Tonight’s team of volunteers arrived at The Wandle River Community Garden (formerly the Paul Bowness Memorial Garden) after a truly scorching day! Fortunately, the evening air had cooled down just in time, providing the perfect conditions to get stuck into some serious community action.

We were excited to hear about the future plans to grow native plants here specifically for natural dyeing, adding a brilliant, sustainable, and creative twist to this local green space.

To smash through the to-do list, we split into two teams to tackle both the garden itself and a spot a short distance up the river:

Team 1: Armed with secateurs, set to work clearing a thick patch of stubborn brambles, prepping the site for the native dyeing plants.

Team 2: Focused their energy on the main community garden area: weeding, sweeping, tidying up, and clearing litter to get the oasis looking pristine again after a very busy weekend of visitors.

An amazing transformation - well done everyone!

With a big number of sign-ups expected, it was the perfect opportunity to help both the Friends of Raynes Park and arrange an additional job at one of the Merton Garden Streets nearby. After the runners arrived, a breakaway group headed off to tackle the weeding job up the road and get some extra steps in, while the rest of the team checked in for duties at the station embankment.

We split into teams to tackle pruning, litter picking, and turning the compost, making fantastic progress across the board.

Meanwhile, the watering team faced a hilarious logistical puzzle due to a missing hose (apparently removed by workmen!). Instead, they improvised with a brilliantly inefficient bucket brigade: filling watering cans, emptying them into trug buckets on trolleys, and then pouring them back into watering cans at the embankment.

Despite the extra steps, everyone adapted brilliantly. The pruners, litter pickers, and compost-turners crushed their tasks, and the watering team managed to get some momentum going and plenty of watering completed. Well done, team!

A classic, damp British drizzle wasn't going to stop the dedicated, as this morning one GoodGymer took on the role of Park Walker, to provide a warm, encouraging presence along the course. Parkrun is for everyone - rain or shine. Well done!

Rain was forecast for our group session at Beverley Park but luckily the deluge held off until just after we'd finished. The roses are looking blooming gorgeous at the moment but the beds needed some GoodGym muscle to help dig out the prickly thistles and clear the weeds that seem to spread like triffids. The team got stuck in and did an amazing job with no thorn-related injuries this time. It was great to welcome Catherine to her first session with us and to celebrate Ben reaching his 10th task. Go Ben 10, it's hero time!

The team headed to Squirrels Community Scrapstore this evening for a session that proved you don't need a gym when you have a skip to fill. We were tasked with clearing items from the van, pruning back the greenery and tackling the weeds.

The big challenge was a colossal reel of paper that had been taking up residence in the van, which took a coordinated effort from five of our GoodGymers to manoeuvre it into the skip.

While the heavy lifters were busy with the reel, the rest of the crew made short work of the greenery and cleared the weeds.

The result was a full skip, tidy yard, and a very clear space. Reel-y well done team and it's great to be back in action after a short break!