Last night 6 members of Goodgym Croydon, braved the cold weather and ran 6.4km to do a spot of gardening at St Pauls United reform Church. They had some trees cut down toward the front of the Church, however the spot was being taken over by ivy and they wanted our help in clearing the Ivy to prepare the area for planting flowers. The weather was freezing so we set about out task as soon as Sue informed us of what she would like us to do. As we worked on weeding the ivy a few members of the community who were on their way home from work stopped to admire what we were doing as they were surprised to see us gardening in the night. Although there were only 6 of us we managed to clear a big area and partially rescued a tree that had some massive ivy vines growing on it. Soon it was time for us to bid farewell and Sue thank us for the work we had completed and inform us that she had some decorating she would like our help with in the future.

Next week we'll be indoors at the Croydon Refugee centre helping them sort through their donation sign up here

Happy New Year all.

Its the start of 2022, and we are back to pick up where we left off last year by doing what we do best in our local community, get fit by doing good.

Last night 5 of us met at Solution before heading over to Croydon Refugee Day Centre to assist them with the generous donations received from members of the community over the festive period.

The rain was drizzling but after a bit of chatter and finding out what others got up to over the holidays we headed out into the rain to run half mile down the road to Croydon Refugee Day Centre, where Ivanka was awaiting our arrival.

Last nights' task was to bag up items of clothing that were not suitable for the users of the centre to be sold to a clothes recycling company. For each bag of 10kg they receive £2, the money received is then used to buy toiletries and other essentials for the users of the centre.

There was an array of items that were donated from designer clothes to old beat out cycling shoes and even used underwear, come on I know they meant well when packing the bags but why would some donate their old underwear?!

Two of the bags of clothing donated really stood out as each was labeled with a list of items in the bag and the sizes, you could see a lot of thought and effort went into packing those bags and they were things that although old to the previous owner still had life in them for someone who had nothing.

Between the 5 of us we managed to fill over 7 bags which would be sold for £14-£16, which to some of us wouldn't seem like very much but to the folks at Croydon Refugee Day Centre it goes a long way in helping them to assist the refugees they come into contact with that rely on the aid they provide.

Croydon Refugee Day Centre is alway looking for volunteers and donations so if you or a loved one is about to change up your wardrobe in preparation for the next season do bear them in mind. Donations of clothes and shoes that still have some life in them will be gratefully received (they particularly need menswear)

If you would like details of how to get in touch regarding volunteering or how to make donations get in touch with me and I can pass on Ivanka's details.

Come and join us next week as we head over to St Augustines' for some gardening sign up here

Last night 5 members of Goodgym Croydon along with Lizzie from "trees for streets" met for our weekly group session. This week were were out and about in Addiscombe East ward delivering leaflets to the residents about Trees for Streets. Before we set off and following LIzzie's briefing there was one very important achievement to acknowledge, it was Callum's 10th good deed, credit to our friends in Wandsworth also as he started with them before moving to Croydon and wasn't too scarred and broken from Ana's fitness sessions.

Trees for Streets and Croydon Council are working together to get more trees planted in the borough. Why some may ask? * to help tackle climate change and pollution * improve the health of the residents and those who work, study and socialise in the borough * leave a legacy that will last for generations * create a haven for wild life * make the borough a nicer place to live, study, work and play

The name said it all Trees for Streets, but there is a lot more to it than just planting trees on the streets as Lizzie informed us.

This also wasn't Lizzie's first outing with Goodgym promoting Trees for Streets either, she informed us that she had a similar outing with Tower Hamlets and they delivered 2,100 on the first outing and 1,100 on the second. I felt like the challenge had been set, not that we are competitive but its always good to have a number to work towards. With the threat of torrential rain and 6 members we delivered 650 leaflets, Lizzie did point out that the groups she went with in Tower Hamlets had more participants so we were definitely better than them.(not to mention that we have convinced her to move to Croydon, should she decide to ever move again plus we will be her home area despite not living in Croydon)

While out leafleting we encountered a few members of the community interested in what we were doing which we were happy to tell them about, however one gentleman took a liking to us and started videoing/taking pictures while muttering away. We did tell him what we were doing however, he clearly did not hear what we said and mistook us as canvasing for a political party, with whom he had some negative history so wasn't very complementary! He finally listened to what we were saying, that we were not canvasing for any political party and that we were promoting Trees for Streets. He swiftly apologized for his rant and commended us on what we were doing got in his car honked the horn and off he went. I wonder if he will be contacting Trees for Street for a tree?

Have you noticed there is a monster invasion in Croydon?

Paul has set you all a challenge, you can run, walk, cycle or scoot your way around the borough to see how many you can find, how many there are I do not know but I am interested to find out. Winners will be presented with their prize and trophy at the next social. Please post your photos in the WhatsApp group if you are not a member of the WhatsApp group and would like to join please get in touch with me or a task force member.

Next week we will be heading to St Augustine's Sign up here

Last night 8 members of Goodgym Croydon attended Harris Academy in West Croydon to assist Unique Roots.

Before commencing on our run we had a vigorous warm up of jogging on the spot, high knees, squats and lunges to name but a few, to make sure that we were prepared for this week's task . Our run to the site was a short one we ran just over half a mile which meant that we had a lot of time to complete the task.

Tuesday 21st was a date we all had set in our minds as we knew it was the day after Pam's birthday and we have been looking forward to celebrating with her, not just because we were promised cake, but because she is always so smiley and bubbly.

Before we got to the birthday festivities we had some weeding to do, we then covered all of the beds in weed membrane to prepare them for next week's forest school activities. Each bed will be themed to represent the houses of the school. Pam mentioned that before planting commences they will be undertaking soil samples to check which plants or crops will thrive in that environment. The aim of this school project is to ensure the children know where their food is coming from and the process that goes in to growing produce before it hits the supermarket shelves. Pam wants to ensure that the children enjoy this activity and will be encouraging them to choose what to plant in each bed.

We managed to complete our task within time and pack away the tools, then it was time for singing and cake. I wish I could tell you how the cake tastes but unfortunately I left it in the office!

Last night 6 members set off from solutions to run to St Augustine's where we were going to assist with getting the garden and church yard ready for the community showcase on Saturday. As the weather was hot we ensured that we took a nice jog gentle jog to the task. When we arrived there were 5 other members awaiting our arrival with Sue. We greeted each other including having a mini presentation for YasserYasser, where he was presented with a pair of new running shoes from Sue.

As usual Sue had a list of things she wanted us to do, after reading out the list members volunteered for the roles they wanted to do and went off with the appropriate tools to help them do their selected task.

I woke up this morning ready to write the run report but after checking my email to see the below message from Sue I knew I would not be able to top her comments so I'll let her tell you what we did.

Thank you all so much for what you did yesterday. It was beyond perfection in the early morning light today. The under beech area is almost level after years of GG attention, benches clean preserved even fragrant, trees and bushes perked up with water, all rubble neatly stacked, bags of beech nut mulch collected, gabion completed and more. Great up beat event from the start with humour throughout. Some of my best bits include Yasser breaking into a hip wiggling dance when asked to wiggle the gabion, people quietly holding torches so we could work in the dark, quietly helping each other on new tasks, noticing the difference they have made like trees planted and beds developed and cleared over the years and stories of me being sucked into wet holes during big bush and tree planting endeavours. A great evening all round. We can't thank you enough and hope everyone enjoyed it too. Sue.

ps. no one was sitting down on the job even if there is photographic evidence.

It was an amazing sight walking around the church yard as I remembered what it looked like before we started helping out to what it has been transformed to now. Sue and the local community has turned the space into an amazing community space, however there was that disappointing sign warning off the plant thieves.

Next week we will be heading to Wandle park to help the friends of Wandle Park please walk with your head torches as we will be working in darkness towards the end of the task.

Signup to next weeks task here

Today we ran to to one of our furthest task over in Thornton Heath, Unique Roots to help Pam on the allotment. She had a variety of task for us to complete so when she saw the size of the group she was so excited. We have done many task at the allotment in the winter months prior to the pandemic so it was good to be there today to see the fruits of our labour. The raised beds we helped to erect, had vegetables and plants growing in them. There was also a new addition to the space, that had Pam beaming with excitement. She had a new polytunnel installed. Inside the polytunnel there were a few seed pots that had been planted by one of the groups Pam works with, their seeds had grown and was ready to be transplanted, however that wasn't why we were there.

Tasks

• cut back the branches from the tress that were over hanging in the entrance to the allotment
• build some raised beds in the polytunnel
• reap the vegetables that were ready to be picked.
• water the vegetables
• transfer the compost to the raised beds
• refill the compost area with the leaves from the tree we had cut

The group broke up into smaller groups and focus on the different tasks that was available Sarah, Ros, Nicola and Ingrid were the first to finish the tasks they had chosen (building the raised beds in the polytunnel) so they helped on the other tasks. Yasser and Callum were busy taking turns in sawing off the overhanging branches from the trees once they had cut off a branch they brought it to the side of the polytunnel where Sarah broke of the small branches and leaves creating two piles one for the small parts for the compost area and another with the bigger branches all sawed and ready to be packed away for bonfire night. While she was busily breaking up the branches Callum brought in some more branches that they had cut from the trees and before she knew it she was fenced in.

Ian and Sam worked on emptying the compost bin and when they finished Ian joined in with transporting the leaves to the compost bin, while Sam joined Nicola and Ros with watering the vegetables, while Ingrid helped to pick the tomatoes. While some where finishing up the last bits of the task Pam, was telling Sarah and Callum about some of her plans for the space and the various groups she works with.

Before we left Pam reminded us that she would see us next week at another of her sites and thanked us for a job well done. On our way out of the allotment we noticed a sunflower plant with 10 flowers we stopped and admired it before heading out the gates for our return run.

Today as we ran along the front of Fairfield Halls we were joined by three members of the public who jogged at the back of the group cheering us on as we made our way to Park Hill, it was nice listening to them clapping and shouting words of encouragement, sadly we were not able to take them with us to the park but at least we helped them raise their heart rate for at least 45 seconds.

We started off from solutions with 8 members however, due to work commitments and injury three members of the group met us at the task taking the group up to 11 members.

Josi and Catherine had our tasks planned in advance of our arrival, unfortunately Jeremy the Stag had been vandalised so one of the task was to repaint Jeremy to cover up the graffiti so that he would be ready for the children's story time tomorrow, up stepped Sarah, Kate and Yasser, look at the pictures to see the before and after they did a great job of covering up the graffiti story time will be going ahead as planned.

The next task was litter picking no surprise the first volunteer to step forward, Ingrid, still wearing that crown of queen litter picker was all smiles as she was handed Josi's personal litter picker and off the went around the park gather bits of litter. As great a litter picker she was we knew she would be able to cover the entire park in the time we had so we had three more members of the group (Nicola, Magda and Ros) assisting her.

Sam was given a broom, but did not ride it or whistle, however she was tasked with sweeping up some of the pine leaves that had fallen from pine tree, I have never seen anyone sweep an area covered in pine leaves so clean before, we we left in awe, lets hope the trees behave themselves tonight and does not shed anymore leaves undoing the wonderful work of Sam.

What about Ollie and Hannah?

Ollie and Hannah volunteered to cut back an overgrown area in the walled garden in preparation for the digger arrival tomorrow to dig over the soil. They made a huge inroad into clearing the area however after the others had finished their tasks they joined in.

Before we knew it our time was up, Josi and Catherine thank us for the work we had done and we took some photos by Jeremy the Stag after admiring the work of Sarah, Kate and Yasser.

Next weeks adventure will be with Pam at unique roots why not join us?