Wall of Honour

• Thanks to Dom & Helena for back marking and keeping the 2 groups together.
• Big Shout to Helen & Manny for completing their first run with us!
• Pat on the back to Anna for completing 4 Good Deeds at the weekend - including 3 in one day!!

Let’s have a Recap

Last night 21 runners ran 6km in total to the Crisis store in Camberwell. Crisis is the national charity for homeless people, helping them to rebuild their lives. Through research into the causes and consequences of homelessness and the solutions to it, they are committed to ending homelessness for good!

Despite the rain we began a quick warm up with a chance to learn some new names! Then we headed off in an organised group with Task Force members Dom, Helena & Sam in position to make sure as the pace of the group stretched no one was left behind. We ran along Lyndhurst Way to Peckham Road untill we reached the store in Camberwell Green.

Store manager Ross directed us through the evenings tasks, varying from dusting, cleaning rails and rearranging clothes into size order. With so many hands ready to help we quickly split up into different areas of the shop, whilst keeping a keen eye on some bargains! Kate managed to reserve a top and Allie even ran home with a candelabre!! Floors, shelves and rails were swept and mopped and Holly finished up with her favourite job of hoovering! After 30mins we said goodbye to Ross and left his store looking nice and clean!

FACT OF THE DAY A Candelabra Tree cannot stand the cold - anything below 10-12 degrees Celsius. However they do survive indoors, ideal for those living in a chilly climate.

On the way back we still had time for some Mexican Wave Squats, and a slippery but competitive Burpee relay in Warwick Gardens with Ian just about staying on his feet to lead his team to victory!

Next week we will be running 8km to support the Tabard Growers community group with some weeding at Stompie Garden. Come to see 'Stompie' a decommisioned Soviet tank!

See you next week Team. Stay dry!

Southwark News

• I still have some community places (£10 bargain!) for the Big Half. Send me an email to get the discount code lucyj@goodgym.org

• This weekend is Super Saturday! Come join us at Southwark parkrun for a 9am start and then come to a starter session to Surrey Docks Farm, leaving from Southwark park cafe at 10.20am. Not only all of this but we'll be celebrating Southwark's third birthday!

• Victoria turned 50 at the beginning of January and is now on 52 good deeds. That's a lot of good! Give her a cheer.

• Next week we're filling a skip at Southwark Tigers. It's a 6km run overall.

That's enough of the business

Last night 19 runners ran 5.5km overall to visit our friends at Crisis charity shop on Denmark Hill. We arrived at half seven on the dot. Anca was amazed at how many of us there were (great job!) and set up to work.

A big hello and welcome to Sharon, Frances, Aurelia and Sharon who joined us for the first time last night!

We split into two main groups:

• Visual merchandising - colour coding the display wall, arranging the jewellry displays, dressing a manequin

• Sorting donations - over the festive period Crisis were inundated with an amazing amount of donations. We sorted sellable form non-sellable and set out for recycling any toys or electrical items. There was also a team pricing books.

So many tasks to get done!

Team Donations sorted 64.4 lbs of non-sellable items for recycling. Solid work!

We got to work, finding all kinds of great items as we went, including a 'Wodent Wheel' which Dom commented

"Looks wheely valuable"

There was no way we'd get through all the fresh donations but we made a serious dent, Helena and Matt dressed a manequin as... of course... a runner! Great to have a GoodGym representative at the shop long-term!

Last but not least - places for Brighton Half and London Landmarks Half with the amazing Terence Higgins Trust at a special rate for GoodGymers

Terrence Higgins Trust is the leading and largest HIV and sexual health charity in the UK. We offer a range of services, from testing to counselling, fund life-changing research, and campaign for a world where people with HIV live healthy lives free from prejudice and discrimination, and good sexual health is a right and reality for all.

• Brighton Half: Sunday 24th February - Discount reg fee £10 (from £25) - Minimum sponsorship £200 • London Landmarks Half: Sunday 24th March - Discount reg fee £10 (from £30) - Minimum sponsorship £350

We'll be there to support you every step of the way! Here's what to expect: a welcome pack, THT t-shirt, a personalised THT running vest, regular email updates with training and fundraising tips, on the day support to cheer you to the finish line, and an invite to our “#TeamTHT Thank You Party" later in the year.

If this is the perfect challenge for you, get in touch with Laura laura.stock@tht.org.uk

Great work team, see you next week!

Southwark News

• Hannah Foote is about to reach her 50 (she's on 47) and we hope to see her on her fiftieth for a cheer! Lianne Cooper is also on the cusp of a big milestone. She's been injured for a while so we haven't seen her but we're hoping she comes to join us for her 100!

• This Saturday is a GoodGym bonanza! Start your day off at Tooting Parkrun where Wandsworth are providing pacing and many other GoodGymers will be along to support - sign up here. Then head to Waterloo Station for the 16k long run led by Frances Powrie - sign up here AND THEN after some recuperation, head to the Old Library for a night of music which is FREE to GoodGymers (just type in 'goodgym' on the promo code section) - get your ticket here.

• 24th November we're having a Christmas decorations party to get ready for the Christmas party - sign up here.

• 1st December is the one we've all been waiting for! It's the Christmas party! Theme is the first letter of your area. I've heard that Lambeth are going as Lord of the Rings. Can we top that? Sign up here.

• Next week we're going to Southwark Tigers on Burgess Park to paint the clubhouse store room. It's a 6km run overall, don't bring anything that you don't want to get paint on! Sign up here.

That's enough of the business

Last night we ran 6.2km overall to go to Crisis at Camberwell to change over the shop floor and sort donations. We split into four groups:

• Tagging clothes

• Sorting books and then jewelry

• Colour-coding a display wall

• Taking down a wall displays of frames and replacing it with a cosy winter display

We tagged a lot of clothes, finished the books and jewelry and completely transformed both wall displays. You should be very proud of your handiwork! We saved Anca so much time by getting this done for her this afternoon and therefore helping her to do more to make the shop as effective as possible in its mission to raise money for Crisis and promote the cause.

Before we left we did a boomerang/photo shoot to promote Crisis's Christmas campaign. This year you can buy a place for a homeless person at Crisis at Christmas. It's the perfect gift - find out more here.

Great work team, see you next week!

Lucy J

14 GoodGymers convened on Bermondsey this morning to help Crisis get ready for Christmas. Crisis provide people with shelter, food, healthcare and advice on housing and employment over the festive period. Their central warehouse / logistical centre is in Bermondsey and it has been empty for most of the year. There was a lot of prep needed to get it ready to receive donations for Christmas 2018 and GoodGym was here to help!

After a highly professional briefing and safety talk, and fortified by tea and biscuits, we were set to work on various tasks including hoovering, organising furniture, cleaning the kitchen and jet washing the floor of the massive warehouse. Quickly realising the warehouse jet washing was the biggest of the tasks, we all migrated over there to help out.

While we were jet washing and sweeping en masse, a forklift arrived with a crate of out of date sparkling water. A breakaway team was tasked with opening the bottles of water and pouring them on the floor. This had the dual benefit of getting rid of the water, and adding extra lubricant for the jet wash/sweeping team. As an added bonus, the water was sparkling and lemon flavoured, which made the warehouse smell lemony fresh.

A big shout out to Aysha and Poppy, who were first timers at GoodGym today - they definitely didn't choose the easiest task to begin with (admittedly both were coaxed /cajoled by more seasoned GoodGymers to come along!)

The Crisis team were really impressed with the speed and enthusiasm of the team that attended, and we hope to coordinate more tasks together in future. Thanks to all that made it along!

If you are interested in volunteering with Crisis, check out https://www.crisis.org.uk/get-involved/christmas-volunteering-london/ Volunteering is not restricted to the Christmas Eve/Christmas Day/Boxing Day period, but there are opportunities to get involved in loads of other ways.

Southwark News

• An amazing weekend for racing - Emily ran her first marathon, Girija smashed her half marathon goal, Emma ran her first half marathon (first ever race!), Harry ran his first half marathon and Nichola ran the Royal Parks half. Blimey! An incredible story from York marathon where GoodGym York supported Sean, a key part of their community with terminal cancer who may not run a marathon again. Read about this amazing story here.

• 1st December we are hosting the GoodGym London Christmas Do at The Old Library on Burgess Park. We'll be having a decoration-making party. Watch this space! Sign up for the party here.

• Fancy a long run? Run with GoodGymers on 17th November. It's a ring around Southwark and there'll be pizza and beer at the end - sign up here.

• Next week we're varnishing the floor at Theatre Deli! It's a 6km round trip - sign up here. Don't forget Halloween we're dressing up hooray!

That's enough of the business

Last night we gathered at Old Spike and after a little confusion related to Tobias Menzies (long story ask me next week) we set off. Just under 3km there taking a route with a mean gradient we got to Crisis where a tired Anca was delighted to see us. She'd been on her own all day so was thrilled we were coming to help out. We split into groups:

• Tagging donations

• Dressing mannequins

• Organising the shop floor

• Tidying the back room

• Tagging up jewellry

A big hello to Ruby, Phoebe and Jeff who joined us for the first time last night. Great job!

It was a lot of tasks to get through and whilst we didn't quite finish tagging up all the donations and jewellry we got loads done which will make life so much easier for Anca and will mean great things for the shop.

Great work team!

On Halloween the shop is hosting a musical evening - canapes, prosecco and Musicians Against Homelessness. It'll be an amazing evening, you can go along after our task (although we'll be hitting up Batch ourselves...!). Check it out here.

Looking forward to seeing you next week.

Lucy J