Ending our first visit to Penge Congregational Church, Jonny showed us a storage area that was full of rubbish needing clearing. This week’s session was our first go at disposing of the various artefacts there so it could be brought back into use. With Jonny picking out the rubbish, the GoodGym crew carried it through to a disused hall where it can be later carried out to a skip for disposal. The team tussled with some big items including pool tables, stage props and filing cabinets! We’ll be back to the church again to finish off the job, but we’ve already made a huge difference in opening up some floor space!

Paul and Adi were picking up debris in Lewisham this weekend. Adi was in Sydenham's Mayow Park where squirrels and/or foxes had been foraging in bins and had made rather a mess in the gloom. Paul was in Deptford's Brookmill Park where the large amount of brambles and nettles had been strimmed in places exposing dozens if beer cans and bottles. Quite of lot of the invasive Himalayan Balsam was removed at the same time.

A small but mighty team from GoodGym Crystal Palace headed over to Alexandra Rec tonight to help out Millie from the Friends of Cator Park and Alexandra Rec.

Our mission? To help prepare the railings around the playground for a fresh coat of paint by removing the old, flaky layers that had seen better days. Armed with wire brushes, safety goggles and plenty of elbow grease, we made decent progress and got a good arm workout in the process. Check out Mark's cool video of the task here!

Thanks to everyone who came out!

Lots of litter picking happened in Lewisham over the weekend.

Adi was making a difference in Sydenham's Mayow Park early on Saturday morning and managed to take a lovely photograph of a young fox at the same time.

Paul went backwards in Deptford's Brookmill Park late on Saturday afternoon, starting at the point he usually finishes. It took a bit longer than his normal Friday morning picks as he was stopped by several park users, getting positive feedback and he explained about who GoodGym are, and what we do. There was more litter this week as one of the secluded drinking spots was full of bottles and cans.