Last night six of us met to do some good in the darkening and slightly damp September evening. And that's what GoodGym is all about - we spread a little joy and the autumn and winter months are a great time to stick with it - as the evenings get darker it makes a difference to meet up with friends and get active each week! This evening we had task to move lots of wood from the middle of the playground to the edges to allow children space to play. It was almost smooth sailing with some dramatic screams from us city folk about the gigantic spiders we unearthed.
We harvested some grapes and some radishes (thank you St Alfege's! I'm going to enjoy nice salad for lunch).

Special welcome to Carolin on her first GoodGym good deed - it's great to have you in the group and we hope to see much more of you!

We parted ways as the rain got heavier, me spotting the 386 and losing any street cred I thought I had running down the road with two giant and alarmingly bulbous radishes. And I didn't make the bus either so ended up running all the way home looking like I'd robbed a community garden.

On Saturday we're back at Hervey Road for some gardening and next Wednesday we're at St Luke's.

Until next time!

Rachel 👋🏻

Our task for this evening was to deliver as many flyers as we could for the over 60's dance classes at Trinity Laban. The group gathered at Glass Mill where we spread out the leaflets between bags and also traded hats!

With most of the group running to Deptford, myself and Marta walked and met the group mid-flyering. We spread out across the estate and I delivered some flyers to Trinity Laban reception to spread the word as much as possible.

It's quite difficult to take photos at a flyering tasks and also to keep an eye on where everyone is but we all managed to safely regroup and head for burgers!

Well done to everyone that ran the big half!

London's community half marathon went red this year! 🔥

A huge congratulations to the oodles of GoodGym folk who caught well-earned happy mornings under a hot-hot-hot late summer sun ☺️

It was the biggest joy seeing you all!

Please send me your photos (!) and I will pop them up here (alexmurtough@goodgym.org) ❤️

Another summer of keeping on top of the weeds at Luxmore Gardens! This week we had a bumper group of 13 of us ready to tackle the weeds or was it the fact Vic had said she was being a dog!!

Welcome Aisha to your first group run, hope you enjoyed it and we'll see you back soon!

As I'm still not able to run, Paul led the group up the hill to Luxmore Garden. There were rumours of did I walk or get the bus....I walked! And it was perfect timing for us all to arrive together and see what was in store for us.

What was in store was digging up the remaining weeds and the alkinet. As always we debated what was grass we could dig up and what was ornamental grass. Maybe next summer we'll find the answer to that.

Next week we're heading to Deptford to hand out flyers for over 60's dance classes and then heading for some food and drinks in Deptford after to celebrate the big half and recent birthdays! You'll only need to run one way or we could walk together.

Now enjoy lots of pictures of us with Wilfred!

This session was a lovely excuse to engage in some nice peaceful gardening.

As a typical city dweller, it can be easy to overlook simple yet impactful acts of garden preservation such as weeding or socialising with people from diverse aspects of life. This mission offered the perfect excuse to do both by gifting us a loving and vibrant atmosphere where people could momentarily escape their hectic routines and dwell upon the peacefulness of reconnection with nature and other humans.

In the end, all we are, are creations of nature meant to connect while helping each other grow like a tall and magnificent sunflower.

On Wednesday evening we gathered at Charlton House, in an unusually negative spin for us at GoodGym - sharing our pet peeves. This evening we were joined by Sunaima and Lisa for their first group runs with us! WE ran to Prince Philip Maritime Collection Centre where Khursheed had a load of tasks for us, including weeding, watering, propping up a giant sunflower, giving the bug hotel a makeover and throwing some rubbish out. Jobs complete some of us ran and some of us walked back to base for a stretch.

Great work everyone!

On Saturday we have gardening at St Richard's and next Wednesday we're back for a Charlton House start to help with the garden at Hervey Road.

Until next time!