The sun was shining, the fountains were flowing, and the litter was just begging to be picked. So two intrepid goodgymers descended on the beautiful Agnes Riley park in Clapham, grabbed their litter pickers and bin bags, and filled them to brim with waste.

On our last trip to Agnes Riley, we helped mulch the newly planted hedge whips in the community garden, so it was lovely to see how much they've grown since then.

It was also great to speak with local residents who were delighted by all the developments in the park recently, and were grateful for our efforts.

What better way to kick off the monthly social than with a sweeping success? 🌟 A magnificent seven — Fi, Adam, Michael, Ben, Nicole, Katie, and Jo — descended on Holy Trinity, ready to make the orchard garden the belle of the bower. 💪🏼🍾

With Nicole, Adam, and Naomi on home turf to lead the charge, the crew got straight down to business in the orchard garden, where weeds had been living rent-free for far too long. 🌿😤 Hoes were wielded, scrapers were scraped, brooms were swept with panache, and bags were filled with the kind of righteous fury only a GoodGym volunteer can muster. Under new management: this garden. 🏡✨

It’s fair to say the team made a clean sweep of the place — leaving paths cleared, beds tidied, and the whole space looking absolutely broom-tiful. 😱🤩 Some might say it was a brush with perfection. We couldn’t possibly comment. 🧹

The orchard didn’t know what hit it — and by the end, neither did the weeds. Gone. Bagged. Swept under the rug of history. 🪣🌸

After all that hard graft, the monthly social awaited — and frankly, no one had ever earned a drink more. 🥂❤️

Big love to Nicole, Adam, and Naomi for having us, and to the whole crew for showing up and showing out. Until next time, Lambeth — stay sweeping. 🧹💚

What a Tuesday! The GoodGym Lambeth crew descended on the Woodlawns Centre armed with rakes, good vibes, and apparently a keen eye for unexpected discoveries. 👀

Fi, Ben, Patrick (welcome back, stranger! 🎉) and the fully-restored Adam — back to his best like a freshly serviced lawnmower — showed up ready to make a difference for The Lunch Club Streatham, who use Woodlawns for half their service days. ❤️

These are the people feeding the community, so the least we could do was make sure their garden isn’t a leafy, twiggy obstacle course.

And boy, did we deliver. We’re talking many. MANY. bags of leaves — composted, not binned, because we’re environmentally virtuous like that 🌱.

Litter was picked. Twigs were sorted (yes, twig sorting is a skill and yes, we have it). The pathway was cleared to a standard that would make a Chelsea Flower Show judge weep with joy. 😭🌸

But the highlight? Nestled amongst the foliage like a peculiar nature reserve exhibit: one twin pack of unopened condoms. 😱 We will not speculate. We will simply note that the garden is clearly a space full of life and possibility. 🤩

The Woodlawns garden is now ready for everyone to enjoy — which is the whole point, isn’t it? Community spaces, cared for by communities. That’s what we’re about. 💪🏼🍾

Big love to Fi, Adam, Ben and Patrick for getting stuck in. Same time next week? 🏃​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

What a night! GoodGym Lambeth were back out in force for one of our favourite combos: a proper graft followed by a proper social.

The dream team of Fi, Ben, Katie, Tilly, Michael, Jo, task owner Nicole, and the brilliant Naomi from HTC assembled, ready to take on whatever the evening threw at them. 💪🏼

(A special shoutout to Adam, who had to pull out with an injury before the fun began — wishing you a speedy recovery, mate! We’ll keep a weed-pulling glove warm for you. 🧤)

The Task: Holy Weed-moley 🌱😤 Tonight’s mission took us to the vicarage, where the garden had clearly been taking its vows a little too seriously — specifically the vow of uncontrolled growth. We’re talking weeds. Weeds upon weeds. A veritable congregation of weeds. If weeds could form a church, this would’ve been their cathedral. 🌿⛪

Our lot got stuck in with the kind of righteous enthusiasm that frankly the clergy would approve of. Pulling, digging, bagging — the whole holy trinity of garden clearance. By the time we were done, the vicar could actually see the garden again. We didn’t quite part the sea of greenery, but we gave it a very good go. Check out the pics for proof! ❤️📸

The Social: What Do You Meme? (More Like What Do You SCREAM) 😱🤩 Post-weeding, the team descended on the Tulse Hill Hotel for the monthly social, where What Do You Meme? was unleashed upon an unsuspecting group of tired volunteers. Reader, it did not stay innocent for long.

Michael appeared to have some kind of mystical connection to the card deck, pulling out banger after banger like a comedy magician. 🪄 Tilly, meanwhile, finally — finally — broke her duck and claimed a well-deserved round win (the crowd went appropriately wild 🎉). Nicole made a late surge to the finish with all the energy of someone who’d spent the evening battling overgrown weeds and still had gas in the tank.

As for the female sanitary products, we have agreed collectively to never speak of this again.... An absolutely brilliant evening all round. Weeds vanquished, memes survived, community strengthened. This is what GoodGym Lambeth is all about. 🏃‍♀️💚

See you next time — and Adam, get well soon! 🙏​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ You had to be there. On reflection, perhaps it’s better that you weren’t. 🫣

�​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​