When our planned task fell through at the last minute, 11 GoodGym Greenwich runners and walkers proved that adaptability is one of our greatest strengths. Rather than call it a night, we grabbed the litter pickers and headed around Charlton for an impromptu community litter pick.

Before setting off, our icebreaker question was: "What's your favourite thing about Greenwich?" Answers ranged from its beautiful parks and riverside walks to the markets, history, community spirit and, of course, GoodGym itself. It was a lovely reminder of why we're all so keen to help keep the borough looking its best.

The evening was also packed with milestones. A huge welcome to Cathy, who completed her very first GoodGym task, hopefully the first of many! Meanwhile, massive congratulations to our Norwegian pun-King Ivar, who celebrated an incredible 300th GoodGym task!

We split up to tackle litter hotspots around Charlton, collecting bags full of cans, bottles, wrappers and plenty of the usual unexpected finds. Every bag filled was another small but visible improvement to the neighbourhood.

A big thank you to everyone who embraced the change of plans with such positivity. Another lovely evening spent amongst the rubbish!

Until next time!

Rachel 😁

Another warm morning dawned but 6 Goodgymers and a local volunteer joined 'Clean Up Charlton' for the monthly litter pick in the streets of SE7. Fresh from the World Cup quarter final victory of England over Norway (commiserations to the lovely and fun Norwegians - we have our own tame Viking at Goodgym Greenwich!), and as one of today's work team was Mexican, we talked football and had an impromtu game of 'get the beer can into the litter hoop'. Zero goals! Let's stick to running, walking and doing good deeds maybe guys?

Of course what you really want to hear when litter picking is one of the team saying "I have found a bag with something dead in it and don't know what to do"... !!! Pretending to be brave we investigated and found slowly fermenting chicken drumsticks - now safely bagged with our other 6 general waste bags and 3 bags of dry recycling ready for Greenwich Council to collect. We left the waste collection team a little thank you message - can't be fun collecting rubbish all day in this heat! Thanks to everyone who turned out to clean the not-so-mean streets of SE7 - iced lattes all round at M&S to cool off afterwards...

Yesterday, there were only two volunteers signed up to help distribute food this evening. Without more helpers, the charity was about to cancel. Goodgym to the rescue!

Thanks mainly to Goodgym Greenwich, we were able to rustle up 7 helpers to assist Jas, and we were able to go ahead.

Today there was veggie rice, bread and biscuits to hand out. And because of the heat, the standard hot chocolate and coffee was replaced by milkshakes to cool everyone down in the heat.

We made a great team, and managed to hand most of the food out while chatting to the crowd that showed up, and each other. Within the hour all food was gone and we packed up and dispersed to catch the England kick off!

On a very warm and barmy evening, nine GoodGymers made their way (gently) to Hervey Road Sports Ground. Some ran (slowly in the heat), while others walked. We all panted breathlessly and wondered if we would ever feel a gentle breeze again…

When we arrived at the sports ground community garden, we were greeted by James, the son of Anne, who is behind the Hervey Road Sports Ground gardening project. Poor Anne has broken her wrist, so James (who had even cut short his holiday!) stepped in to brief us in her place. Thank you, James, and get well soon, Anne!

Over the last few years, GoodGym has regularly helped with the annual lavender planting around the border of the car park. This time, GoodGym was replacing some of the lavender plants that hadn't survived with 27 fresh new ones.

After some clear instructions from James, we all set about watering, digging holes, adding soil and planting the lavender. Before long, the wonderful fragrance of lavender filled the car park. There was just enough time for a final group photo before we sauntered home in the now cooler evening light, leaving behind a little more L❤️vendar than we'd arrived with.

Title by @Aman

On Saturday morning we arrived at the Maryon Park Community Garden, ready to get stuck into our task for this month which included varnishing the fence and hosing down the toys in the kids area. In no time we were teamed up and getting splashed, muddy and varnishy getting the jobs done as well as lots of chatting between ourselves and with the lovely Tim and Edna who were hospitable as always, providing snacks and drinks after our exertions. I say "our", but Arthur and I mainly chatted to Edna and read books so I'm not sure I should get a good deed for that 😅

We left with a gift of mint from the herb garden for our meals and off to the rest of our weekends.

Great job team, we'll be back next month!

Coming up:

On wednesday we're back at Hervey Road: https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/gardening-at-hervey-road-sports-field-6f25b74e-293a-42d3-bce6-72d39ae8195f

Saturday 11th: Helping at CCRA's community day: https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/help-out-at-ccra-s-annual-community-day

Sunday 12th: Clean up Charlton: https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/clean-up-charlton-3ff675ce-0b0d-462b-965c-49c86a8cf326 And Bostall Woods Family Fun Day (time slots): https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/help-out-at-bostall-gardens-family-fun-day

Until next time!

Rachel