James, James and I met Millie and Adi at the park, and set about brushing the flaky old paint off the last stretch of railings ready for the Friends to carry on painting this coming weekend.

With gloves and safety specs on, it's quite a satisfying task up close, watching the rusk and flakes fly off lit by torches! We did a whole long stretch of railings between the five of us, while catching up with Millie and her escapades all over the borough from bat talks to dog show announcing and planning permission for redesign and rebuild of the local clubhouse (which is shared by the bowls club, football club and park).

We started the task in daylight and finished in the dark, but were delighted to be reminded that soon it'll be time for planting sprint bulbs in both Alexandra Rec and Cator park (and doing this in the evening means less lost to squirrels :) So we'll be back soon!

Our merry band of community do-gooders, including two of the three area Jameses, met up for a bit of the change to the original plan. We always want to help with whatever's most important to the organisation we're helping.

So this time we dropped our weeding and painting tools and picked up our leaflet-delivery smiles and walking shoes.

Off we trotted around the Blenheim Arpley estate, saying hello to the residents of the blocks and letting them know their residents association can do good, help, give them a voice.

All very important with lots of development happening very close by, and very soon. And they need new members.

We delivered to almost every flat, and then dispersed into the dusk, to head home for dinner.

Thanks all and see you next time :)

Last month we started work on the basement storage room at Penge Congregational Church, clearing piles of old and worthless books to make extra storage space for community space. We came back to finish the job tonight, and with many hands we made light work! Not only did we shift books, but lots of assorted junk like old blinds and stage lights, creating space on racks and in a cupboard! In 30 mins we made a big difference to the room - fab work everyone!

One of our recent regular tasks has been Penge Congregational Church, where we’ve been helping remove old junk so the church can offer space to the local creative community to work in. Joining us as new GoodGymers were Sunanda and Jasmine - thanks for coming along!

We met Jonny, our task contact, at the church and were shown the way to the crypt. Contrary to what you might expect, it was small and well-lit! It was also nice and cool compared to the heat of upstairs.

The crypt held many boxes of books donated for jumble sales but had never sold, and now very dusty! Our task was to move these up to the old hall ready to be removed from site.

Some excellent self-organising split us into teams of those bringing boxes of books upstairs from the crypt and those carrying them to the hall.

In just 30 minutes we moved over half the boxes in the crypt - fab work!

The space is already looking larger, and shows that many hands make idle work.

Great turnout last night - because it's Cat's last task before she moves home, and we all wanted to say a proper nice thanks and bye. So ten of us were at the task in Betts Park 'secret garden' - some of us after a nice gentle jog.

The secret garden has undergone a huge transformation just in the last few months - from brambly overgrown side-bit to the park, to now something cleared, pretty and with potential. We could see the path started, wood and plants cleared, a pond being dug, and raised beds being planned.

We set about a range of tasks, from raking to weeding, to moving and sorting plants already cleared, starting to build the wood supports for the raised beds, and laying paving slabs for the path with will bed in gently at first and then when it settles, relaid more solidly.

After task time that as usual went too quickly (we'll be back!) we walked towards Anerley for a little drink and chat to say bye to Cat. Thanks for all your work with GoodGym Crystal Palace and its taskforce and good luck in your new home :)