One task, double the impact! Tonight 12 GoodGymers carried bin bags of leaves from Christchurch Gardens to Doddington Roof Gardens, proving that one person's trash really is another person's treasure. GoodGym Wandsworth collected the leaves into bags at a previous task, to help keep the church garden, clean, safe and accessible. But rather than see those bags head to landfill, the quick thinking team arranged to carry them a mile down Battersea Park Road and hand deliver them to Chief Gardener Melissa at Doddington Roof Gardens. In their new home, the leaves will be tossed on the compost heap and turned into nutritious mulch to fuel another year of gorgeous garden growth.

We also welcomed Rosie to her first ever GoodGym session and the lovely late summer sun tempted Carol, Andy and Jamie back too! It was great to meet them and to share not one, but two of the local community spaces we have worked with in the past year.

After the task the team took on a 5 minute fitness relay, with two teams going head-to-head in sprints, jumping jacks, plank holds, squats and high knees, to get the heart rate up, test our strength and even have a bit of fun in the meantime. Then it was onto the pub quiz for our monthly social (delayed by one week). Not everyone could stick around this month, but the 6 Salt & Shakers who stayed came a respectable 3rd - no cash prizes for the garden this time, but a good time was had and we all left with a hankering for old-school crisps with names that alliterate (Hula-Hoops, French Fries, Monster Munch...)

It was a double header of a Monday group session last night - just the thing to ward off any lingering January vibes!

We also got to welcome Andy to his first run - great to have you join us. To put us in the right frame of mind to kick off the evening, we did a dynamic warm up and then each shared one thing that cheers us up. Running came up top, as did going to the garden centre, playing with the dogs, and coming to GoodGym. What a wholesome bunch we are!

We set off in the drizzle, weaving our way round the Clapham commuters, and eventually arriving at Age UK Wandsworth for our first task of the evening. With Sophie leading the group, the first job was to drop off old magazines so the service users can repurpose them into art projects. Kudos to Steph for her very classy choice of reading material!

While the team got on with planting bulbs in the raised beds with old spoons as their tool of choice for the evening, as well as clearing leaves in the car park, the rest of us ran down to Bramford Garden. Our job was to help Shah, the community gardener, get rid of a massive piece of graffiti that appeared recently. Shah has been working on it singlehandedly for a while, but the sheer scale of it was too big for one person so she called in reinforcements.

We each grabbed a wire brush and gloves, and got stuck in. It was hard going but satisfying work. Certain colours were strangely harder to remove than others, but with some serious elbow grease we slowly got there -with Pritesh even making sparks fly!

With not one but two tasks successfully completed and the rain threatening to come down even harder, we hit the road. But don't worry, there is plenty more GGing to look forward to! There is this task tonight helping out an environmental clothes store packing up their sale - and it's a nice toasty inside job! Or why not help Jason and his team build tree protectors - the perfect way to kick off the weekend.

What a fantastic way to close out our year of GoodGym runs! This evening’s mission marked our last run of 2024, but not to worry, if you’re itching for some GoodGym action next week, I’m happy to set up a community mission on Monday—just let me know!

We started with a warm-up and the all-important question of the week: Should we retire the question of the week? I was expecting a mixed reaction from some of us thinking it was a fun tradition but it was time to draw it to a close, and others wanting to see it continue into 2025. Unexpectedly the result was unanimous - question of the week is here to stay! (But we might start taking it in turns...)

It was also fantastic to welcome Jack for his very first GoodGym session! Hope you enjoyed it, Jack, and we look forward to seeing you again soon.

Our task tonight took us to the Gwynneth Morgan Day Centre, a vital local hub supporting older residents of Wandsworth. Age UK Wandsworth provides this space for social interaction, activities, and vital services to improve the quality of life for the elderly. It’s wonderful to be part of a project that gives back to the community in such a meaningful way.

Our jobs for the evening were varied. We started with washing buses, ensuring they were sparkling clean and ready for action. Next, we attempted to fix and move a planter (a tricky job with a bit of a fight back from the planter itself!), and we finished off with some leaf clearing, making sure the area around the center was tidy and welcoming. There’s always plenty to do, and we were glad to be part of it.

A huge thanks to Frank for the thoughtful gift of chocolate, which definitely fueled our run and work! We were also pleased to see GoodGym Wandsworth included in the Age UK Wandsworth annual report—a lovely reminder of our visits. And of course, there are always more jobs to do—so we'll be back in 2025!

Before we headed off, we enjoyed a fitness session featuring Tabata, which was intense but at least kept us warm. We even finally figured out how to correctly pronounce “Tabata”—you’d be surprised how long its taken me!

Finally, don’t forget to RSVP to the GoodGym Wandsworth Christmas Party on Thursday, December 12th! It’s going to be a great time, and we’d love to see you there. Details here - and rest assured there is no pressure to sing, we welcome spectators and performers alike!

That’s a wrap for 2024. Can't wait to see you all next year—stay active and keep spreading the good vibes!