14 wonderful runners ran 3km to help trim branches at Christchurch School Community Garden!

For the first time this year, it was dark before we'd even started. It's coming to that time where only the most hardcore runners show up.. so well done one and all!

After a quick warm up, we headed off towards Christchurch via the river where we stopped for a nice photo... Greenwich is surely the most photogenic of GoodGym locations? Am I right?? Plus the most photogenic group of course!

Moments later, we arrived at the school, greeted by the wonderful and always super organised Patrick and Fiona who had got everything ready for us and explained the tasks at hand.

The main one was trimming overgrown branches that had started to peek through the blue fence plus there was also some work to do on a raised bed so Alex, Steve and Julian stayed to help Patrick with that while the rest of the group grabbed some gloves and some secateurs and began snipping branches!

The fence seemed like it went on forever but it was quite a satisfying job and the branches were coming down at lightning speed. Before we knew it, some of you were right down the other end of the school already!

The raised be was coming on nicely too and after 30 minutes we were done! The fence was so tidy and all the cuttings had been bagged up and put by the bins, there was even time for a final sweep of the pavement and a few minutes to put in the last bag of soil into the bed. NICE!!

On our next visit we will be helping to plant some trees for their orchard project! Sounds like it'll be another good one!!

We had a little jog back and called it a night!

Community Mission on Friday...

Just quickly.. the community mission helping at the Pop Up Kitchen in Woolwich tomorrow is here. Big thanks to Julian who is already signed up and if anyone else can lend a hand at any point during the day from 1-8pm then they would hugely appreciate it!

Hopefully see some of you at Victoria Dock Parkrun this weekend! There are lots of spaces still on the volunteer roster if you didn't want to run!

Great job on the task last night, you got so much done and made a huge difference as always!! If you know of any other schools nearby that could do with our help then please put me in touch or let me know! See you next time!

23 awesome runners ran 3km to help at the Ballast Quay Garden!

A cold and dark evening didn't deter nearly two dozen of you from showing up last night which is AMAZING!! Can we keep that going all winter????

Firstly thanks a mil for the wings and the cakes, it was so sweet and lovely and very much appreciated. It's been a joy running with you all and the best thing for me is seeing how much you've all improved your running since you started... LOVE THAT! And finally just thanks for putting up with me all these years :') anyway you didn't ask for a speech so why am I giving one?? On to the report...!!

We headed off to Ballast Quay, the closest of all our tasks. Diane looks after the garden pretty much single handedly and has done for 60 years!! I think that number changes every time I tell the story but either way it's a lot of years. She has just celebrated her 80th birthday but sadly has had shingles fairly recently which has wiped her out so I told her to go back inside in the warm with Tom the dog whilst we worked on the garden.

The main jobs were clearing leaves, getting rid of the bracken, weeding the paving slabs and also having a go at the overgrown ivy too which just seems to take over everything!

Headtorches at the ready, everyone got stuck in! The most oddly satisfying thing about this task is getting to throw the garden waste into the river.. I don't know why it is, but it just is. It makes me think of in films when there is a girl mad at her boyfriend and she throws all his stuff out of the window....

Anyhow.. we carried on working away until all the bracken was cleared. Most of the leaves were gone and the ivy was looking a lot tidier too! We packed everything back into the greenhouse, locked up and headed back to the uni for some more running as we had barely even run a mile at this point!

5 laps of the quad alternating between a fast and a slow side. Hopefully the hearts were pumping a bit more after that! Then it was time for some lovely vegan cakes <3

Thanks so much again everyone!

Some important info...

Christmas Party Poll!

If you'd like to come along to our Christmas meal this year please vote in this poll by selecting all the days you are available and we will choose the most popular. At the moment it's looking like Friday 13th December, we'll confirm the date early next week!

Monthly Parkrun

This month we are heading to Mile End Parkrun on Saturday 19th October so come and join us for a free timed 5k.. you can run, walk, jog or volunteer!

Finally big good luck to those that are racing this weekend. I know you'll do us SO proud!

That's all from me folks, see you next week at Christchurch School! Have a lovely weekend!