On Saturday morning, Sarah, John, Ivar, Martin, Frazer and Marianna from GoodGym joined forces with the lovely Sweet Fig community crew, Tracey, Yvonne and Caroline, for a litter-picking session around the Days Lane area.

It was a classic round of litter bingo, with wrappers, bottles, cans and all the usual suspects making an appearance. But this session also had a surprisingly sporty twist, as we found a golf ball, a football and a dog ball. Not a bad haul, especially as Marianna had her children and dog with her, making the balls feel like a very on-brand discovery.

As we worked our way around the area, several local residents stopped to thank us for cleaning up, which is always such a brilliant boost. It is a lovely reminder that even a short session can make the streets look better and help people feel proud of where they live.

Once the bags were filled and the litter bingo cards firmly completed, we headed to Sweet Fig, where Sam, the local café owner, very kindly treated the group to tea and coffee on the house.

Huge thanks to Sam and the Sweet Fig community for supporting the session, and to everyone who came along to help.

Fancy joining the next one? Come along to a GoodGym session. No special skills required, just a bit of enthusiasm, comfortable shoes and a willingness to make the local area a little bit lovelier.

We spent a Friday sunny afternoon helping at Days Lane Primary School's Summer Fête,

Sarah and Johnny took charge of the pizza stall, selling over 200 pepperoni and margarita pizzas generously donated by Papa Johns, with every penny gouing directly into the school's fundraising efforts. A tasty way to support the pupils 🍕🍕🍕.

Meanwhile, Marianna, who is also one of the Parents' Association organisers behind the fête, seemed to be everywhere at once... one minute supervising the inflatables, next collecting up rubbish to keep the site looking its best, and generally stepping in wherever an extra pair of hands was needed.

We were well looked after with drinks from the bar and ice creams to help keep cool.

Thanks to the hard work of the Parents'' Association, volunteers and the wider school community, the fête had a great buzz, bringing together families for an afternoon of fun while raising valuable funds for the school.

We'll be back at the school in August, doing with some shed-painting and playground maintenance across the summer holidays. Why not come and join us!

In the evening sunshine, four of us met in Danson Park, having walked and run there. Marianna came with her daughter, and they brought Jay along too – perhaps our new canine mascot 🐾?

We kicked things off with a 10-in-10 fitness session; ten back-to-back exercises, one minute each. High knees, butt kicks, lunges, squats and more got us moving and chatting about how Jay came to live with Marianna, Martin's adventures in Thailand and Fraser's election to Deputy Mayor of Bexley.

For the main event, we headed into the surrounding streets, delivering leaflets to promote a sports festival taking place in the park later this month, organised by Danson Watersports and Bexley Mencap.

It was lovely when a local resident came out to say hello. He'd been been at the Big Paddle Clean Up last week and recognised our red T-shirts on his smart doorbell as we approached his front door!

As we walked up and down driveways, we kept a wary eye on the heavy grey clouds gathering overhead. We hoped to avoid the rain, but with only a handful of flyers left to deliver, a loud clap of thunder signalled the inevitable and the heavens opened. We were soaked through in seconds, but in true GoodGym style, we finished the job.

Here's hoping our efforts help attract plenty of people to the event.

And fingers crossed that the weather is a little kinder for our group task next week. We'll be finishing off the bug hotels that we started building at Holy Trinity Lamorbey School. Why not join us?