A HUGE welcome to BECKY & TOM this week, new friends of the group who will hopefully be back again soon! WELL DONE to MICHELLE for spreading the GG word and growing the family! Everyone please do feel welcome to spread the word and bring along friends, all welcome.

HUGE CONGRATS to STEVE &KIM on reaching the big 50 DEED CLUB- a club that is growing with so many fantastic, committed regular runners!

This week we were back at the Abbeydale Picture House helping CADS redevelop the space.

We split into 2 groups;

TEAM BALCONY - Lifting and shifting items and trying out amazing hats and trousers (on heads...)

TEAM PVA - Coating the walls and Cherubs with a much needed coat of sealing PVA.

We even had a guided tour of the progress from STEVE on the one year anniversary of the opening. A HUGE amount of progress has been made and much of it down to the help of GOOD GYM - well done all!

FITNESS TIME this week saw the return of the cards with each runner having an exercise they performed for 10s or 10reps and then sprinted up the central aisle and back to centre stage. A great effort by all with some new exercises for some.

On route back we had a few rounds of chase the leader with some loop backs to provide some great interval sprints for those wanting to push their effort levels. WELL DONE to all who gave it a shot!

Great progress is being made on the JAN challenge, but we do need a few more deeds to be done to reach out target so now is the time to bring your friends, get to that mission or sign up to do coach runs!

Well done to all on the run!

HAPPY RUNNING ;)

TOM

Last night in Wandsworth we started the week right with a short and speedy run, an equally short and speedy task, plus a fun fitness session.

Stephanie, William, Alice and Lynn all joined us for their very first GoodGym group run last night with some fantastic running, so give them all a cheer!

We had some great news last night, with a couple of Wandsworth runners smashing the Oxford Half Marathon on Sunday and still making it to the group run - Tom and Matt, well done!

The run was short-ish so we made sure we took our time warming up to run in the cool night air, and heard about all the ways in which everyone takes care of their own mental wellbeing - of course GoodGym and running took the top spots, with wine and baths also scoring highly. Running and exercise are great ways to de-stress and your body will get a rush of endorphins, ensuring you feel good! One runner wrote an article about it all here.

We took a speedy 2.5km run down to Alderbrook Primary School, with David backmarking, to move some furniture from the top of the school down to the bottom. After a quick photo we were shown to the room where all the furniture was stored - it was about 4 flights of stairway up to the top of the school, so we knew we were in for a good leg and arm workout. Everyone got stuck straight in and split up into groups to carry chairs, tables and shelves all the way down to the playground where everything got stored in a small out-building. With so many hands helping out it was all over quickly and we were ready for our run back to BAC.

We stopped on the common for a longer fitness session where we found out who is scared of spiders and who cycles to work amid all the planking, sumo squats and reverse crunches. As we finished the task so quickly we even had time for some quick games of fish and chips and duck duck goose!

Thanks for having me to lead the run Wandsworth. Ana will be back in her rightful place next week when we visit Wendelsworth Community Garden to see our GG Tree.

Awesome run report written this week by the epic Enrique who we wish a very happy birthday to as well!!

Tasked this week to help the beautiful people of Harlesden Community Garden with a clear away of an overgrown perimeter walkway. It would be a 2.5k chase from base to clear a path, with this lot it’s bound to be a laugh. There were even some excited high kicks upon arrival (Well it was my Birthday) relieved to be notching up ever more years of survival!

So, the middle of May had us in sartorial muddles with her insistence on spots of rain, even slippery puddles. Powering through a well paced 2.5k, we dart through traffic and people on there way. But eventually We’ve arrived. . .

GoodGym Brent we are all relevant! . . .Ordinary people from all around, coming together to pound the ground, running to achieve something sound! The team are smart, funny, kind, some of the best GoodGymers you’ll ever find! Through the naff weather we were wielding spades, or being careful with razor-sharp clipper blades, even taking turns hauling rakes - Ah, the gift of back-aches!

Ellie our Captain, Drill Sergeant and all round amazinger thought (as usual) that this perfect scene was not quite right - not quite LEAN!

Bottom obsessed in a brilliant way, we were taken in two sets PAY! Commanded to complete a cunningly complex combination of crippling SQUATTT exercises!! All set and timed to the beat of J Lo!? Loads of fun - Mo power to yo Bun!

Our valiant efforts for a path of clear view would have been easier without the stench of Nettle Stew!! - That’s a powerful eco-friendly stinky brew!!!! Designed to repel all manner of pests - It’s a genuine wonder the birds don’t flee their nests!

NOTE Harlesden Community Gardens have an open day this Sat so get on down to say hello - Might even be some BBQ food you know!

So, after running hard then working harder it was back at base - A quick tidy then outta the place. With exhaustion causing the group to split we stopped to regroup as we neared RoundWood Park - About ½ way back. Rest time we thought: YAY! Ellie said: NO - NO WAY!

WALKING LUNGES x2 sets of 30 Now this was a real li-Berty!

Genuinely tired - Oh so hurty, what a great way to celebrate being 8 + 30!

See you next time!!!!

Well, maybe not the town but an inside shop wall to help Greenwich & Bexley Hospice get there shop refurbishment a step forward. This week I was so pleased to have three new faces on our run and task. Welcome Mavis, Jane and Caz, I really hope you enjoyed yourselves. We certainly enjoyed having you. After signing in we went into our mandatory pre-run chat and warmup. Well done Fidellis for winning the prize of 10 star jumps In our favourite car competition. Serves you right for having expensive tastes 😂. On warming up (remember we warm up to run, not run to warm up) we headed out of base camp Crooklog and straight up towards Welling. There's something quite satisfying about running and dodging commuters as they head home and we head to do our good deed. On arrival we were greeted with smiling faces and refreshing water, thanks Mandy. It's at this point we go from runners to good deeders and got stuck straight in to the task. With a team cutting in and a team rolling , the hardest part for me was stopping the guys painting my beard whiter then what it all ready is. Little did they know pay back would be on our run home. <Little did they know pay back would be on the run home
With the gang doing a brilliant job it was left to our tallest member Fidellis to finish off all the areas at the top. After admiring our professional workman ship and posing for photo's (think we're getting pretty good at that) it was time to say our good byes and head back to base camp Crooklog. With this weeks runners being of all abilities we set a meet up point at Welling Football Club for our first fitness drill. Thanks Eilleen and Janine for looking after the front group, you guys were brilliant as always. As we arrived at Welling FC, pay back for the attempted beard painting was due and it started in the form of wall squats, ouch!! <As we arrived at Welling FC, pay back for the attempted beard painting was due. After a competitive sit off ** we were off again and to **my delight soon came across perfect walls for my wall press ups and tricep dip drills. Payment was due, and the debt was going to be paid in full 😂 After doing our bingo wing destroying exercises it was just a short run back to Crooklog for our cool down and natter on how it all went. Bexley Goodgymers you were brilliant as always. I really enjoyed your company and can't wait to do it all again next week.............. Last but not least Happy Birthday Tanya hope you had an awesome day 🎉

Twelve runners set out on a beautiful Monday night for short trot down to the Old Harlesden Police Station where a huge task awaited them out the back...

Abraham was there to meet and greet, and introduced us to Colin, who explained that a new art complex called CREATE SPACE will soon be opening there and will be available for local community use, and that they are fighting to make it a great space for everyone, rather than letting it be developed into blocks of flats. Anyone looking for more information about volunteering or signing up as members can contact colinlearatceatespace@outlook.com (0749 232 1626).

Colin led us out to the previously unexplored territory round the back of the station, (where the creepy old Willesden gallows are located!!!) and set us all to work, with Sadhana, our intrepid (and prolific) photographer catching all the best action moments!

There was (quite LITTER-ally) heaps to do;

• moving wood

• weeding

• sawing branches

• moving piles of mattresses

• litter picking

• fighting unruly ivy...

...but the team were undaunted - we had no trouble with the rubble! and cleared some space in that place! Bravely ignoring slugs and wee beasties, brushing past clumps of nettles and thistles and enduring their nasty stings, we worked on for 50 minutes, searching for doc leaves to soothe the pain, but to no avail... We packed up and set off back for the Queensbury with just a sliver of daylight left - yay for spring!

Before you go... The next GoodGym monthly drinks will be on Thursday 6th April from 6.30pm til late, upstairs at the Marquis of Cornwallis, WC1N 1AP (near Russell Sq). All the details are here: https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/gg-monthly-social-april I hope you can make it!

The next is a 'save the date' for the GoodGym Olympics, which will be held on Saturday 10th June at the Parilament Hill Track from 1-6pm; the idea is that different boroughs compete in events like 400m, and the elimination mile, to more novel events like a welly throwing competition and even hopefully a wheelbarrow race with real wheelbarrows. Each area will be encouraged to make their own flag for the event and even have a GoodGym Bake-off (ala a summer fate style), so hopefully it will be something for everyone.

Bye for now, till next time! XXX

We started the week off with a bang rather than a whimper last night in Battersea, when 30 fabulous runners covered over 7 k to help out a local primary school.

But first we had to pay homage to our amazing heroes – well done for running the furthest this week Jack, Luke and Matthew, and to David Mathieson for smashing out the greatest number of good deeds with a whopping nine this month. Give them a cheer! Then we welcomed our newest lovely runners, everybody say hello to Carina and Kat. Great to have you with us.

It was a numbers-based CoRUNdrum this week – how many passenger journeys are taken on red London busses every day? I’ll give you a clue; the answers ranged from 750 000 to 20million. It may sound like a dull one but it got us talking about the merits of the routemaster, how annoying is it when the back doors don’t open, and the demise of bendy buses. Ahh, we know how to have fun in Wandsworth.

Rain Drop Drop Top

Thanks for the hiphop pun drop, Jack! It all started off so well – with Vicki and David back marking, off we set for Granard Primary school. We’ve been there to help this lovely place before, and if you’re wondering what difference we can make, have a look at page 4 of their newsletter here. It was a longish run tonight but the team attacked it in true Wandsworth fashion. It was only when we were stepping through the gates of the school that the heavens opened. Good timing. Still, undeterred we forged on.

Having a wheely good time

Half the team immediately got involved carting huge wheelbarrows full of soil across the playground, emptying the bags enough so that eventually we could pull them. As Ben pointed out, we tugged a half tonne bag through a combination of strength, style and pure grit and looked like we were in an episode of World’s Strongest Man AND WOMAN. Meanwhile, some runners got stuck into raking and levelling the ground ready for the tarps and eventually the soil to be laid. It was fast and furious work, and featured a lovely spade dance from Jenny and Sarah.

Raining Cats and Frogs

Thanks again to Jack ‘The Punmaster’ Wong for another cracker. While all this soil-based fun was going on, Team Amphibi-Run were round the corner tending to the lovely wildlife pond. With gloves on and spades in hand they set about clearing the area. Ella volunteered to leap into the (empty, thankfully) pond in order to save no less than SIX frogs and whole bunch of soon-to-be-baby frogs in the shape of a big ol' mess of frog spawn.

“I want to become a frog conservationist” said Ella

in a Gone with the Wind style declaration, spade held aloft. OK, Oscars fever might have got to me a bit here. Frogs rescued, pond cleared, it was time to head back to Putney station. While David, Luke and Jack made the questionable yet admirable decision to run it, the rest of us bundled onto the train, and discussed our plans for pancake eating today. Turns out that pancakes have a balance of carbohydrates and protein that helps with quick recovery nutrition, so everybody get stuck in.

There’s lots of (hopefully much drier) fun to be had next week, where we will be celebrating Vicki’s last Wandsworth GG run (sob) before she jets off, so there will be drinks after the run. There is also a GoodGym wide social on Thursday, you can sign up here. And finally don’t forget to sign up for next week’s run here. It’s not a huge run but we’ll be working hard filling the flower beds at a secret garden used by local primary school children to grow fruit and veg. It’s going to be a goodie, so join us!