Cat and I met Penge Councillors Simon, Kathy and Kevin for a spot of litterpicking on the bank by Homebase in Penge!

Equipped with bags, pickers and the all important hi viz, we set to work clearing up what was really quite a disgusting and sad sight. We picked up soooo many beer bottles and crisp packets and even a sofa cushion and in the end we filled up 5 bags to the brim!

Now the area looks much more pleasant!

Tonight's Group Run was to Melvin Hall, a community centre in the middle of Penge. We'd already given a gate one coat of paint but another was needed, as well as some fence protector on a new fence panel!

First though, we met at the Bridge House, and then went for a little jog around the park - including a teaser of Lightopia which looks set to be pretty awesome actually. There were even more dinosaurs than usual! And they move. 😬

It was another couple of k until we were at Melvin Hall, where we met John (and Holly and Hannah) and were given brushes and paint.

Sam and Tom got on with the fence while the rest of us blitzed the gate. It took a little while but it gave us a chance to ponder Stephen's big question of the night - "What have we learned today?" Thankfully George shared some wisdom about red lights on headtorches not attracting bugs - enlightened! 💡

Holly learned that hanging bats look like they're dancing if you flip them upside down (see pic...) 😅

We cleaned up (some got messier than others...) and then speedily jogged back up the hill to the Bridge House.

Nice one guys! 🎨🖌

Next Monday we're (hopefully) going to wrap up the painting at Upper Norwood Library Hub - sign up here!

Today's quality pun kindly provided by Hannah

A lovely evening for a run! Just a shame we weren't there half an hour earlier...

Nevermind! Tonight we had a killer team of me, Stephen, Hannah, Nick and brand new to GoodGym, Holly 👏👏🥳 So great to have you along.

Tonight's task was to Melvin Hall, a great spot in Penge which is run by volunteers and provides loads of services and clubs etc to locals. Last time we went there our painting session was somewhat unsuccessful, with some particularly absorbant paint... But this time was different!

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After a quick warm up in the park and a 2.5k run there, we met John who sorted us out with some better paint (quality Dulux Primer 👌) and showed us the gate to paint. We got cracking, with Hannah and Nick smashing through their side, while Holly, Stephen and I had more complex nooks and crannies to cover.

In 30 minutes we were done. A few of us downed some fruity water John had provided and we headed back to the Bridge House with a quick game of Rock, Paper, Scissors in the park on the way (lose = sprint, win (not really a win...) = wall sit).

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Great job gang!

Three absolutely legends (not sure if it's okay to include myself in that...) gave up their Wednesday evening for a jog to Melvin Hall to do a spot of painting!

We had a relaxed 2k run to get there, including a chat about the wonders/dangers of axe throwing, as you do.

When we arrived, we searched for John who armed us with some paint, brushes, white spirit and some post-run cokes 🤫😋

Our task was to add some protective white paint to a particularly absorbant gate... We soon found out that said gate didn't like white paint much and due to our various painting styles, we realised we were definitely going to need to come back for a return visit!

I had a quite loose "artistic style" and Nick went for the thick approach, which led to one gate becoming quite patchy... Clare however, went for a thin and consistent layer, creating a more aesthetically pleasing gate...

As the title of this run suggests, paint did indeed get everywhere. Oops.

We left the gate in a bit of a state, but the paint takes 16 hours to dry so we couldn't do another coat anyway - phew! Next time it'll look awesome. 👌

Great stuff guys! 👍

Bromley group runs are back! They're on a different day for now and there's a new AA (hi👋) but we're back doing good in the places that need a hand.

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Tonight 3 musketeers, met outside the Bridge House, we had a quick warm up in the park and then we hit the road, expanding our route to a nice but hilly 2k.

Our destination was Melvin Hall, a regular for GG Bromley, to do another regular task - weeding! 🌱

Melvin Hall is a community centre in Penge and has only recently opened its doors after a year of closure, so the weeds were tall and taking over the car park.

Equipped with hoes, shears and plenty of black bags, we got to work. Ian and Clare got off to a cracking start clearing the building side of little and large weeds whilst I pulled up a few big weeds round the corner. We gradually made our way around the perimeter until reaching the neighbour's fence. Slightly worried we'd pull the fence down because of all the overgrowing bushes, we got the shears out and tamed the beast just enough to make it look presentable!

After a solid 45 minutes, we bagged up the weeds and hit the road.

Weed did it!

I remembered to take some before photos, but not so many afters... but it looked impeccable 👌

NEXT WEEK we're heading to St John's Meadow to empty some compost bins onto some veg beds! Sign up here!

Four runners came to help smarten up the Melvin Hall, and greeted with cups of tea and cakes.

The novelty iten was a buffer - no, I'd not known of such a thing - but what else would you have for buffing floors? It had just been acquired on a long loan, with several spare buffer pads, but no manual. It seemed to have a mind of its own, and operating it, trying to direct it covering the wooden floor felt like a full body work out - upper body, core, glutes and ankles.

More straightforwardly, we also cleaned windows, paintwork and a good amount of vacuuming