Our task last night was a local nursery for under-fives, a fantastic facility that provides outdoor spaces to enhance the children's learning experience. There was plenty to do, and not much time to do it - so after a few stretches and a quiz question featuring the iconic golden arches (which Lorna nailed on her very first group run!) we set off for Balham.

A massive special welcome to Andreas and trivia master Lorna, who joined us for their first GoodGym experience last night, and a welcome back to Harriet. It was absolutely great to have you all with us, and we hope to see you for many more.

We divided and conquered to tackle all the jobs. One team repainted the benches in bright, vibrant colours to cheer up the welcome area, while another transformed the outdoor chalkboard to give the kids a fresh surface for their creations. We also cleared out the mud kitchen, sorted out the flower beds, cut back overgrown trees and bushes to reclaim the pathways, and took down the last of the summer bunting. The latter wasn't quite as straightforward as it first looked, taking the collective detangling skills of Robyn, Pritesh, Lorna and Beth to release the material. If you were watching at just the right moment you may have caught Beth speeding down the slide in a moment of post-bunting glory. And it was great to see Jason debut his brand new 100 tshirt!

Natasha, the head of the nursery, was thrilled with the transformation. She let us know that our evening of hard work saved the nursery loads of time and money, allowing them to focus resources directly on the children.

With the autumn nights drawing in we made a quick dash to Clapham Common for the fitness element of the night. We tackled a fitness blast specifically focusing on three different muscle groups. Everybody showed great form as we worked through arms, core and glutes before heading back to base for some thorough stretches.

Up next:this Wednesday we have a lovely evening mission over in Roehampton, helping to build raised beds for a fantastic local food-sharing initiative. For next Monday, I am just waiting to confirm the final details for our task—keep an eye on the website sign-up page. Great work everybody, see you at the next one!

It was our monthly trip back to Doddington last night. This former multistorey car park has been transformed into a thriving community garden, providing a valuable growing space for local people who might not otherwise have access to a garden of their own. We also had some very special reasons to celebrate: a huge congratulations to Jason on his 100th Good Deed! 🎉 And a very happy 30th birthday to Annabel! 🎂

We kicked things off with a warm-up and the evening's quiz question: how many dimples are there on a golf ball? There was some doubt over the answer, but I'll leave you to decide whether to trust the quizmaster…

We arrived to find a whole host of jobs waiting for us: clearing mallow and teasels, laying down cardboard and mulch, shifting mulch into the raised beds and transporting soil. Before too long everyone was busy getting stuck in. 💪🌱

There was also an added incentive for the evening: whoever collected the most teasels would win the famous Tromboncino!

But what exactly is a Tromboncino? This wonderfully weird looking vegetable is a variety of butternut squash which is used like a courgette — and if you leave it to mature, it can grow into a long, curved, trombone-shaped fruit of up to around a metre!

Once we'd done our bit at the garden, it was time to head down to the square for some fitness. This week's challenge was 130-themed: working in pairs, we had to complete a series of exercises which cumulatively added up to 130. Plenty of counting, plenty of reps and plenty of teamwork. Congratulations to Katie and Catherine, who completed the challenge first! 🏆

Then, of course, it was time for cake and the grand presentation of the Tromboncino. After her impressive teasel-gathering efforts, the prize went to Annabel — who immediately demonstrated the true versatility of this magnificent vegetable by wearing it as a rather beautiful neckpiece at the pub quiz. 🥒✨

A brilliant evening of community gardening, celebrations, questionable golf-ball trivia, fitness, cake and vegetable couture.

Huge congratulations again to Jason for this huge milestone - 100 good deeds shows massive commitment, energy and effort which has had an unquantifiable positive impact.

Next week... We're off to Balham Nursery to help with some jobs. You can sign up here

A big GoodGym Wandsworth welcome to Alice, who joined us for her first group run last night! 🎉 We hope you enjoyed your first session with us — although perhaps we should have warned you that it sometimes means shifting a truly ridiculous amount of mulch…

We started with a warm-up and a question about the quietest place on earth before heading out on our run down to Doddington. Once there, we were faced with a big challenge. The council had kindly donated a huge — absolutely massive — pile of mulch, but unfortunately it had been dumped in a spot that blocked access to the bins, a parking space and an entrance to the estate. So the priority was clear: move it, and as quickly as possible.

We grabbed whatever we could find that had a viable cavity — tubs, bags, boxes, buckets and anything else capable of holding mulch — and got shifting.

What followed was the ultimate full-body workout. No separate fitness session required! Legs were getting a workout carrying loads up the stairs, arms were doing the heavy lifting, and our cores were working overtime to keep everything stable as we hauled mulch up the stairs.

And we really did move mountains. By the end of the session we had transported at least half of the enormous pile. At times it felt like we weren't making much of a dent, but take a look at the before-and-after photos and you'll see just how much we achieved. 💪🌱

A massive well done to everyone who got stuck in. Next week is a bank holiday, so we'll be switching things up with a lunchtime session. Exactly what we're doing is still to be confirmed, so watch this space! 😉