and practically moving mountains!
Monday 10th November
Written by Anastasia Hancock (she/her)
Last night at GoodGym Wandsworth we had a very special double celebration - we had not one but two huge milestones to celebrate! Ladies and gentlemen of GoodGym, please put your (gloved) hands together for the wonderful Joanna and for Annabel who both did their 100th good deed last night - absolutely amazing doing good and getting active. From shifting compost, to sorting food donations, creating a GG garden, to painting community centres, they've contributed so much to their community. Great work Annabel and Jo!
We met as usual at the BAC to do our warm up and to discuss what we'd like to do, in honour of the milestones, before we're 100. The group is obviously very intrepid, as people opted for visiting all seven continents, skydiving and bungee jumping!
Our job for the evening involved less travel (although it was still a good 5km run up a long hill!) but significantly more mess. We had been asked by Balham Nursery to come and create a 'mud club' for the under fives. This was definitely our sort of task, as it involved annihilating anything in our way, and exposing as much mud as we possibly could!
Meanwhile there were some slightly cleaner tasks that did involve some heavy lifting, which Jason, Ali and Felix took care of - getting a good work out up several flights of stairs in the process!
Before long the job was done, and the headteacher was really pleased with what we had got done. here's what she had to say this morning after the kids had arrived:
A huge thank you to you and your team for all your help and hard work yesterday. The mud club is a hit and it was all made possible by you. Please extend my thanks to everyone
I think there are going to be quite a few muddy knees among the under fives of Wandsworth today!
Great work everybody. Next week we're back doing more good in the neighbourhood - hope to see you there!
We also have a mission on Saturday to help out at Doddington garden if you're free and want to kick of the weekend with a lovely outdoor session
Monday 3rd November
Written by Anastasia Hancock (she/her)
We were back at Doddington for our regular task last night and it was the second consecutive super moon session - but this time it was no ordinary super moon. It was a super beaver moon, the brightest yet this year!
We met as usual at the BAC, where we got to welcome Alice to her first GoodGym session - great to have you join us!
We did a quick warm up where we discussed dog (and one cat) breeds before heading off by the light of the moon to the garden.
As always there were plenty of jobs to do, including leaf clearing, grass pulling and hedge trimming. We divided up into groups and got to work.
The time flew by and before we knew it we just had time to down tools and do our fitness session in the square. This week it was tabata - think fast, dynamic exercises for short bursts. There were lateral leaps, there were squat jumps, there were more steps than you could count. Great effort everybody!
If you've got some time to spare this Saturday and/or next Saturday and would like to help out again at Doddington, please join the weekend sessions - it's a great way to kick off the weekend!
Next Monday we're heading to help create a mud club for under fives - plus a double celebration. See you there!
Sunday 2nd November
Written by Letizia
On a fresh, crisp Autumn morning a group of GGers met at the beautiful Paradise cooperative garden for a huge task shoveling no less then three tonnes of horse manure!
After a quick chat about what connects us to nature we got on to the 'mane' task. An enormous pile of manure, two compost bins, eight GGers and one hour to complete the job. Could we do it? That was equestrian! (sorry)
We quickly organised ourselves into groups - Annabel, Letizia and Felix were super shovelers, Kamil and Igor became brilliant barrowers, Jordan raked to perfection and Jason was king of the mountain!
As Letizia put it, 'there was a good group and we got organised quickly finding a good rhythm to complete the task ahead of time.'
Amazing to see what can be achieved with many hands and some serious horse power!
A special shout out to Letizia for completing her first task and to Igor for his first session in Wandsworth - great to meet you both!
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