Roll up, Roll up.

Ladies and Gentlemen, children of all ages, welcome to the greatest show on earth.

Tonight under a magnificent full moon, Richmond witnessed Good Deeds that pushed the limits of human ability. As you read this run report and look at the photos, be amazed by our gravity-defying gardening, hold your breath at our fearless weeding and laugh with our hilarious clowning acrobats.

Our regular performers have given their Monday evenings to perfecting their craft. They’ve trained countless hours, pushing themselves past limits, all to create moments of pure astonishment for you. Each task completed on this cold January night told a story: a story of determination, skill, and the pursuit of excellence. From our remarkable leaf rakers and sweepers, our wonderful weeders, our compost turners, our barricade builders, to our skilled human numerals, every performer brought their special magic to Buccleuch Gardens.

Please put your hands together for our newest recruits Jade and Mike and our fabulous run leader Sam. And for regulars Monika, Suze, Anita, Rosie, Harry, Chris, Cathy and Ken. Everyone adding something special to this 'second Monday' task and each one essential to the spectacular ‘2025' finale.

An outdoor task at the Hounslow Community FoodBox today - tidying up by clearing away leaves and squashing them into black bin bags for collection. The GoodGym team of Harry, Alan and JP interchanged roles seamlessly between scooping, bag holding, filling and tying whilst enjoying a chat about cars and careers.

The first target area around the entrance gates was cleared efficiently leaving time for us to make good progress gathering the leaves piled along the boundary fence. With the skies darkening, we called it a day whilst admiring the impressive pile of bin bags signifying a job well done.

Sunday 1 December 2024 saw 7 GoodGymers discovering their inner Elfs (Elves?) spending a wet but wonderful Sunday morning helping to set up and marshall a 5km ‘Mental Elf’ fun run that was all about raising money for the Richmond Mind Charity. https://www.rbmind.org/support-us/mental-elf-fun-run-2024

Africa, Adam and Steph arrived early to help set up the event, with Adam and Steph going on to trail blaze the three lap circuit as Elves 001 and 002.

Harry, Chris, JP and Anita joined the second wave of volunteers, helping to marshall the 3 lap route around Marble Hill Park, Twickenham , directing and cheering on the 100+ participants.

Elves of Richmond we salute you.