After assisting Elmington Community Gardens with maintaining their spread out garden for the past four months, it was time to say goodbye and see you in 2025. As the autumn months creep in, the residents of Elmington estate can manage the gardens by themselves.

Sam arrived at Old Spike Peckham nice and early to welcome in Cecilia, Daryl, David, Gemma, Isaac, Louise, Maria, Nelly, Rosalind. He went through his usual speech and welcomed Mansur and Rosemary, who came for their first group run in Southwark!

There was not one, but three awareness days happening this week - International Day of Charity, Read a Book Day and National Beer Lover's Day. Sam asked an ice-breaker question of each: "What charity is close to your heart?", "What book are you reading currently?" and "What is your favourite beer?"

We had a mixture of GoodGym and Women's Aid as favourite charities, I can't read what people are reading...apologies and lastly, we had from Neck Oil to Guinness as people's favourite beers...yes, Guinness is a stout...

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We were all so chipper

After a quick warm-up in the alleyway, Sam led the group out through the backstreets of Peckham and climbed up Chadwick to reach the top and head down the other side towards Camberwell. Maria backmarked the run and we met Benjamin) and Elena at the task as they had cycled/ran there from home.

Catalina was running late as she had just come back from work, so we patiently waited for outside the allotment as that's where the tools were stored. Since we had only 35 minutes by the time she arrived, we limited the task to just moving the rest of the woodchip from the pile near the Wildlife Triangle to areas that needed mulching. This was conducted by Gemma, Maria and Rosalind were part of team shovel woodchip, Benjamin, Mansur and Rosemary moved and transported the woodchip by wheelbarrows and a makeshift barrow from a shopping trolley. Louise raked the woodchip across the area that was mulched.

The rest of the team: Cecilia, Daryl, David, Elena, Isaac and Nelly took the limited tools we had to pull out the thistles and nettles from the Wildlife Triangle.

As we arrived closer to 20:00, we called it a day and luckily, there was only a little bit of woodchip left for the residents to finish off the task. We put away the tools back to Elmington's allotment for safe keeping. We can't believe that is it for the year and we will be back in the Spring of 2025!

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out last night! Despite the limited time and tools, we managed to get a lot done. Thank you to Maria for backmarking the runs.

After noticing Nelly had signed up during the day, Sam rushed home from work as he needed to get a vital GG item...as when everyone arrived at Old Spike Peckham and Sam went through his usual speech, he announced that it was Nelly's 100th good deed tonight! He brought out the wings for her to wear as well as the customary party hat, balloon and no ginger cake this time, but lemon cake instead.

Although, Sam did mention his ice-breaker question which was to do with National Allotment Week and National Relaxation Day, which was happening the next day: "What would you grow in an allotment?" and "What do you do at the end of a working week to unwind?"

Everyone had named every fruit and vegetable possible, but David does have an allotment and really wants to grow Brussel Sprouts. For the relaxation question, people answered from going to the gym to meditation and yoga. There were also a couple of people mentioning a stiff drink.

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Sides and back: a hedge trim

After a quick warm-up in the alleyway, Sam led the group out through the backstreets of Peckham and climbed up Chadwick to reach the top and head down the other side towards Camberwell. Paulin backmarked the run and we met Phil and Emma at the task as they had cycled there. Also, Rebecca walked over from her flat, five minutes away.

Zulieka and her girls called us over from the Wildlife Triangle as some residents had already got going on a big hedge that needed some trimming. We split the team in three as Zulieka needed three tasks to be done:

• Emma, Steve, David, Cecilia and Rosalind took a pair of loppers each and proceeded to help the residents shape this big hedge.
• Nelly, Isaac, Nathan and Paulin took four watering cans to water the plants around the estate.
• Phil, Emma, Rebecca and Sam were the last group to be given a task as Zulieka directed them to a tonne bag of soil that needed to be emptied out into a corner as the soil was surplus.

All the tasks were done in on time with the team even taking the hedge trimmings and tools back to Elmington's allotment for safe keeping. Zulieka was very pleased and can't believe next month will be our last for the year!

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out last night! It was our penultimate session at Elmington Community Garden for 2024 and we got a lot done. Thank you to Paulin for backmarking the runs.

Is it coming home (it did for the Women's back in 2022)? That was the thought on everyone's mind as England's Mens team had their Semi-final game against Netherlands on the same night as our group run. Yet, 13 GoodGymers opted in for doing a good deed before the game. Sam messaged the task owner to bring the task forward and asked those who signed up to come between 18:30 - 18:40 to Old Spike Peckham, so that they could fit everything in within an hour and a half.

Tonight, we had not one, but two newbies. Well, technically, Audrey is not a newbie, but new to coming to GoodGym Southwark. However, we welcomed Hannah who came for her first good deed! Welcome!

Andrada, Cecilia, Daryl, David, Maria, Nelly, Paulin and Rosalind all came along on time as Sam started his extended speech due to the newbie and then presented his ice-breaker question. Tonight's ice-breaker was about the Euros, so he asked: "Who will win the tournament?"

Most said it would come home, but a few Spain and one Netherlands vote...

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Kick off...

We headed out without a warm-up as Sam knew he had to get to the task within 18 minutes. Paulin backmarked to ensure no one got left behind as we climbed up Chadwick Road to come down the other side to Camberwell. We made it in time to meet Zulieka and her girls as Emma arrived with her bike.

Zulieka had three tasks for us to do. We left Daryl, David and Andrada with a pile of woodchip, a wheelbarrow and a tonne bag in a shopping trolley to move to a site where woodchip needed to be laid. As we went around the estate, Adrian and Audrey with two pairs of shears were given the task to cut back a tree/bush in order for the residents to get to a watering unit as the hot summer days are a head of us and plants would need to be watered. The rest of the group went around the corner to weed a garden bed that was temporarily taken care of by the council, but they didn't finish the job. Using hand tools and shears, Cecilia, Emma, Hannah, Maria, Nelly, Paulin and Rosalind took of the task of transforming this space within 25 minutes.

Running around to ensure all groups were fine, Sam counted the clock down as there was a hard stop at 19:30 to ensure the team could run back in time to see the start of the game. However, Zulieka wanted help to take back the tools and two wooden pallets she found on the estate, so we duly did so before rushing off back towards Peckham. The boys probably clocked a few PBs as they sprinted the 3k run back to Old Spike as we had a table booked in 80-20 wines next door. Everyone arrived just in time for the kick-off...

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out last night. A very quick session due to the football, but we did get a lot done in the 30 minutes that we were there for. Zulieka sends her thanks and looks forward to see us next month. Kudos to all and if I don't see you next week, see you soon!

Last night 11 goodgymmers went to Elmington community gardens to help out. Sophie , David, Lindy, Nelly, Daryl and Alex met me at Old Spike to run there together. We did a quick warm up followed by an ice breaker question before setting off. The ice breaker this week was "What rhymes with woodchip?", which was surprisingly hard! We took the hilly route to Elmington community gardens, during which Daryl shared that he is the Strava local legend of Chadwick road! 👏

We arrived at the wildlife triangle just as Emma was walking her bike up the road and Laura was already there. Benjamin soon arrived on his fancy new bike. Catalina from Elmington community gardens split us up into groups and put us to work.

Daryl, Benjamin and Alex did pruning in one section of the estate. Sophie and Nelly did weeding nearby. Meanwhile, Emma, Jess and Lindy planted some wildflowers and weeded. And Laura and David did some pruning nearby. I floated in between, doing some litter picking.

Before we left, we tidied up after ourselves, putting the cuttings into the compost heap and then did the group photo. We were just about to leave... only to realise that Laura had been held up by a friendly neighbour, and had missed the group photo! After group photo number 2, we set off, most of us coming back to Old Spike, and onwards to our social in Peckham Rye park. 🌳

Must be something in the air or just the first signs of proper Spring weather as we did not just have one newbie, but two. Well, technically, Imogen had done a community session in Hackney a few years ago and Cecilia had another account, but we still treated them as first timers - welcoming them into Old Spike Peckham.

Along with the newbies, Sam met up with Maria, Alex, Sophie and Daryl as everyone came well before 18:45, so Sam could start his intro speech earlier. He did the long version to let the newbies know all about GoodGym and ended with his ice-breaker question which was: "Most memorable or best customer service you have received (either restaurant, experience or issue resolved)?"

Many found it hard as people remember the bad experiences more than the good, but we got a few shoutouts to local restaurants and restaurant providers, retailers that responded to feedback emails as well as Tesco's in Surrey Quays and McDonalds in Wigan for their awesome service.

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It would be wild to "eat around the world"

After a quick warm up on the Green, Sam led the group out of Peckham whilst Daryl backmarked. Within 20 minutes, we ran up Chadwick Road (we always find it tough) and came down the other side to end up in Camberwell to meet Catalina (task owner), Richard, Elena, Folarin and Benjamin at the Wildlife Triangle. Sam also met Annette from the Camberwell Green Farmer's Market who kindly dropped off "Eat Around the World" flyers as this community event will be taking place next Saturday (18th).

Most were up for staying to garden and tidy up the Wildlife Triangle, but Sam and Sophie ran off with the flyers to do 25 minutes of flyer drops on Valmar Road and Crawford Road - tackling the big estates with multiple flats. They definitely hit their climb and step count.

Meanwhile, back at Elmington, the team cut back on the brambles, nettles and other weeds. Yet, they had to leave certain parts of the Wildlife Triangle to be wild. Finally, to ensure the weeds do not grow back as quickly, they put down some woodchip mulch.

Just like clockwork as Sam and Sophie arrived back for 20:00, the group were also finishing up. A quick group photo and then a run back to Peckham for a quick stretch on the Green and to obtain our belongings at Old Spike. Benjamin had run back with us and was up for a drink, so Daryl, Maria and Sam sticked around for a pint at the Angel Oak.

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out last night! Congrat again to the newbies; Imogen and Cecilia for coming along and hope you had a lovely first session with us. Catalina appreciates everything that we do, so she passes her thanks. Thank you to Maria for taking the photos and Daryl for backmarking. Kudos to all!

It's the first Wednesday of the month (of April), which meant these 10 Goodgymmers would end up having a social after the group run. Yet, first we had to do a bit of good and get fit before we could sink a couple of pints.

Sam running from home met up Laura and Maria who were waiting outside Old Spike Peckham to be let in. As they got talking about politics with Isaac, who arrived shortly after, Rosalind, Emma, Nelly and Elena came through the doors to join in on the conversation.

As it struck 18:45, Sam started his intro speech, his ice-breaker question was to do with two social dates: National Walking Day and National Burrito Day, so his question and snap-poll was: "Where is your favourite spot/area for walks?" and "You only have one option to go with your burrito: guaca or salsa, which would you choose?"

The snap-poll brought out guaca on top whereas many people like to walk in the same spots namely Thames Path, South Downs and parks in London like Brockwell, Hampstead Heath, Richmond, Regent's and Beckenham Place Park.

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Our residency this Spring and Summer

After a quick warm up, Sam led the group out of Peckham whilst Laura backmarked. Within 20 minutes, we ran up Chadwick Road (some finding it tougher this time) and came down the other side to end up in Camberwell to meet Catalina (task owner), Andrada and Jessie at the Wildlife Triangle. Catalina had three main jobs for us:

• Emma and Isaac took on the responsibility of moving woodchip with the single wheelbarrow across the Elmington site.
• Maria took Andrada, Jessie and Rosalind to weed around a playground.
• Finally, Sam, Elena, Laura and Nelly stayed behind at the Wildlife Triangle to clear up the space here using shears and handtools to tackle weeds and trim back brambles.

The time zoomed by as 40 minutes evaporated. We put the tools back in the wheelbarrow and the weeds/trimmings in the compost bin before a quick group photo. We said our goodbyes to Catalina, but we know we will be back next month as we promise to help out each month for the Spring/Summer period.

We ran back to Peckham at a more rapid pace as we wanted to get to our social as soon as we can. Those who did not leave their belongings at Old Spike started the social at Social whilst the rest quickly got their belongings and headed over for a pint or two.

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out last night! Catalina appreciates that we will take some ownership of the gardens in the estate and we will potter around each month until September. Basically, we will do the jobs the residents can't do. Thank you to Maria for taking the photos and Laura for backmarking.