We spent a lovely morning getting into the Christmas spirit at St Saviour's! There was a lot to do to turn the church into a winter wonderland fit for their carol service but we set to work to pull off a Christmas miracle. Our group of elves set up (and untangled!) six sets of hanging lights, swept up eleven bags of leaves from outside, sorted and decorated two Christmas trees and made sure every surface was looking fabulous with cloths, nets and candles galore. Special shout out to Letizia who took on the task of brightening up the scaffolding and to Jordan and Felix for patiently stringing five hundred lights back and forth.

It will be a wonderful event for the community and will hopefully get everyone feeling festive. It was great to welcome Tom to his first festive group task and to see everyone else ahead of our last task of the year on Monday winding up another fantastic year of doing so much good!

Yesterday evening GoodGym Wandsworth gathered at Mary Magdalen Catholic Church to help Age UK Wandsworth spread a little festive joy at their annual carol concert. With doors opening to a bustling flow of guests, the team quickly swung into action.

Sharlie and Jessie braved the cold and guided people to the right door with warm smiles — and in Jessie’s case, a fantastically festive (and slightly ridiculous) gingerbread-man hat that brought instant cheer to everyone!

Inside the church, Ana and Alicia were on hand to support guests as they found their seats, helping people up the stairs and temporary access ramps.

Once the carols began, the festive spirit truly took hold. The whole team joined in the singing with impressive enthusiasm — proving that GoodGymmers are not only helpful but fully committed to the Christmas vibe. The audience were also treated to a wonderful performance by Unity Voices choir!

At the end of the service, Ali, Tracey, and Alicia helped to collect donations with charm and good humour, before guiding guests to the kitchen for festive refreshments. Everyone rolled up their sleeves to serve mince pies and mulled wine, making sure each guest felt looked after and welcome.

It was a lovely way to embrace the season of giving and it was especially great to welcome Alicia, Jessie and Sharlie to their first GoodGym task! Age UK’s service users left with full of Christmas spirt (and mince pies!) and the GoodGym team left glowing from a task well done!

On a wet Monday night in Wandsworth we bought the festive cheer, beginning with a warm up and a survey about Christmas films - do they make you ho ho ho or are they just about as fun as an over boiled brussel sprout? The grinches just lost out in the votes, and the verdict is in - Christmas movies are here to stay!

It was great to see some new faces along to our run - a huge welcome to Emma and Giulio who came along to their very first session. Give them a big festive cheer!

Our job for the evenings was at Larkhall park, a regular location for GoodGym visits. Every time we come we work hard on various spots throughout the park alongside the regular volunteers who help keep it a safe and welcoming green space for local people.

Last night we divided into two groups. The first team was to tackle the big bed at the entrance of the park, the second went off to help shift a massive pile of soil and to clear an area of leaves.

Before long it was action stations and everybody was hard at work. Jordan and Felix took on the massive soil shifting challenge, while Jason debuted his fabulous new invention - the spade light. Quick, somebody get it patented. It only took 40 minutes for us to make a big difference and the Friends of Larkhall Park group appreciated how much got done. Well done team!

The fun didn't stop there though - there was just enough time to squeeze in a circuits based fitness station in the playground. It featured squats, ladder runs, curtsy lunges and plenty of laughs.

Next week it's our final group run of 2026. I'm just finalising the task, so keep an eye out for the sign up page. We'll follow this with a social at a local pub - time to get those vocal chords warmed up!

There are plenty of opportunities to spread the Christmas joy this week, including:

• Helping collect donations and other jobs at Battersea's oldest church tonight. We really need a couple more volunteers for this - and you will be rewarded by celebrity speakers and mulled wine!

• Supporting a carol concert for the elderly on Thursday

• Putting up Christmas decorations at a church in Battersea on Saturday morning

For our first run of the month, and with the countdown to Christmas well and truly underway, we were back at the beautiful Doddington roof garden.

To kick off the night we welcomed Salaheddine to his first session - lovely to meet you Salaheddine and great having you join us last night!

We did a warm up and discussed our favourite Christmas songs, which ranged from Jingle Bells (in multiple languages) to East 17's classic, Stay. A very diverse mix of festive bangers!

We ran down to the task, stopping to check out one of the tasks for the evening - a massive tonne bag of soil that was looking for a good home! With our eyes on the prize we carried on to the garden, where half the group grabbed tools and went back for the soil, and the other half got on with jobs on site.

While Sophie, Salaheddine, Jordan, Johnnie and Jason tackled the composting and path digging at the roof garden, Catherine, Felix, Matthew, Annabel, Letizia, Steph and Beth were busy digging soil into tugs and wheelbarrows before transporting the heavy mud the kilometer back to Doddington - talk about a good workout! Great to see that the soil - which turned out to be fantastic quality - was put to good use rather than being wasted.

After all that hard work it was almost time to wrap up - but not before a fitness session which really tested our lower body. Featuring pogos, curtsy lunges, squats and jacks we did a five minute finisher which challenged those leg muscles! Great work everybody.

Half of us ran back for stretches while the other half successfully represented GoodGym at the quiz - a job well done all round.

I mentioned a lovely mission happening next Tuesday at the oldest church in Battersea. If you fancy a night helping out at this beautiful location raising funds for the brilliant Katherine Lowe Settlement then please sign up here.