Sam met up with Maria, Rebecca, Oliver, Alice and Rebecca. It was Rebecca's first good deed with GoodGym whilst Alice was attending her second GoodGym session, but one that she was looking forward to as she lived around the corner and always wanted to volunteer at the Farm without committing to a regular volunteering schedule. Hence GoodGym is a great option as we come once a month to blitz a task or two for an hour and a half as we get treated to petting animals for the last half hour.

Today, started a little bit slow as Pat was caught up with some lost and found issues as she is the on-site manager for the day. However, whilst we waited, we asked the ice-breaker question for the day, which was to do with World Tourism Day being on Friday: "What is your favourite holiday destination?" We had Spain, Italy and Japan, which are high on people's list, but even Iceland, Norway and Estonia was mentioned.

As Pat was sorting out the issue, we got the keys to the tool shed and got the tools before progressing to the "Plot to Farm Shop" area as new garden beds were being created. However, there was still an area that needed soil to be taken off to be more at level with the other beds before new ones could be made. With forks, shades and a shovel, we cracked on with digging through the clay like soil as we talked about being a Londoner and if we were all one...

The hour sped by despite the hard work as we all had a system of filling the wheelbarrow before dumping the soil in tonne bags. After filling one tonne bag and topping up another one, we called it a day after it reached midday. Our reward? Walking the ferrets ❤️

After walking the ferrets and a quick tour of the Farm to see all the animals, we said our goodbyes! We are back again on the 27th of October when the Farm should have new animals in....baby calves 🐄

After delaying this summer rounders social by two weeks due to the Euros, Sam finally got the gang together to play some rounders.

Sam and Maria hauled over the rounders kit and gazebo from their home and set up shop on the rugby pitch in Peckham Rye park. Thankfully, it was a cooler and cloudier day than the previous day, but it was still quite muggy and humid.

Dylan, Leanne and Isaac all came on time as we waited for the rest to come. By 16:45, we had everyone, but we realised only one person came from the North side of the river to represent... Lobo cycled 40 minutes from Wapping to be here. So, naturally, we had to change tactic and we divided the teams per originally from "North of London upwards" against the South:

Ninety Nine Problems, but a Northerner ain't one consisted of Lobo, Daryl, Isaac, Jess, Leanne, Adrian and Tarik (Adrian and Andrada's friend). They were against Southern Softies: Dylan, James, Eileen, Rebecca, Andrada, Natalia (Adrian and Andrada's other friend) and Maria.

It was no contest as even over 2 innings each, Ninety Nine Problems, but a Northerner ain't one scored 12 and a half rounders against 1 and a half rounders. The game was over within 30 minutes, which prompted a new layout to rounders field as the final base was too close to the backstop. Still, Ninety Nine Problems, but a Northerner ain't one thoroughly deserved the win and leads 2-1 in the yearly series.

Yet, the best was still to come... Sam felt left out and wanted to get a game in. Sam thought the numbers would be uneven, but Leanne left early, which meant we had the numbers per each team.

Splitting the teams was hard, but it ended up being GG Southwark members without Sam against Sam and the rest. "Southwark sacrificing Sam" vs. "Sam outside Southwark" - SSS vs. SOS...

The game was such a close contest with SSS putting up a big score of 10 and a half rounders to beat after two innings when SOS had only scored 4 rounders in the first innings. Yet, with a big team effort and massive runs from Lobo and Dylan, SOS managed to force a super inning as they came back to draw.

However, it was in the super innings that SSS was too strong and in one innings only, they scored 11 and a half rounders after five rounders from Isaac alone and Daryl had a couple too. Even with SOS trying their luck, they only managed 7 rounders before SSS managed to get the whole team out with a great catch from Maria to get big-scoring Lobo out!

All in all, it was such a fun afternoon with loads of us learning rounders for the first time or for the first time in many many years! Looking forward to putting on another social rounders session next summer, so look out for the listing come early 2025!