17 runners ran 6km to tidy up at the Giraffe House Comunity Centre

Southwark News

• This Saturday is the GoodGym Olympics at Parliament Hill Athletics track. If you're not registered for an event come and cheer, eat cake (there's a bake off) and drink beer! If you can't make the day, come join us at the after party at the Vine pub in Highgate from 6pm.

• 15th July is the British 10k and GoodGym are taking over a water aid station! You get a free Virgin race place for volunteering, a hat and a tshirt!

• If you're interested in the Team 100 scheme that Vernon told us about last night - please fill out this form. You can find out more at the reach volunteering website.

That's enough of the business!

17 runners gathered last night at Old Spike Roastery to enjoy a glorious summer evening and some do-gooding. Big shout out to Charlotte, Helen and Jordan who joined us for the first time last night and also Chi who's on a whirlwind GoodGym tour, bringing core sessions and 1km reps to everyone! Thanks Chi!

We split into two groups post warm-up. Beth leading one at party pace and Lucy leading a group wanting to stretch their legs a little. By perfect synchronicity we arrived at exactly the same time by the BMX park in Burgess Park where we met Vernon. The group has helped out Vernon many times but it's my first visit! The site is amazing and whilst there Vernon showed me the Tigers Club House which is in need of a lick of paint from us in a few weeks time. Can't wait! On site we met Franco, a Sicilian chef who's just started volunteering at the Giraffe House. He's currently working on a bed for tomato plants that he will tend with groups of volunteers. Ultimately he wants to set up a kiosk in the park selling his tomato sauce. Sounds like a job for GoodGym!

There was loads to get done last night! We split into three groups:

• Moving scrap wood
• Litter picking/general clear up
• Sifting the new tomato flower bed for stones and unwanted items with chef Franco

30 minutes whizzed by! With all the wood shifted, flower beds mostly sifted (Franco couldn't keep up with you!) and the car park looking super tidy - Chi treated us to a short (but hard!) core session. The session involved planks, bicycles, scissor kicks and more. Cores pleasantly aching, we bid our farewells to Vernon and Franco and headed off.

#GGOlympics2018

Before leaving, we had the opportunity to complete a 1km rep to put on Strava to count towards Southwark's standing in the GoodGym Olympics Nationwide Race. Beth led a group home whilst 6 of us stayed to do our 1km rep. Chi has been doing these on his GoodGym tourism so far and is hoping to get his 1km time down to 03:29. 1km is further than you think it is! Really great running from everyone. Don't forget to hashtag the Strava activity #GGOlympics2018 and link your strava to your GoodGym profile to make it count!

What a gorgeous evening to spend with you all. I was treated to a really beautiful sunset on the way home.

Looking forward to seeing you next week - we're running 3km total to do some gardening at Grove Park Allotments.

Keep running happy! Lucy

15 runners ran 10km to scoop poop and fill the skip at Surrey Docks Farm

** Southwark News**

The GoodGym Olympics is coming! We're looking to get a team together for the GoodGym Relay which involves being velcroed together (it will be absolute wonderful mayhem). PUT THE DATE IN YOUR DIARY - SATURDAY 30TH JUNE AT PARLIAMENT HILL TRACK. You need to make your race choices via this form by 3rd June.

We'd love to spread the GoodGym Southwark word in a local paper/radio station/anything! If you have any ideas in the Southwark area let me know - lucyj@goodgym.org

That's enough of the business...

Huge welcome and hello to the four runners that joined us for the first time last night! Sami, Dan, Sarah and Nichola Give them a cheer :)

Last night was a long one - after a briefing we set off the for 5km (OK, 5.6km...) to Surrey Docks Farm where we were welcomed by Gemma. She was delighted to see so many of us. We split into two groups but not before we wished Hermione the donkey a Happy 12th Birthday:

• One group clearing the goat yard of dropping.
• One group helping fill up skip with scrap metal and tree stumps and all sorts!

We got everything done in 20 mins (hooray!) and had a bit of time to meet their Oxford Sandy and Black pigs. Gemma told us they'd be expecting piglets in the coming months (better go back then eh!) and explained some uncomfortable truths about life as a working farm. The long and short of it is that if they name an animal, it's staying, if they don't name it, it will be used for meat. The meat is then sold at the farm shop. This is literally the most responsible and sustainable way to eat meat. To the farm shop everyone! And whilst you're there you can pick up all the other ingredients for a roast!

Surrey Docks Farm is aways magical to visit. On the way back it was a race between 5 runners on the overground and 10 runners running the 5.6km back. Guess what? The runners won! We'll ignore the fact that they probably had to wait for a train!

A really fantastic run both ways last night, I was impressed at how quickly we covered the distance.

Next week we're flyering all over Southwark for Southwark Refugee Response and Age UK. We need as many hands as possible to shift everything! Sign up here.

Great work team, see you next week!

20 runners ran 6km to weed at Bell House in Dulwich

Hump Day evening! You know what that means... it's GoodGym Southwark! Last night 20 of us gathered at Old Spike Roastery including FIVE (COUNT 'EM) FIVE FIRST TIMERS. Big cheers for Chloe, Caitlin, Frances, Heather and Marisa for coming along, hopefully the first of many good deeds! A big woop also for Bristol legend Debs Redmond who's furthered her GoodGym tourism by coming to see us!

A New Task EEk!

After a briefing and a warm up we set off for the 3k (basically a straight line) to Bell House in Dulwich. Bell House has had many incarnations in its lifetime and now it is an education centre that offers support outside the mainstream curriculum. The house is a centre for educational needs such as dyslexia support and it is entirely volunteer led. They have some great short films on their website about the work they do, have a look!

Weed don't need no education (except the amazing opportunities offered by Bell House)

We arrived at the gorgeous garden and were put to work - Sarah and Tim helped us with what were and were not weeds and we got to work. 20 people can get a lot done in as many minutes! We got really stuck in, enjoying the beautiful environment as we did so (and messing around with sticky willy). When time was up we had two very full wheelbarrows to show for ourselves (see photo). Sarah was thrilled! We thanked our task owners and headed back through gorgeous Dulwich park to base.

Every Saturday at 09.30 Bell House have a volunteer session. As Tim pointed out, it's perfectly timed for just after Dulwich parkrun... and there's coffee and croissants. What more could you ask for on a Saturday!

We got loads done and got a solid 6km run out of it. Great work team!

Looking forward to seeing you next week.

Keep running happy,

Lucy