Those of you who are too young to be familiar with the works of Monty Python might need this title explaining.

Todays mission with the Roding Valley Volunteers was a game of ups and down. We started on a down..downpour but when has the weather ever stopped a hardened GGer? With their worst wet gear on (you never wear your best to a GG session) James and Linda started cycling only for James to get a flat within the first km. Sadly this meant James had to abandon the mission, Linda went on to meet AJ and another volunteer at task.

Thankfully the rain had now stopped and Robert (Task Owner) asked us to cut back a tree which was over hanging to the point that nobody could use the path. Vision has the best tools for these jobs which meant we made short work of the task making sure a 6 footer could easily get under it. Not being proper tree surgeons we ended up wearing some of it which led AJ to make herself some "antlers" while a large bendy off cut landed on Linda's shoulders like a cloak. A lady walking a dog came past thanking us for a job well done, she had been having difficulty limboing under the tree.

The next task was to collect the pumpkin markers from a recent trail walk. It was bothering us that we hadn't found some of the markers so we had to do the trail twice before we realised Robert knew exactly where they were he just thought we would enjoy taking part in the trail...bless him 🙄 😂

AJ had to leave, Linda stayed on a bit longer to do a bit of litter picking then set off on her cycle home only to fall off on a really boggy bit of ground. Luckily she hit the ground with a squelch rather than a bump so no injuries which sets us up for a fitting tag line..Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life...another Python song. 😁

AJ and Linda each had a nice little walk to the Uplands Road entrance to Roding Valley Park where we met with volunteers Paul, local litter picking legend Jan and task owner Robert.

Expecting to be litter picking or cutting back undergrowth we were surprised to find out we were painting the gate today.

Armed with stiff brushes and scrapers the five of us set about prepping the metal work frames. With the prep sorted we were getting twitchy about all the litter lying about so Robert obliged us with a picker and a bag for us to use on the usual array of discarded plastic wrapping, poo bags, and underpants while he organised the mid session tea and biccies.

During a companionable few minutes refreshment we put the world to rights discussing national politics, the war in Ukraine and harking back to the "good old days" of power cuts in the 1970s. Clearly our 23 year old couldn't contribute to the latter part of the conversation so he opened the paint tins and started handing out paint brushes.

During the painting session a cargo bike rider came through, we apologised for holding them up while we moved our ladder, the rider said they were fine with that and just glad we weren't there to put the railway sleeper back across the path. We explained it was us that removed it on a previous mission and they were very happy with us as it used to take a lot to lift the bike over it. We do love a happy 'customer'.

The joy of painting is you can make a remarkable difference very quickly. It was a messy but rewarding task. By the end of the session some of us had green fingers in the true sense of the word and at least one of us is pretending green hair streaks are the new fashion but all in all we were pleased with what we had accomplished.

There's nothing like a 3+hrs walk in the first days of 2021 to spot if there are any flowers, suprisingly there are! Mixed results from those who helped to 'hunt' for plants for the British Botanical Society - some found blooms, others not but regardless everyone enjoyed their time in nature!

On a surprisingly sunny Sunday afternoon, Julia and I met up in busy Fairlop Waters. The combination of sun and lockdown meant everyone was out enjoying a walk in their local park.

The outdoor benches were full, mountain bikers cycling in the grass, runners out on the gravel paths, and GoodGymmers in the muddy forest litterpicking.

Despite litter-free paths we were able to fill 2 entire black bags! Dirty nappies, glass bottles, cigarette butts, crisp packets, chocolate wrappers, aluminium cans: all the usual suspects for two experienced GoodGymmers.

Come and join us on the next one!

Another beautiful Saturday morning for the GoodGym Redbridge good-doers to meet at Barkingside Rec Grounds for some litter picking, socially distanced chat and a cake birthday picnic for Peter!

EVERYONE took environmentally friendly way to get to the meeting place by running, walking, cycling and taking a bus!!! Way to go legends!

We joined the team of park rangers, local councillors and a couple of local residents to get brand new pickers and jackets - all thoroughly cleaned by generous amount of anti-bacterial gel before and after - can't be too careful!

After an hour of litter picking and a team photo, the group celebrated Peter's birthday with a cake, kindly brought over by Linda - fantastic fuel for our a jog/walk to Clayhall Park and back! :) Great effort everyone!

On a damp January evening, TEN of Goodgym's bestest runners met for plog-wars and ran between 3km and 5km in the process. Nice work squad.

It was a night of celebration and commiserations. In the celebration camp, there was a huge cheer for James for smashing parkrun on Saturday and joining the sub-30 crew. It was a massive high-5 for Linda who in less than a year has done 50 tasks and earned the coveted black Goodgym tee and a well done to Dharmesh for enduring 13 laps of the London Velopark to run his first half marathon this year - and he even did it with a niggling injury. Sadly, we also had to say goodbye (for now) to who is traveling around South America for four months - though she promises to take photos in amazing places with her GG tee on. If that wasnt enough we also got to welcome GG champ Latoya who made the journey over from North London to run with us for the first time!

Back to the night in hand, it was battle of the bins. Or maybe battle of the stuff that didn't make the bins to be more precise. Armed with litter pickers and gloves the group split into two teams - a run/walk group and a running group. The mission was to head out into the streets of Wanstead to see who could collect most rubbish - the run/walk group would have more time to look for rubbish but the run group would cover more ground. Who would collect the most rubbish? The challenge was on!

With the 'Queen of GG Redbridge' - aka Linda - leading one group and Run Leader Peter leading the other, the two teams were soon off up the road collecting all the rubbish that misses the bins and ends up in hedgerows, bushes and parks. The challenge was to collect as much litter as possible and return to George Green by 8:15.

Peter's team headed one way and Linda's team another and within an hour an incredible amount of rubbish had been collected. It's amazing what the groups found - too many crisp packets, supermarket receipts and plastic bottles was the general conclusion - and an eye opener as to the general waste that gets discarded on a daily basis.

Back at George Green the two groups compared their windfalls and declared it a draw - the only real winners were the people who live in Wanstead who now have a cleaner, nicer place to live. Great work squad!

In other news, we're just 3 tasks away from matching last year's January Challenge. There's still time left to crush some tasks so make sure you check out the events page and get some runs done before Friday!