Goodgym returned to the lovely garden of the Phoenix Marsh trust to help out the wonderful Sue, whose professional gardening skills guided us to continue to help manage this garden. Leaves were swept, brambles trimmed back, and lots of weeding was done. A particular highlight was the gathering of ripe apples for the garden’s apple tree. There was a very large haul of apples which were enough for the Trust’s cook to have some to cook for the residents as well as Goodgymers to take some home. Hopefully some apple crumbles will be made by volunteers this evening!

In the latest of our recent visits to this impressive church in Hither Green, 6 GoodGymers arrived with one thing in mind; painting! Having been closed and used for nothing but spider homemaking for the past 18 months, St Swithun’s hall was ready for some sprucing via a fresh all-round coat of magnolia.

Our 6 began by applying masking tape to the floor and pillars that separated the sections of wall due for a good brushing before washing off the mix of dust, cobwebs and old confetti that adorned the adjacent window ledges.

Then out came the brushes as the team set about cutting in the edges, ensuring a neat job would be done. At last, it was time to grab those rollers and make a real difference! The large wall panels were efficiently covered before moving on to the few remaining fiddly bits to complete the job.

There was just time for a quick check around and cleaning up of any stray pain splatters (well, no-one’s perfect!) before the pallets and brushes were washed and a team photo was snapped as the sun came out and illuminated the hall’s smart new coat!

Got my heart heart rate up giving the Southwark Day centre windows a good clean getting them looking looking spic and span!