On Easter Saturday we joined Annie to do some weeding at the Hervey Road garden.

We set to work, digging up the weeds on the long border and getting yes sir, yes sir, 3 bags full. We discussed Laura's upcoming trip to Mali and her rather grown up job out there - we will miss you Laura and look forward to hearing about it on your forays back to London! And Arthur interjected very regularly that he didn't want to weed anymore and wanted to go to the playground, poor little thing.

After a decent job on the long border we headed to the wildflower garden and witnessed Marta and Richard's magnificent dead hedging coming into its own. Here Annie patiently showed us what were plants and what were weeds and we got to work filling at least another 3 bags full. The conversation remained genial but little did we know, the morning was about to take a sinister turn.

It happened just as we were collecting our belongings and getting ready to go. Cat pulled a present out of her bag for Arthur. A little white chocolate chick. Awww sweet, "what a treat". And amazingly it wasn't at all melted. The first thing that happened was, inexplicably panicking that it would suddenly melt in my hands, I said "let's dig in" and promptly pulled it's head off. It's baffling really - as if I don't experience on a daily basis the things a 3 year old finds distressing 🥺 The wailing started. Quiet at first and then a crescendo to the dreaded high pitched banshee shriek. Every parent's nightmare and at which point I saved the day by stuffing a bit of the head into his mouth and he realised the decapitated bird was in fact, very yummy. More was consumed and we were all revelling in this moment of tranquility and sweetness when Cat piped up, "does it taste like chicken?" 🤯

Witty and sadistic in equal measure. Certainly disarming - in fact I forgot to get a group photo, so thrown was I by this turn of events.

A happy ending though. All the chocolate remained in his tummy even after the turns on the roundabout and we all trundled off to the rest of our weekends. Good job team!

We've got woodchipping at St Richard's on Tuesday and we're back at Prince Philip on Wednesday - hope to see you there.

Until next time!

Had a great time. The farm is a lovely breath of fresh air in London. Pat was great, the team friendly and the farm animals very charming. The work was very manageable but rewarding and it was followed by feeding the pigs, hens and walking the ferrets, which was a perfect end to the session!

What a glorious day for a run! The sun was out, the birds were singing, and it seemed like everyone’s mood was lifted. With a spring in our step, we were eager to get started. There was much chatter about Friday night's Festival of Running, when Battersea park will be alive with colourful lights and energetic runners. If you haven’t heard of it yet, be sure to check it out! It's a fun mix of light running and vibes and ggers even get free entry when they sign up to help out - more about that later.

Unfortunately our planned task got cancelled last minute. No problem though, we were not going to let all that positive GoodGym energy go to waste! We quickly pivoted, and instead of refilling planters we started last session, we were to go the Ecogarden to give the whole place a good clean up. The idea is that this urban space is being converted to increase biodiversity and to create more places of well being in the city. So its no good having loads of trash strewn around among dirty benches. Enter Goodgym!

A big shout-out to Sevgi who joined us for her very first GoodGym session today. Welcome to the crew! We hope you enjoyed it and will be back for many more fun-filled missions. Also, huge kudos to Richard, who's just about to hit his 50th Good Deed! Richard has been doing so much good, net time you see him he'll be in a black GG tshirt, so give him a cheer! A special shout out goes to Anna for back-marking today, making sure we all I kept everyone going and no one got left behind in a busy tourist area.

Today's task involved heading over to the Grounded Eco Garden, a place we've helped out at before. For those who haven’t been before, it's a community garden focusing on eco-friendly practices, and it's the perfect spot to get your hands dirty and make a positive impact on the environment. We’d been there before, helping get it ready for the community, and today was all about cleaning up the surrounding area.

With the magnificent Tower Bridge as our backdrop, we met up with Alicia and got to work collecting rubbish. At first glance there wasn't loads, but when we really started to look we found an impressive haul, including a surprising number of bottles cig butts (which take 60 years to biodegrade!), and, most curiously, an old car key. If anyone has lost a car key lately... well, now you know where it went!

As we ran, we discussed all sorts of random facts inspired by our surroundings. Did you know that every Wetherspoons pub has its own unique carpet pattern? Yup, it's true! And apparently, there are over 900 Wetherspoons pubs across the UK, each with its own distinctly designed carpet. Who knew there could be so many different patterns?

There was more chat about the Friday Night Lights Festival of Running (where GoodGym volunteers get free entry!) - here’s the link for more info on how to get involved - there's a morning and an afternoon session to join in with. It's a great opportunity to get your run in while enjoying festival vibes.

Lastly, don’t forget about our Monday run in Wandsworth, which will feature our monthly pub quiz after the run. All are welcome, whether you're a regular or a newbie! It's always a blast, and we can’t wait to see you there.

Thanks to everyone for being such an amazing crew today despite he last minute change, and we hope to see you out there next time for the next stage of the transformation of Tower Bridge community garden!

It’s springtime on the farm and that means there’s a lot to do, as ever! 3 Good Gymmers and Farm Manager, Gemma, started off by mucking out the sheep pen. This is home to 9 very pregnant ewes. Once we had cleaned their living quarters, we took the manure and dirty hay round to the compost where it will decay before being bagged up and sold in the Farm Shop. Then we just had time to de-weed one of the paths before taking the ferrets out for their daily exercise. This was a lot of fun as they are very inquisitive creatures. We will be back in 2 weeks and hope to see lots of newborn lambs!