What a lovely evening for a GoodGym session as the team gathered in the peaceful surroundings of the Tranquil Garden to lend a hand to the Friends of Mostyn Gardens.

There was no shortage of jobs to get stuck into, and once the runners arrived to join the pack, we got straight to work armed with tools, gloves, and plenty of energy to tackle a bit of everything, including:

🌿 Clearing runaway vines and keeping unruly growth in check

🌾 Weeding beds and paths, and clearing dead plants to tidy up the space

🚰 Watering to keep everything thriving on a warm summer evening

By the time we were finished, the plant beds, wood chip area, gravel paths, and fencing were looking thoroughly transformed and suitably GoodGymed! As a lovely bonus to wrap up our hard work, we even had time to harvest a bunch of fresh sage to take home.

Before heading to the pub for our monthly social, there were some incredible milestones to cheer, with Ralph hitting 10 and Steve (back in action) hitting 25 good deeds!

An extra special, monumental congratulations goes to Caroline, who hit an amazing 100 good deeds! This also marks the very first 100-milestone reached for a GoodGym Merton team member since we launched in 2024. Showcasing how far we have come!

Well done to the whole team for another fantastic, high-impact evening 💪 - red shirt power at its finest!

Tonight, the team headed to the Tranquil Garden at Mostyn Gardens for a group session that was anything but sleepy! After a little reshuffling of the job list, we split into teams to tackle a trio of tasks: painting planters, digging to plant new trees, and getting stuck into some serious weeding.

Of course, in true GoodGym style, we got it all done and there was even time to catch up with some regulars that we haven't seen for a while. We also had the pleasure of meeting Brenda, who earned the very important t.shirt, by completing her very first session.

Well done everyone! Next week we are at Raynes Park station and need an idea of numbers in advance (to arrange the soil bags) so sign up if you can make it: https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/help-friends-of-raynes-park-station-with-moving-compost-ee5e966b-365c-4536-8ff4-eaffd3e5d078

We returned to Merton's Community Fridge to finish what we started: this time sorting through supplies and getting every box clearly labelled; benefitting from fresh batteries in the label maker! A couple of the team also helped with the clean up. It’s amazing what a difference a few labels and some elbow grease can make.

We spent our session tonight getting everything spic and span at the Community Fridge, knocking out the usual familiar cleaning jobs, leaving the space looking fresh and tidy for the week ahead.

Beyond the scrubbing, we spent some time prepping for next week’s group session creating a long list of tasks to keep us busy when we return with the full crew.

Want to help us tackle that to-do list? Sign up for next week's group session here: https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sign-up/help-with-deep-cleaning-and-other-jobs-at-merton-s-community-fridge

We had a great, albeit smaller, group tackling a shorter route with tonights Santa sleigh collections. Thanks to our experience last week we were entrusted with a vital responsibility: marshalling the sleigh.

Ensuring excited children and keen photographers experienced the magic safely. The team did a brilliant job guiding the crowds, keeping a watch on the sleigh, and facilitating smooth, safe interactions. Along the route others joined us to help with the collections and it was all completed very quickly.

It was a great evening supporting the Rotary team and collecting for Merton Mencap, meeting a few familiar and new faces along the way and despite a little persistent drizzle, the festive atmosphere and the sight of all the happy faces meant we enjoyed every minute.

Well done team!

Lots to cleaning and clearing today but we were set to finish ahead of schedule for a change. Until we realised the laundry had been forgotten!

This slight delay gave us the opportunity to handle the excess bread that needed disposing of along with thoroughly rinsing all the cloths.

A great end of day job as always - it's the last session next week, why not join us: https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/help-with-clean-up-at-merton-s-community-fridge-wednesday-f2e883b7-dfdb-41c9-b310-c0f76aa408e7