Despite the heavy rain, three brave GoodGymers, Ros, Ollie and Ingrid, met up with residents of East Croydon Community Organisation (ECCO), to tidy flower beds along the Boulevard. As well as litter picking, we cut back ivy and brambles, and cleared leaves. At the end of the evening we had filled 16 bags and the flower beds looked a lot tidier. The rain stopped just as we had finished!

On Tuesday, we welcomed back Ros from her world tour, she had spent the last few months travelling she visited 7 different countries that’s almost as much as I’ve done in my life! I need to up my game!! You could tell she missed her GG family as most people after all that travelling would stay home and rest the first few days back in the Country instead she came out to do some goodness with us. Welcome back Ros we missed you and we are happy to have you back with us.

We had two options to get to the task, walking or jogging, half chose the walking option led by me and the other half jogged with Liz.

We were heading to the Boulevard to do some weeding on the raised flower bed dedicated to Joan Peck.

After collecting the tool from Jerry, we made our way to the flower bed and began our task of weeding and pruning, while hearing more about Ros’ globe trotting adventure. It was also an opportunity to catch up with Paul, he once was a regular with us but now attends another Goodgym area led by the amazing Anna.

We discussed our birthday celebrations at the end of the month and our upcoming tasks over the next few weeks.

Not being biased but the team did an amazing job tidying up the raised bed, shout out to Dovile who has gotten us a potential new member who she spent some time talking with about good gym.

On Tuesday 4 of us walked 1.4km to Addiscombe Road, to where we were met by Andrea, the project coordinator for Joan Pick memorial bed.

The bed is located near the corner of Bisenden Road and Addiscombe Road, they will be unveiling a plaque and planting some plants on Wednesday 6th March 2024 in memory of Joan Pick.

Joan Pick was known by many as a local celebrity - a scientist and writer determined to reduce her carbon footprint. It their our goal to come together as a community as part of Joan’s legacy and make a difference.

However before all the celebrations the bed needed to be prepared and thats where we came in. We were able to weed a section of the bed and planted some plants, we turned quite a few heads working in the dark. Quite a few members of the community on their way home from work stopped to talk with us to find out what we were doing and a few others while walking by thanked us for the work we were doing. It was quite nice not to be mistaken for offenders on community service, although we were doing community service but without committing a crime.

The following day we received the message below from Andrea;

Thank you so much for bringing your team to work on our Joan Pick memorial bed at the Boulevard at the top of Bisenden Road in the dark last night with your team, who were wonderful - such hard work, and effective too. We're delighted with the progress.

Are you around on Wednesday 6th March 2024 fancy being apart of the unveiling of the plaque and celebrations?

It was a dark, autumnal Tuesday evening, but this didn't scare the team away, with 11 wonderful people joining to complete the autumnal clean of the boulevard this evening. Unfortunately, Conroy was unwell, so Liz lead the way.

A warm welcome to Tomi, who joined the team today and welcome back to Bassey and Kemo for their second session!!

Also, a shout-out for Magda, who completed her 200th good deed today! AMAZING!!

The team promptly set-off to collect the tools, to allow as much time for the task as possible. The team collected litter, swept leaves and cut over-grown brambles.

The team worked hard and filled a grand total of 38 bags of waste!!

Well done team!!

Last night 9 members jogged/walked 2.7km to assist the residents of ECCO, tidy up the boulevard.

We welcomed back Tim who last came to a group run in 2019, he had signed up to attend prior to last night however the demands of family life have kept him away, but it was good to see him and hear about what he has been doing over the last 3 years.

We also welcomed back Mrs D'Silva who recently got married and was coming back from her honeymoon full of joy and smiles.

Almost forgot to give a shout out to our deserter Paul despite working in Croydon and signs up for almost all our weekly runs he finally made an appearance, I wonder if it is because he's managed to twist my arm to participate in the Dino Dash and he wanted to ensure Iwasn't going to desert him so he would have to complete two legs in my absence.

We were joined by Jerry and two other members of ECCO as we cut back the over growth and weeded, it was only a couple of months ago we visited ECCO and and tidied up another part of the boulevard however with the recent rain and now glorious sunshine weeds and trees are basking in the great growing conditions.

After 6 years of operating in Croydon you'd like to think we have gained some form of notoriety (Red T-Shirts GoodGym across the front would be a giveaway of who we are), however without fail each time we are at a task with ECCO, there is always someone who thinks we are there as a punishment, dished out by His Majesty's officials not that we have all voluntarily decided to go out and do some community service out of the goodness of our hearts. We had to succumbed to some jovial advice about staying out of trouble and not to get caught in the future.

Only trouble we got into last night was with the thorns and spiky bushes who ensured our punishment for trying to cut them down and root them out was swift, so much for not getting caught, those words fell on deaf ears.

All in all we had a good time a lot of conversations and planning for our end of the month litter pick and picnic in Park Hill where when we will be celebrating our 6th birthday. Sign up here and take a tasty treat or beverage with you, we will be having a few games and competitions

I know I have jumped ahead of my self by providing the sign up for our birthday celebrations before providing next weeks but I'm just so excited about it.

Next week we will be heading to St Augustine's to add some final touches to the garden before the judges arrive to judge for London in Bloom, sign up here.

We are in need of a new start location, sadly Solutions will be closing down on 30 June, they have been our home for 6 years, despite the various change in their staff they have always been very accommodating to us and will be missed. Especially on those freezing cold nights when tasks are canceled at the last minute and they have been generous to let us have our fitness sessions inside.

We are in the process of trying to find a new start location, so far a few positive conversation have been had with potential replacements but still need to iron out a few things. We are working on getting this sorted before the end of the month so wish us luck or if you are aware of a space we could use with somewhere to change and store our belongings when we are out in the community doing good, please let me know.

Last night nine Good Gym runners ran 2km to join the ECCO team in cleaning up the boulevard.

After a week of transport strikes, a little partial closure on the trams didn't stop us and seven of us met up at Solutions to begin our run. As the task is close to our start point, we took a circuitous route over Windmill Bridge to stretch our legs and were met by two more at the task. As we arrived, Nicola was already helping to carry the equipment. Jerry and a couple of volunteers from the East Croydon Community Organisation set us up with the task of clearing litter and overgrown ivy. Ingrid and Samantha dived into the undergrowth with their litter pickers outstretched and soon had bagfulls of crisp bags and bottles, cans and chocolate wrapers, and all sorts of odds and ends which do not belong in bushes! The others took up the garden shears and began hacking back the overgrown ivy to clear the foot paths for pedestrians. Before we knew it, the council was here to collect the tools and we swept the pavement leaving the boulevard looking fresh. When it was all together, we had a large pile of bright lilac bags filled with rubbish we had cleared away. A great job done by everyone, and a big well done to Paul for his 10th good deed!

Next week, we will be doing a litter pick in Park Hill, followed by our social...picnic in the park!