We had cake-off in H&F last night as 31 GoodGym'ers made a piece of cake of weeding and cleaning at Springvale Tenants Hall

It was our 3rd birthday celebrations in H&F last night which meant alongside our run and good deed for our community tonight there would also be three additions: cake, games, and well more cake! What made it extra special was that it was a record-breaking night in H&F with a massive 31 GoodGym'ers!

It was lovely to welcome along Joshua for his first H&F group run - you choose a good one to begin on! Thank you for coming along and lending a hand with all my wonderful regulars, and tourists from Wandsworth and Lewisham tonight!

With everyone donning one very fashionable party hat 🥳, or in Catriona’s case about four(!!) we headed outside for a quick round-up of this week’s news...

• Tomorrow (5th Sept) is the next GoodGym social at The Court on Tottenham Court Road, all details are here.
• GoodGym is turning 10! 🔟🎉 There's a big party at City Hall on Thursday 12th September and there will also be a BIG day of missions on Saturday 21st September - more details coming soon!
• New FREE Local Run Group - Meet at the Stable Yard in Holland Park at 5.45pm for a 6pm start 🕕. The Sept dates are as follows: Weds 4th, Thurs 12th, Weds 18th & Thurs 26th. Each run will be approx. 5-10kms. No sign-up is required, there is also bag storage ✅ & toilets ✅.

Three running 3️⃣🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️

Before we headed off on our short run over to Springvale Tenants Hall we had a quick warm-up to get the pulses raising, after some exercises that tested everyone's co-ordination skills, we had a special honesty quiz on all things H&F. Some fun facts we all learnt was that this was our 175th group run, the 1st H&F group run was on 6th Sept 2016, there were 27 runners at the 1st run and 11 runners have celebrated their 50th good deed on a H&F group run (well I think it's 11!). For those that chose the incorrect answer there was the punishment of jumping jacks and squats.

After one final burst of fast feet we headed off towards our tasks tonight at Springvale Tenants Hall with Bex and Sarah backmarking. As it was a short run tonight we had a bit of fun on the way there as we looped back on ourselves through Brook Green to get in a few extra metres!

Weeds, three afraid, be very afraid!

When we arrived at the Hall we were greeted by the lovely Berni and Tom, and some very high and might weeds! With everyone in and gathered around Berni ran through the list of jobs for tonight:

• Weeding in the garden area between the path cracks 🌱
• Weeding and sweeping at the front of the hall 🧹
• Weeding and chopping of ivy outside the garden area ✂️
• Sweeping of leaves 🍂
• Removal of cobwebs 🕸️

There was lots for everyone to get stuck in to! And luckily tonight there were lots of hands to make light work of all the jobs.

The good knife

While we had a few of our favourite pointed weeding tools to help us weed between the lines, Berni also had the genius idea of using the cutlery knives from the kitchen. They were on point as they helped everyone to get to the roots of the weeds and it wasn't long before there were piles of weeds that had been removed from where they were very much not welcome!

Amazingly, the party hats remained on everyone's heads, with Catriona doing a particularly good Lisa Simpson/Garden Gnome impression and Chi rocking the alternative shoulder hat...

The powers that three declared that the weeds shall not path! 🛑

As ever, 40 minutes flew by and it was time to down tools and complete the final tidy-up. Phoebe and Joshua ensured absolute perfection on the front path before they joined the others inside for some treats that Berni had kindly provided to the group as a big thank you.

Check out the difference!!...

Before heading off we all gathered for some group photos infront of the red GoodGym t-shirt Berni has displayed up in the Hall next to a number of photos from our previous visits over the past year, what a lovely gesture!

We've never ab'd it so good!

Filled with the first round of treats we all gathered outside and headed off towards Brook Green for tonight's fitness session, With 'Mr Abs on Tour', Chi in attendance the group were treated to a hardcore 5-minute abs blast before a slightly more chilled game of 'plank the parcel' which essentially become 'squat & pass the parcel'...

There were sweets, challenges and cheesy party tunes galore as the two parcels made their way around the circle, with everyone seemingly picking on Mo and Catriona each time, and they definitely were not competitive in their plank off! An honourable draw!

As the nice light summer nights are now sadly behind us we ended the game very much in the dark, but with lots of amusement as we ended on none other than S Club Party! Well done to the winners, Catherine and Alice.

Cake the bit by your teeth 🧁

There wasn't much between the group and all the post-run cake celebrations. In what I think was record-quick time we made it back to base and were stretched off ready to either head to the pub, or home.

In the pub the celebrations continued with bakers Catherine, Bex, Tom and Jonathon all offering out fabulous cakes, naturally we all had to have a piece of each. The night was completed with some oops upside your head, retro polaroid snaps and flexed muscles! Most importantly, Alice ended the night with her favourite bottle from the Olympics, enjoy the apple goodness!

How to cake it in H&F 🎂

Thank you for an absolutely brilliant evening, and the most amazing array of delicious cakes that catered for all...Bake Off eat your heart out! Here's to the 4th year of getting fit and doing good in H&F! Thank you for your efforts each week and for making Tuesday my favourite night of the week.

AND...a big thank you to everyone who baked, bought party hats and helped with the fun and games.

Next week, the wonderful Ana is leading you to Flora Gardens to lend a hand with some painting, please sign up here. Have a lovely rest of your week and weekend! See you in a couple of weeks!

After last week turned into a rather soggy affair, we were all very glad to see the sun shining once again on a Tuesday night and had the pleasure of welcoming along three new runners Lauren, Sam and Elisa and GoodGym tourist Charlotte to the group. Following a run-down of all the achievements from the team in the past week, including stellar performances from all who attended the GoodGym Olympics (and have the bruises to prove it) and to Helen and Steph who took part in the RideLondon100, not to mention casually saving someone’s life (Lucy!), Beth kicked off the evening’s activities with a thorough warm-up consisting of many of our favourite limbering-up techniques; crab-shuffles, lunges, shooing-the-chickens – you know the drill!

Nicely limbered up we headed off on our 2.5km run through the streets of Hammersmith and Shepherds Bush, with a quick stop for Beth’s all-time favourite torture method, wall-sits. It wasn't long before we arrived at Askam Court, where we were met by Mirko, one of the residents who tends to the garden throughout the year and who had called on the mighty GoodGym Hammersmith and Fulham once again for help. The 22-strong team, fuelled by biscuits and what just so happens to be my favourite chocolate (Lindt Lindor in case you're wondering, I know you were 😉) donned their gardening gloves and with the help of a few assorted tools, dug, weeded, chopped and bagged-up all the unwanted "invaders" to clear the patches ready for new plants.

Some of the team were tasked with detangling and removing a climbing vine which had sprawled across a flower bed and up a fence, a challenge which required both a delicate touch and brute strength in equal measure, while others were tasked with cutting away old debris to make way for baby Lamb’s Ears* (n’aww) hiding underneath. The age old proverb “many GoodGym hands make light work” was proved to be true yet again and it was amazing to see how much difference was made in such a short space of time. After a summer of gardening across the borough, despite everyone’s modest claims to the contrary, I’m starting to think that some people might be able to tell a weed from an actual plant!…

As usual, the task flew by and before we knew it Beth was giving us our 5 minute warning and herding the group together for our weekly group photos (one normal and one jazz hands) before we waved goodbye to the residents and embarked on our 2.5k run back to base. The group split into 3, giving people the chance to run at a speed that suited them. En route we came across a matteess that had been strewn across the pavement, in true GoodGym fashion within seconds it was safely propped up against the wall, and not long before we were all reunited for our cool-down stretch and de-brief.

*A type of plant with super-soft furry leaves, not actual lamb’s ears, no animals were harmed!

A BIG thank you to Catherine for a brilliant and entertaining run report!

This week's news...

1. This Thursday is the August GoodGym Social - all the details are here.
2. This Saturday (not Sunday as I may have said!) - help support London Frontrunners to put on their PrideRun 10km 2019! Volunteers are needed for the event set-up & baggage tent. Please sign up here.
3. This month's GoodGym Long Run is on the morning of Sunday 25th August, it is a tour of the Docklands area, followed by lunch. There are 3 distance options, 26km, 16km, 10km, all the details are here.

Next week's task is at Age UK H&F...and it's also our monthly social! Sign up here. Hopefully see you there! Have a lovely rest of your week and weekend!