GoodGym Lambeth Run Report: Operation Soggy Spruce-Up! 🌧️💪

What a turnout! Despite Mother Nature’s best efforts to rain on our parade (literally), our incredible crew showed up in drench-force! 🌊 Everyone arrived looking like they’d already done a charity swim, but that didn’t dampen our spirits one bit!

*The Mission: Time to give our beloved base at Papa’s Park some serious TLC. *

We weeded out the competition (literally - those pesky plants didn’t stand a chance!), gave the place a good litter pick, and showed those railings what elbow grease really means. They’re now so clean you could eat your dinner off them… though we don’t recommend it! 🍽️✨

The Result: Those railings are absolutely railing it now - shinier than a new penny and gleaming with pride! ❤️ Papa’s Park is looking park-ticularly magnificent thanks to our green-thumbed heroes.

The Vibes: Despite being absolutely soaked to the bone, the chat was flowing faster than the rainwater, and the energy was absolutely TOP TIER! 💪🏼🍾 Nothing says team bonding quite like squelching around together in soggy trainers, am I right?

Proof that GoodGym Lambeth doesn’t let a little (okay, a LOT of) rain stop us from making our community bloom! 🌱🌟​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

At GoodGym Wandsworth we have a lot in common with the Scouts. We're resourceful, especially when we have a task with a lack of tools (anyone remember emptying an Olympic size sand pit with kids' spades?). We're always prepared (usually with baked goods). We even have our own set of badges.

So we were more than ready to go and lend a hand at Battersea Scout Hut last night,especially as it was a toasty inside task.

We started off with some warm ups and, inspired by the Winter Olympics, and a guess at which country historically has performed best. Well done to all of those who said Norway! A small but mighty winter warrior.

We had time for a little extra mileage to warm ourselves up, so set off on a scenic route to the Scout hall, arriving a little while later to find Scout master Peter waiting for us.There was plenty to do to keep the hall safe,welcoming and clean for local users. We wiped walls, hoovered carpets, gleamed taps, washed skirting boards and cleaned away handprints. Great job everybody, the place was sparkling by the time we were done.

We wanted to take advantage of a lovely inside space, so moved upstairs to the function room for our fitness session which last night was all about core values. We did plank jumps, corkscrews, hollow holds, dead bugs and more to help build those abs of steel.

Next week we are back at Larkhall park to help with various jobs at this lovely park, and we will be celebrating Pancake day with a social afterwards at the local Wetherspoons with - pancakes! All welcome.

This weekend there is also the opportunity to prep and deliver hot food to vulnerable families and the week after a great community mission at Unigate woods. Help spread the GG love this February!

There was so much to celebrate on a sunny Saturday morning in Battersea, including

• A double birthday celebration, with both task owner and Doddington community garden lead volunteer Malissa and GG Wandsworth's Felix both marking a very special occasion!

• Ali reaching a huge milestone - 100 good deeds! That's such a huge amount of community impact, commitment and positivity spread throughout Wandsworth. Way to go Ali!

• Welcoming Armin to his very first GoodGym session - lovely to have you join us!

There was lots to get done, including sorting pots, digging up grass, snipping strawberries, sweeping leaves and replanting Japanese anemone - so we grabbed tools and got down to business!

After an hour of hard work the garden was looking a lot tidier and the Doddington team were pleased with everything we got done. All that was left to do was celebrate with cake and then on to a coffee nearby! Well done everybody, what a way to kick off the weekend.

GoodGym Lambeth Run Report: Chip Happens! 🏃‍♀️🌳 What a woody wonderful evening at Agnes Riley Gardens! Our magnificent crew showed up ready to get down and dirty (literally) with the Friends of the Park, and boy did we mulch things happen! 💪🏼

The Dream Team Our usual legends Jo, Fi, Tilly, and Ben were firing on all cylinders, and we were absolutely thrilled to welcome back the long-lost Marie-Noelle! We’d really pined for her return! 🌲

The Mission Armed with shovels, wheelbarrows, and questionable dance moves, we tackled two timber-rific tasks: ∙ Shifting mountains of wood chip onto the mud kitchen (because every tiny chef deserves a splinter-free workspace 👨‍🍳) ∙ Levelling ground for a new bench (future bottoms will thank us!) The Work There was shovelling. There was barrowing. There was laying. There was soil-turning. Basically, we were one wheelbarrow away from starting our own landscaping empire. You could say we really barked up the right tree with this one! 🎯

The Grand Finale What’s a GoodGym session without totally embarrassing ourselves? We wrapped up with a spontaneous Cha Cha Slide on our freshly laid wood chip dance floor. Slide to the left? ✅ Criss cross? ✅ Charlie Brown? Absolutely! 💃🕺

Same time next week, legends? 🍾✨​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

**GoodGym Lambeth Run Report 🏃‍♀️

**When Life Gives You Manure, Make… Well, Compost! 💩➡️🌱

What a night at Brixton Waterworks allotments! We had a plot twist (see what we did there? 🌿) with a late session change, but that just meant we got to meet the absolute legend that is Jane - who at just shy of 90 is still out there gardening when the sun goes down. Talk about growing old gracefully! 🌙👵💪

**The Leadership Shovelshuffle

With AA Yianny stuck crawling down the motorway (probably behind someone doing 20mph in a Fiat Panda), our superhero Fi stepped up to lead the troops. She really rose to the occasion - unlike Yianny’s speedometer! 🦸‍♀️🚗💨

**Getting Down and Dirty

The crew got stuck in with: ∙ 💪 Shovelling manure (proof that we’re not afraid of a crappy situation!) ∙ 🚜 Barrowing it about (wheely hard work!) ∙ 🍎 Apple picking for those nursing dodgy backs (the core of our operation) ∙ 🪓 Clearing Jane’s plot of chopped trees (we really branched out!)

**The Results

By the end, we’d shifted an enormous amount of green waste 🌲🌲🌲 - enough to make even the compost heap jealous!

Big thanks to Annick and Jane for having us. We had a growing good time! 🌱😄

Remember: We came, we sawed, we mulched! 🎉​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​