Last night 12 runners ran 2km to tidy up the gardens at Cossall Park Estate

Wednesday is our favourite! Why? GoodGym of course!

Gathering at Old Spike Roastery as usual we prepared ourselves for another hump-day evening of getting fit and doing good.

A big smiley hello and welcome to Victoria who came to join us for the first time last night!

After a warm up we set off to Cossall Park Estate where we loitered by the Tenants and Residents Association Hall where the weekly youth club looked like they were having a great time running around. Shortly after we met Jaki and Alan of Friends of Cossall Park and Kirkwood Nature Reserve who split us into two groups - one clearing up the courtyard by the TRA Hall and a larger group went out to the raised beds around the corner to do some weeding. Tools and biodegradable compost bags at the ready, we got to work. As it's 1km out to Cossall Estate we had a good amount of time to get as much work as possible done. After half an hour the courtyard was spotless and the raised beds in a much better state. The courtyard group spotted some huge worms (see photo) and Lianne pretended to be a giant glowworm. I think it's fair to say we had fun! We thanked Jaki and Alan, posed for a group photo and treated ourselves to the refreshments that had kindly been provided. Girija enjoyed a particularly fancy glass of mango rubicon. Don't mind if I do!

Having executed our volunteering flashmob and enjoyed some snacks we went around the corner for a quick fitness session. It was planks, squats, jumping jacks, mountain climber galore. Heart rates sufficiently raised we headed back to base.

Well done on a great task everyone, Jaki was delighted with everything we got done.

See you next week! Lucy J

19 runners ran 7km to spread 2 tonnes of compost at the Camberwell Subterranea Project

We had two tonnes of fun!

Last night 19 brave runners headed on a slightly longer run than usual (7km!) to Camberwell Subterranea Project - an organisation that provides a sustainable hub for learning new skills in the local community. After a briefing and a warm up which somehow involved Chicken Potato Pie (which is a thing I promise - see here) we headed off into the night.

A big hooray for [Nico and Fred who joined us for their first GoodGym run!

3.5km is a long way and we did it in a smashing 23 minutes on the way out there. Speedy work everyone! We met Barnaby there who showed us the two tonnes of compost and where it needed spreading. We got to work in four groups - one moving composts from the bags into wheelbarrows and anything else we could carry compost in, one ferrying the compost back and forth from the raised beds, one spreading that compost and another weeding the beds to get them ready for their lovely new compost. In 20 odd minutes we had spread the entire amount of compost. Job done! We made light work of a job that would have taken hours. Excellent work team!

We thanked Barnaby for having us and set off back to base, not before taking an extremely well-directed photograph and of course the Southwark selfie.

The promise of a pint and maybe a pie got us back to Old Spike and into the White Horse where we had our monthly social.

Not forgetting, of course, that our very own Hanna Milton ran her 50th good deed with us last night! Cracking numbers Hanna!

Thank you for a great evening! Next week we'll be clearing planters at Cossall Park Gardens. Sign up here.