Wednesday evening saw 9 of us head to the beautiful St Luke's Church for a spot of midweek cleaning. Half of the crew, led by Julian, clocked up 3.5km from the Naval College, while the rest of us met at the task. We were warmly welcomed by Liz and Rick, ready with lots of jobs to keep us busy.

Speaking of stairs – some of us decided to climb the incredibly steep, narrow, and very old spiral staircase up the tower. It might have been built hundreds of years ago, but it still gives the quads a workout today. And the view at the top? Absolutely worth it. Coming down? Let’s just say our knees will remember it. Shout-out to Alex and Louise who somehow managed to dust on the way down?! At the bottom Louise assured us her trainers were always that shade of grey...

Outside, Ashton took on the job of giving a wooden bench a fresh coat of teak oil and although we didn’t see the final result, we’re confident it now gleams fantas-teak-ly.

Meanwhile, inside the church, Jenny and Marta worked their magic on sorting out a collection of candles into a 'won't ever light again, bin it' and a 'probably light again keep it' pile. The rest of us took on hoovering, dusting, and the oddly satisfying job of scraping melted wax off the glass table panels. In just 30 minutes, the place was looking noticeably more polished, and we wrapped up with a classic team photo.

What’s next?

This weekend we’ve got more garden clearance at St Richard's and a bonus run on Sunday to Mycenae Gardens for a bit of weeding.

Next Wednesday we’re heading back to the Memorial Hospital for more bramble bashing and a run up Shooters Hill Road (brace yourselves!)

Until next time

Rachel

Tonight's GoodGym task took team Greenwich to the historical gem that is the Prince Phillip Maritime Collection Centre in Kidbrooke, home to the Greenwich Royal Museums' stored collections. These are made up of Art and Artefacts, and the centre is dedicated to their preservation as well as education within the local community.

Our first task this evening was a nautical one but we managed to stay on dry ground as we moved a slightly rickety boat into its new position. (Again on dry ground, it definitely isn't seaworthy!).

We were then led, crystal maze style, to our next adventure, in the magical mystery storage room, for some ceiling panel removal & replacement, ready for groups carrying out gilding of the panels. Our Man with the Golden Puns did us proud, quickly working out the jigsaw puzzle of panels, and we took turns climbing the ladder with instructions from the team on getting the placements exactly right.

I definitely think we got that crystal and caught some gold confetti!

Photo time with our prop of choice & it was time to head our separate ways. Thanks all & have a great week!

What a glorious evening to be newt and aboot with GoodGym Greenwich! With 13 of us gathered and the sun shining brightly, we set off on a scenic run through beautiful Greenwich Park, with Marta managing to sneak in the final part of her interval training en route!

A happy welcome back to Jia for her second good geed with us!

Our destination was the lovely garden of St Alfege’s Primary School, where we were met with a list of garden tasks organised by Amanda the Headteacher who popped in to say hello! Between us, we:

🌱 Weeded garden beds and turned over the soil

🛶 Emptied out a boat planter and refilled it with fresh soil

🌳 Replanted a tree

🛞 Emptied and weeded tyre planters, topping them up with fresh compost

📦 Cleared out and organised some storage crates

But, you ask - what's with title of the report? Well, we also found a newt who was very sweet. Ivar may have wanted to adopt him but settled for popping him back in the pond area. One of the cuter amphibians in my opinion and a lovely surprise this evening.

Anyway, with such a great team, the jobs were done in no time and after a group pic we enjoyed a little river run back to base before parting ways for the evening, with that satisfying post-good-deed glow.

St Alfege’s is starting a monthly community gardening session, so keep an eye out for more tasks coming soon as the school transforms this space for wider community use!

Coming up next...

🎉 This Saturday we’re helping set up and close down at the Beats, Boards, and BBQ event in Charlton Park and we have gardening at Hervey Road

🏃‍♀️ Next Wednesday we’ll be meeting at Charlton House for a group run to Brooklands School for more garden work!

Until next time, wonderful people! 👋

Rachel