Sam received a voice message from Javier Andres (Old Spike Manager) to say that he had a maniac day and preferred not to have any GoodGymers come before 18:45, so Sam quickly sent out messages to all the runners to come for 18:45.

We all met outside Old Spike and at 18:45, with Javier still cleaning, we quickly dumped our stuff and headed to the Green to warm up and do the GG speech and ice-breaker question.

Since Sam was in Brighton for the day, he asked two questions: Where did you have the best fish and chips? and Which seaside town would you retire to?

The majority said the best fish and chips comes from the North East of England with places like Robin Hood Bay, Whitby, Scarborough and Tynemouth, but there were some mentions in Scotland namely in and around Edinburgh. The second question featured places outside the UK, but many answered in and around Cornwall (St. Ives without the price tag and tourists).

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Apple trees older than us

Our run up to Dawson's Heights was a short, but hard run as the hill from Dunstan's Road up to Overhill Road took it out of us, especially in the heat. Yet, little by little, we made it to the top and then ran down a slope to reach our destination. As we met Ellie, Magda arrived on her bike and Emma ran from home. We were also joined by a couple of residents, who have the idea of transforming the space.

Ellie had three tasks for us - watering, weeding and mulching (sound familiar - it's exactly what we did last week, but in a different location). Sam divided up the team with Daryl, Paulin and Steve taking care of the mulch run. They had to fill the bags for life that they had with mulch before running up a flight of stairs to dump the mulch on the garden mulch and eventually on the soil near the saplings to retain moisture. Whilst they were doing the heavy lifting, Emma, James and Magda weeded around the saplings to ensure they had every chance to grow rather than the weeds taking all the nutrients. Katy did the water run with a mop bucket and watering can, but switched with Emma later as Katy helped chop back and hedge and move all the weeds and trimmings to a compost area of the community garden.

The team worked seamlessly as the minutes ticked by, we pretty much completed all three tasks that needed to be done. There's still a lot of mulch in the pile, but we made a huge dent in it.

We will be back as Ellie has a project in mind to build a community allotment in Dawson's Heights, so we will get involved with that. Before we left Ellie and the residents, we had to get in those jammy dodgers, shortbread and chocolate chip cookies to replenish our energy as it was fading at that point.

We took the scenic route back to Old Spike stopping at Dawson's Hill to take in the views!

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out tonight! Although, it was a shorter 2.5k run, that hill killed us. Yet, we took it in our strides. Ellie was super happy about what we achieved in 40-45 minutes as the before and after optics showed the massive impact we had.

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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 who I got in touch with after almost a year without any contact and she's always happy to have GoodGym's help. There's a bigger allotment project on the horizon, which we'll surely get involved with.

Running late from his work club run, Sam made it slightly after 18:30 to open up the very warm Old Spike Roastery, but it was too hot for us, so everyone decided to stay outside in the cooler weather. Paulin and Nelly were already there when Sam arrived, but then Vic and Rebecca arrived before Sam started his GG speech announcing different community missions over the weekend and people's milestones.

Sam went through his usual warm-up on the green, although there were more brown leaves on the ground than expected for this time of the year.

After everyone warmed up, our ice-breaker question for tonight was around the topic of cleaning as Sam's parents are coming to stay at his flat over the Bank Holiday weekend: What is your favourite household chore?

Vic started us off with washing the dishes as you can see the dirty come right off the plates, Rebecca reminisced on her laundry days as it was a process and an ordeal when she had to go to the laundrette, Nelly enjoys hoovering as Paulin had the same idea of cleaning up dust, but she chose to sweep. Finally, Sam loves mopping as he could see and smell the difference. We all agreed that a deep clean is only really done when friends or family are about to visit your flat/home.

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Insane in the Brain

Similar to last week's run, we ran 2.5k uphill towards Dawson's Height in a cooler, but a muggy evening. We took the run in our stride and once we reached the bottom of Underhill Road, the uphill struggle started. Yet, we took breaks where we needed it and pushed through the last hill to meet Mikhail, Emma and Emma who cycled to the task. Then after a couple of minutes, Ellie from Arbor showed up with keys to unlocking the door to where we could fill the watering cans with water.

We had one main task and one side task. The side task was to water the plants despite knowing that it was going to rain later in the evening, the plants still needed a drink. Rebecca and Nelly jumped at the occasion to take on this task whilst the rest of the team spent the first 10 minutes weeding the path before pegging down the membrane sheet as a base layer for the woodchip path....but Ellie is still waiting for the woodchip to arrive.

Working as a team, we completed the tasks within 40 minutes which was accompanied by good conversations and a worldwide (Jamaican, Nigerian and Latin) tunes from Sam's Spotify playlist.

We took our customary group photo before we headed off to the viewpoint and then back to Old Spike Roastery.

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out tonight! It's always tough tackling Overhill and Underhill Road. We might have not gone to St. Joseph's or Bells Garden, but Ellie appreciated our help at Dawson's Height!

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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 having us two weeks' in a row! Thanks for always finding tasks for us to do and we can't wait to assist you again in about a month or two.

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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

After such a glorious day in the sunshine, the grey clouds rolled in, but the humid and warmth was still ever present.

Daryl, Emma, Nelly and Sam met up at Old Spike Roastery as they discussed their weekends as they were potentially waiting for a first-timer, but she didn't arrive by 18:45, so Sam proceeded with his GG speech announcing the latest news and what's coming up!

This time, Sam wanted to do the warm-up on Peckham Rye Common as our usual spot is down an alleyway next to Old Spike. Yet, he wanted to use as much space as he could.

After the warm-up, our ice-breaker question tonight was to do with Sam's week as he went hiking in the Lake District last weekend for a work charity event, but he is also going to be participating in the Three Peaks Challenge this weekend. Thus, the question was: What is your favourite hiking spot in the world?

Daryl started with saying the Lake District as that's where his partner is from, but he also likes the Dales, Nelly found it hard to split it between the Lake District and Brecon Beacons, Emma and Sam both chose the Dolomites. Later, Paulin mentioned a place called "Rosemary Hill" and Jen said the place near her parent's place in New Zealand (which didn't make the LOTR cut...maybe the boot-leg edition)

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The Bad-Ass Playlist

Straight down the paths leading from one end of the Common to the other and along the way we met up with Paulin who had cycled part of the way. We continued our 1.8k run up Dunstans Road before tackling the steep incline of Underhill and Overhill Road (it's in the name). We made it to the Dawson's Height estate where we bumped into Jen as she cycled from home there. It took us awhile to find "Ellie and the gang" (releasing their highly anticipated EP next month), but after some snooping from Sam, he spotted them.

Ellie was there with Patrick, one of the residents of the estate, but later a few more residents came out to help us plant summer bulbs. There were a variety of summer bulbs and tools to choose from. The instructions were clear: take a bag of bulbs, a tool (not yourself) that you are comfortable with and to plant anywhere. The rule of thumb was to dig double the size of the bulb to ensure it's not too deep and not too swallow.

Whilst we dug and planted the bulbs, Sam put on his "bad-ass playlist" with hits including a few ballads from the 80s. The songs, the weather and the company kept everyone's spirit high. We planted at least 20-30 bulbs each, but we can always round the total to the nearest thousand...

Time flies when you're having fun as the 40 minutes evaporated and before we knew it, Ellie was taking group photos of us! Everyone was pleased with our efforts and there were tentative plans to book in another session in July! #winning

We departed our ways with "Ellie and the gang", but there was a quick viewpoint stop at Dawson's Hill. Despite the weather being cloudy, the views were still amazing. We got in a quick group photo before saying our goodbyes to Jen who cycled home and then later Paulin who picked up her bike where we found her.

We finished off where we started on the Common to do our final warm down stretch before a cooldown walk back to the Old Spike Roastery.

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came and ran tonight! It was great to warm-up on the Common and the outbound route was challenging, but we made it to the top in one piece. Thanks for digging through some tough soil, but a bit of GoodGym elbow grease usually does the job. Great work team!

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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 and the residents of Dawson Heights for welcoming us into their community garden and giving us the chance to help out and to make new friends! We hope the summer bulbs will blossom in time.

It seems winter doesn't want to fade away as the dark clouds and chilly winds rolled in, five GoodGymers met at Old Spike Roastery ahead of schedule.

It was great to see Rebecca come for her first group run in a long time and Hannah making a delightful appearance after spending the last few Wednesday's training for the Ride London at the end of May. The group run was completed with Daryl and Nelly as Emma was going to meet us at the task. After a quick warm-up on the green and not the alleyway anymore, our ice-breaker question tonight was in line with International Day of Dancing, which is this coming Friday and Sam asked: What type of dance do you like, want to learn or bust out a dancing move for us?

Hannah got us going with her telling that she is learning "Swing" and a bit of "Charleston", Rebecca did ballet when she was six and Nelly likes to get going on the dancefloor with a bit of hand movements - she needs everyone to clear the dancefloor!

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Insecticide by paint

Our gentle 2k run took us down the back routes of Peckham as we arrived at the end of Bellenden Road, crossed over to Peckham Library before making our way to Bells Community Centre and Gardens. Ellie was pleased to see us as we arrived slight early. There were two tasks at hand. Prepare and fill the planters or paint the walls.

Without hesitation, Nelly, Hannah and Rebecca took on the more therapeutic task of painting the outdoor graffiti wall. They had to slowly mix the paint so that the paint turned into a light green/blue-ish colour before they could apply it to the wall. Slowly and gently, they applied the paint to the wall even though one or two insects were killed in the process.

Earlier, Ellie had constructed a few more planters, so all Daryl and Emma needed to do was cut plastic sheets and staple them to the inside of the planter to make an inner lining, so it could hold the soil. As they were finishing off with the first planter (out of four), Sam decided to start filling the first wheelbarrow with the moss that we scrapped a few weeks' ago that had composted down. This acted as a base layer before adding a few wheelbarrows of top soil and then finally, one wheelbarrow load of compost. Ellie took the lead in getting all the other planters lined up as Emma and Sam continued to work in shifts to fill the planters with moss, soil and compost mixture. Daryl, at this point, had moved onto sweeping the area before helping out the girls with painting as time seemed to evaporate.

Sensing that we were so close to the end, but only had five minutes unless we didn't want to do the HIIT session, Sam chose to finish the task at hand. With an extra 10-15 minutes (and 45-50 minutes since arriving), we completed painting all the walls and filled all four planters with the soil mixture.

We were rewarded with biscuits, group photos and smiles all around before taking on the most direct route back to Old Spike Roastery to finish exactly on time - 20:30!

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came and ran tonight! We might have missed out on a 10 minute HIIT session, but at least we completed the task at hand, so thank you for bearing with me.

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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 giving us such a great task and the opportunity to see the community garden again as it's progresses slowly! Looking forward to helping out at Dawson's Heights!

A week after GoodGym Southwark and Ellie from the Arbor project had met, we were back for more at Bells Garden Community Centre. We came back to finish off what we had left off!

And we weren't short of hands, after a drizzly day, it was a welcome site to meet in the warm and coffee-filled aroma of Old Spike Roastery. Sam had received messages from various GoodGymers to say they were either running late or would met him there. Lindy arrived first as she came to get her documents checked as she wants to do more in her local community. One by one, they all started to stream in - Emma, Nelly, Paulin, Benjamin, Sophie, Katy and Alison, who came for her very first GoodGym session to claim her first good deed! Welcome! And due to the newbie, Sam went through his usual GoodGym speech outlining the benefits & how to get involved with GoodGym!

Knowing he had to wait for Hannah, who had to drop-off a shelf (there was more airtime on the shelf than what was needed), Sam did a longer warm-up and had a more in-depth ice-breaker question to be answered, which was: Since it's International Women's Day next Tuesday, who is your most inspirational woman in your life and why?

Thinking we would get loads of "my mother" responses, it was a pleasant surprise to hear GoodGymers highlighting their aunts, sisters, grandmothers, partners, colleagues and best friends; who have all inspired them.

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We moss try harder

Hannah arrived just as we were doing our ice-breakers and dropped off her shelf (last time, I will be mentioning it) in Old Spike and then off we went. The same running route as last week avoiding the main high street on the way there by taking the back routes to Peckham Library. Thank you Paulin for backmarking. The 2k run took us 12 minutes to run and as we approached Bell Gardens Community Centre on Buller Close, we spotted Liam and Ellie at the open gate leading to the basketball court. With no time to lose (as we were determined to finish off the task), Ellie brought in the tools and tonne bags as Sam, Lindy and Sophie set out all the portable lights. We all chose our weapons to tackle just over half of the court that was left filled with moss. We knew we would do it in 11 plus Ellie, but Vic arrived just as we got going with news that her brother would be coming out of hospital after four/five months in, so she brought that determination with her. We used shovels, knee mats and ice scrapers to get the job done! 🙌

Most of the team got down on their hands and knees to scrap off all the moss as Sam then joined by Hannah and Liam shoveled what was scrapped into two tonne bags until they were filled. After this point, we started to create piles of moss that turned into mounds of moss! We were like busy insects constructing in the middle of the night. Ellie was very pleased that as the time drew closer and closer to 20:00, we were reignited to finish the task despite getting damp gardening gloves and working in messy/muddy conditions. Yet, it was worth the last push as we completed the task - two tonne bags filled and multiple piles/mounds of moss left to be shifted to a makeshift compost heap and to be used in the raised beds 💪 Awesome work from everyone in the 40-45 minutes that we were there.

All our work couldn't clearly be seen with the limited light that we had, but the morning photos showed how we cleared the whole court. Our efforts were awarded with a lovely group photo and biscuits: Golden Crunch Creams and Chocolate Bourbons. 🍪

We said our farewells to Ellie and Matt, but I have no doubts that we will be back to help out in the Spring and beyond. Yet, off we went back to Old Spike Roastery via the high street losing Vic, Liam and Sophie on the way. After a good stretch back in the alleywall, most of us were up for a pint (or two) and a meal at the White Horse as it was the first Wednesday of the month - our GG Southwark monthly social!

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out last night as we pushed to finish clearing all the moss! It was great to have 11 other GoodGymers. GoodGym Southwark hasn't had double digits for a group run since the first group run of the year. Yet, it's not about the numbers (although it does help for tasks like these), but about the members themselves. Thank you!

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Thank You Ellie and Arbor Project

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 welcoming us back again. Can't wait to see what the place would look like in a one month and a half to two months' time!