Shrewsbury house is an grade II listed mansion dating from 1923 that serves as a community centre for the good people of Shooters Hill and Plumstead. It’s also at the top of a big hill and always a tough challenge for anyone running there. Wednesday nights see the place full of people as diverse as role-platers and upholsterers and this week also GoodGym. Our task on the night was our regular cleaning of room 1. We were met by the ever-helpful Richard who gave us our tools then we set to work with dusters, hoovers and cloths in an attempt to get rid of the grime. 45 minutes of work saw the room a lot cleaner and it was time for a much easier run down the hill.

After a poo in the carpet situation making me late this week, we shared our best house disasters. Top marks go to Julian for managing to hospitalise a friend with an orange. We'll be sure to steer clear of fruit for all future socials just to be safe.

*A big congratulations to Brin to making it to 100 good deeds last week - a great achievement! *

In deviation from our usual routine we ran from Charlton House for a long run for us of 4km with a hill at the end which the view somewhat makes up for. We were cleaning at Shrewsbury House and clean we did, getting quite a lot of grime off the window frames, floors and all the surfaces we could get our sweaty little hands on. We discussed many things, including a Wassailing social we were invited to by the Westcombe Woodlands friends this weekend. Alas, I had to have it explained to me what wassailing is to my great British shame. 

Thanks everyone for a lovely evening - until next time!

A true story: I was once in California on a hot August day. We’d been walking for five or six hours, and our water had run out a few hours previously. We chose a burger restaurant because it had a shady outside seating area, and as we sat down, a waiter was already there. They filled our glasses with cold water and ice, and I can still remember the sweating condensation on the outside of the glass. Then, he turned to each of us in turn, looked us both straight in the eyes, and said: “Y’all got to hydrate to be great!” And then he was off, and we just stared after him.

I was recalling this on Wednesday evening as I arrived in Woolwich. As my colleague put it earlier in the day: the weather is sub-optimal. And as I heard someone else put it on the tube: it is precipitating very heavily.

It was very wet.

But we are not made of sugar. Five of us, Alex, Julian, Marta, me, and our run leader, Jen, met outside the Crossrail station dressed in brightly coloured ‘waterproof’ clothing. And I must say my mood, which had taken a dip while travelling over, lifted exponentially as we chatted and caught up. It was lovely. And then we had to think of what we would call an office spider plant. As you read this, I am sure better names will have instantly popped into your head without much effort. Still, to document the evening, we chose Charlotte (from EB White’s Charlotte’s Web) and Peter Parker (from – well, if you don’t already know, where have you been?)

Jen was also cognisant of us getting cold, and so we did a quick warm-up of dynamic exercises – of leg swings and ankle rotations – and then we had a carefree jog up to Shrewsbury House. We were met by the team, who’d prepared for us an entire assortment of cleaning weapons. There were brooms of different widths and lengths (and brush types); buckets with sponges and cloths and cleaning sprays; and a hoover, should we want it. 

We left the hoover and headed over to the sports facility at Shrewsbury House, which caters for plenty of activities, including martial arts and jiu-jitsu. We got to it. Julian and Marta dusted the walls, removing Halloween-themed cobwebs, but sparing the spiders because of our earlier naming task. Alex took the largest broom and swept the floors clean. And I did very little actually. But I did have a very good time. 

We finished by staring out the hanging punching bag. And then Julian, Marta, Alex, Jen, and me, we all beat the hell out of it.

Thank you for a very lovely task and evening, folks. Turns out, a good dose of hydration can make us feel pretty great. :)

END

On Wednesday, 10 Goodgymers headed to Shrewsbury House for a spot of Spring cleaning.

Did anyone else spend their entire childhood thinking it was pronounced “clean film”? Probably not. Would have been a good pun for this report if so. I did think of other things during my first 18 years, for the record.

We began with a game called, I believe Green Monster (Can we check this? - Ed) and involved chasing each other with a roll of cling film, like an army of angry chefs chasing escaped chicken drumsticks.

Then it was a choice of Sandy Hill Road, which your dutiful correspondent is currently stood on, under someone’s garage escaping the Friday night rain, and what described as up hill and down dale, just without the down dale bit. We chose the latter and were treated to quite stunning panoramic views of London. We also passed Andy’s very lovely house. Beautiful windows. And we’re delighted he’s still with us before his adventure to the North. Speaking of adventures, it was a warm welcome back to Alex after his Canadian travails.

Legs suitably jellied, we got into Shrewsbury House and marvelled at the amount of things happening in one place. Quiz question: which of these was NOT flyer’d on the notices board?*

Cougar Ju-jitsu Yoga Psychic Wednesdays Immersive theatre Bopping Bunnies Chemigram workshop (Sounds like a medical procedure - Ed) Gong bath Fencing Tai chi Ballet Quilting

Quite simply the most varied and amazingly diverse community centre one could imagine. Your could quite happily spend a zombie apocalypse there learning new skills.

Cleaning and dusting was the name of the game, so we got to work making the place spick and span. No sweeping things under the carpet. Toilets left clean as a whistle. No one fluffed their lines as every nook and cranny was given a clean bill of health. A clean sweep, you could say. (Is this enough cleaning puns? - Ed)

Another one bites the dust (obviously not - Ed). Onto the next. Enjoy your coronation festivities (or ways you’re escaping it, depending on your views).

PS: the evening ended with top chocolate treats. Perfect reward for a good evening’s work. Thanks to our Raleigh overlords.

*If you expected the answer here, you clearly weren’t paying enough attention. But a Chemigram is a form of experimental art, in case you were wondering.

This shrew needs no taming, but it does need a good clean after a day of dancing, yoga, board games and other such revelry. Shrewsbury House is clearly well used and well loved and worth a very hilly run to give it a little TLC. Thank goodness we had our fearless marathon trainer, Olivia to chivvy us up those hills. And thank goodness it's downhill alllll the way home.

We got to task, dusting up high, dusting down low, in, out, in, out and shook it all about and I for one, enjoyed the hoovering a bit too much. I felt a bit like a housewife from the 50s, minus the dress and being showered. Not that that's necessarily something one should aspire to in this day and age (the housewife from the 50s, not being showered.) But you know, each to their own!

See you next week an hour later than usual...right? Yes and we're inching closer to having group runs in the light, hooray :) Remember our social next week after the group run to the Bridge!

The Woolwich Wind Tunnel is a respected tourist attraction. It’s an artificial arrangement of buildings and structures that forms a perfect conduit for EXTREMELY COLD wind, and if you’re caught in its sights, then good luck to you. It’s an invigorating experience. Which 10 GoodGymmers will attest to, and they’ll let you know all about it – if they survive the frostbite.

This bunch of 10 met last night, and we moved quickly out of the Wind Tunnel into the safety of Woolwich’s Crossrail station. And we caught up, because yesterday was our first run of 2023, and it was awesome to hear about everyone’s holidays and festive activities. And then, amidst the commuters, Jen started the session and asked us each a question: Do you have any New Year’s resolutions?

Suffice to say, we’re a forward-looking crew (and thanks also to Alex T for reminding me of these resolutions!). Some were hoping to build on things already achieved, others wanted a more selective approach to how they spent their time, there was a desire to slow down and feel the enjoyment, a resolve to buy a house, to become a better gardener, and I said I’d like to avoid the Woolwich Wind Tunnel wherever possible.

Then came bad news – we needed to trek UPWARDS to our task, somewhere in the region of K2 and Mount Everest. We braced ourselves. Triple checking one another’s gear, ticking off lists on freezeproof paper of crampons, and pickaxes, and a very large supply of Kendal Mint Cake. Once certain of our preparedness, Jen started the warmup – we began with some wrist and ankle and hip movements, supple-ing our bodies, and then we jogged and finished with a sprint. But that was just the beginning. Because even though a gigantic climb awaited us, Jen adheres to the mantra – you’re going to be in pain anyway. So, we squatted, and lunged, and completed step-ups, raising the feeling in our thighs to proper burn!

And we were fired up. We started our ascent, up and up and away to Shrewsbury House, fuelled by Kendal Mint Cake. And really, it was a lovely run to the task, and an awesome way to start the year – exercising with good friends. There, we were led to an outbuilding that’s used as a workout room by martial arts fighting folk, and we cleaned. We wiped the walls and punch bags, we dusted and removed cobwebs, and quickly the room was looking much fresher for 2023.

Satisfied, we took back our cleaning gear, had a quick natter, and then a few of us peeled off (myself included), whilst the others ran back down the hill, hopefully with the Wind Tunnel at their tails.

Thanks all for a lovely first GGG of 2023, and thanks Jen for super run leading! Catch you all soon :)