A very warm welcome to our new runners Gabriel and Gareth last night — great to have you along for your first GG Wandsworth session!

We started with our usual warm-up, plus the random question of the evening:What is the only dog that doesn’t have a pink tongue? The answer of course was the Chow Chow, whose tongue is famously blue-black. Now fully warmed up — and considerably more knowledgeable about canine anatomy — we set off towards Battersea Park for a rather special visit.

First stop on the magical mystery tour was the Thrive Garden, where we picked up our tools before heading deeper into the park to visit the Battersea Park's resident monk. The famous Peace Pagoda was built in 1985 by the Nipponzan Myohoji Buddhist Order as a focus for peace and is one of around 80 such pagodas around the world. Reverend Gyoro Nagase helped construct the Battersea Pagoda and maintains it to this day.

Our mission for the evening was to give his garden a good tidy up. Armed with rakes, bags and plenty of muscle, the team got stuck in. Leaves were raked up and packed away — despite the bag having a significant hole in it which provided an unexpected extra challenge as we attempted to transport the leaves without simply redistributing them across the park!

There was weeding and clearing to be done, along with planting a new salvia bush. Before long the area was looking considerably tidier. The monk came out to thank us and was clearly very happy with the transformation — always a lovely way to finish a task.

But we weren't done for the evening. We squeezed in a two-minute fitness challenge, seeing how many reps of jump squats, shoulder taps and plank jacks. The numbers and form were very impressive! Well done everybody.

Tools returned, it was time to head back to base for some stretches and, of course, that hill. And apparently we didn't suffer enough, because there was even a request for more hill sprints! Ask and you will receive - more sprints are coming soon to a hill near you.

Next week…

We're heading to Doddington community garden followed by our monthly pub quiz social! Everyone is welcome — whether you're joining us for the run, the task, the quiz or all three!

See you there! 🏃‍♂️🌿🍻

Last night we kicked things off with a proper warm-up to get the legs moving, paired with our weekly question: What town has the longest name in the UK? The answer, of course, is Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch—a staggering 58 letters long, and a test for anyone attempting to pronounce it mid-lunge!

Warmed up and ready for action, we set off on our run to Larkhall Park. Returning to this green space regularly is so helpful for the local community; keeping a public park safe, clean, and well-maintained means families, runners, and neighbours always have a welcoming place to reset, play, and connect with nature.

We met up with the rest of the team and split into two groups to tackle the tasks at hand. One group got stuck into weeding the overgrown cracks along the pathways, while the other took on a thorough litter pick across the grounds.

It’s always amazing to see how much of a difference a focused group can make in such a short window of time. By the time we finished, the park was noticeably tidier and more cared for—removing litter means fewer environmental pollutants making their way into local soil and wildlife habitats, making the space safer for everyone.

To wrap up all that hard work, we celebrated with a fiery five-minute core blast. It was definitely tough but effective!

A massive well done to everybody who came along and brought all the energy.

Next week on Monday, we're off to a very special place in Battersea Park—you can sign up and find all the details right here:. See you there!

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

Last night saw GoodGym Wandsworth head out to a brand new task at York Gardens Children’s Centre in Battersea.

We kicked things off, as usual, with a warm up and a quiz question : how many “las” are there before Kylie sings “I can’t get you out of my head”? Three people knew the answer (32, if you're wondering!) — and with Kylie now firmly lodged in everyone’s heads, we set off towards York Road.

York Gardens Children’s Centre is an important local resource for families, offering a welcoming place for young children and their parents and carers to play, learn and get support. The centre provides activities and advice for families, alongside services such as health visiting and family support.

We were met by Toni, who explained that they were preparing for an open day and wanted the centre looking its absolute best. So we got stuck in. There was sweeping, weeding, clearing and generally attacking anything that looked untidy. It was hot, the ground was parched but everyone put in maximum effort.

The result was well worth it: a fantastic before-and-after transformation. The centre is now looking much smarter and ready to welcome the children, families and other users.

Then it was time for our fitness session. This week’s challenge was partner-based: work together for a minute, with the aim of increasing the number of exercises by one rep each time. It was hard work, requiring plenty of effort, encouragement and even some tactical play.

After that, we headed back to base for a well-earned stretch. Next week brings another brand-new task, this time at the Yvonne Carr Centre, where we’ll be getting stuck into more tidying and improving the local community space.

We’ll also be celebrating a special GoodGym milestone! Expect an impromptu pub quiz and half price off food at The Latchmere. Come and join us — the more the merrier!