On a very warm and barmy evening, nine GoodGymers made their way (gently) to Hervey Road Sports Ground. Some ran (slowly in the heat), while others walked. We all panted breathlessly and wondered if we would ever feel a gentle breeze again…

When we arrived at the sports ground community garden, we were greeted by James, the son of Anne, who is behind the Hervey Road Sports Ground gardening project. Poor Anne has broken her wrist, so James (who had even cut short his holiday!) stepped in to brief us in her place. Thank you, James, and get well soon, Anne!

Over the last few years, GoodGym has regularly helped with the annual lavender planting around the border of the car park. This time, GoodGym was replacing some of the lavender plants that hadn't survived with 27 fresh new ones.

After some clear instructions from James, we all set about watering, digging holes, adding soil and planting the lavender. Before long, the wonderful fragrance of lavender filled the car park. There was just enough time for a final group photo before we sauntered home in the now cooler evening light, leaving behind a little more L❤️vendar than we'd arrived with.

Title by @Aman

The cheers received by 9 good-gymers were great to hear as we made our way to this evening's task meeting point. (Although apparently said cheers were in fact not intended for us, rather for some football players...?)

A quick warm up & ice-breaker discussing favourite sports and we made our way uphill to Dee's Childcare, where a rather exciting challenge awaited us, involving "base camp" in the nursery garden, an ambitious project where the children plan to dug a tunnel to New Zealand. Our task was to help with the aesthetics though, and soon we were moving, arranging & stabilising logs around the tunnel entrance so lots more digging can be done.

Our next task took us to the big screen, this time showing Forest Dump, as we tackled the weeds in an overgrown, fenced off area, clearing multiple bags of vegetation.

Task complete & Stump duty paid! Thanks all & see you soon! ⭐

In a welcome respite from the intense heat of the last week Good Gym arrived at Woolwich Common for the monthly litter pick. I'm never quite sure if a good litter picks means lots of bags full of rubbish or the slim pickings that renew your faith in humanity a bit more. Today was more of the latter with most of us returning with relatively empty bags after an hour. The returns included the usual array of trash but todays highlights were some monopoly money and the longest tape measure your author has ever seen.

A stormy end to a record-breakingly hot week cleared the air a little for today's GoodGym-ers attending a community mission at the Blue Cross Pet Cemetery in Charlton. We met the team and were soon sweeping the tiles, watering the flowerbeds & lopping back overgrown hedges under careful scrutiny from Otis the dog. There's always something to be getting on with in this area, and with much chatter, our time passed by like a flash of last night's lightning 🌩

Despite the storm, the sun was back out in full force, so regular hydration breaks were needed (unlike the football games, without messages from our sponsors). Job done, a group photo was called for before moving on to our respective Saturday plans.

Thanks all! ☀️

Three GoodGymers, Three Parkruns, One Scorching Saturday!

The sunshine certainly turned up the heat again this morning, but that didn’t stop three dedicated GoodGymers from keeping up our favourite Saturday routine—running and volunteering at our local parkruns.

Cecilia headed to Charlton parkrun, squeezing in a run before taking on barcode scanning duties to help process the finishers. A perfect example of combining fitness with volunteering!

Meanwhile, Ivar volunteered at Sutcliffe parkrun, helping to make sure another fantastic event ran smoothly. A few people needed some extra encouragement today since the humidity and temperature was ruthless. “Awful” was the word used by several of the runners.

Over at Greenwich Peninsula parkrun, Aman was also flying the GoodGym flag, supporting another brilliant community event and helping hundreds of runners enjoy their Saturday morning.

Despite the scorching conditions, volunteers, runners and walkers all showed incredible spirit. It’s always inspiring to see communities come together, whether you’re chasing a PB, taking it easy, or giving your time to make parkrun happen.

Three different parkruns, one shared GoodGym mission: getting active, giving back and starting the weekend the best way possible.

Well done to everyone who ran, volunteered and remembered to drink plenty of water. Here’s to another Saturday well spent!

Till next time. Cecilia D🍀