Despite it being the end of the January Challenge, we still had plenty of GoodGymers keen to run on a Wednesday night and do good in their local area! Sam opened up Old Spike to meet the friendly faces of Daryl, David, Isaac, Lucy, Maria, Nelly, Roberta, Steve and Tim.

Sam went through his usual GG intro speech and tonight, he only had an ice-breaker snap-poll, which was to do with National (deep-pan) Pizza Day (in the US) and Lunar New Year happening on Saturday. He asked which one you would order when having an food app up: deep pan or Chinese?

Winning by a few votes was Chinese!

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Brushing up on our painting skills

After a quick warm-up in the alleyway, Sam led the group out back onto Rye Lane with Lindy backmarking as she was carrying her work items with her (as she wanted to make her way back home after the task). Speedy Sam rushed down Rye Lane, Surrey Canal Walk and into Burgess Park (with a slight diversion) before 500 metres later arriving at St. Mary Newington Close to find James, Paulin and Phil already tucking into a tub of pink paint and applying it onto a wooden bench. Yes, we came over to Southwark Communities to apply another lick of paint on the donated garden furniture as Spring is just around the corner and the residents will be out and about enjoying the garden. At the task, we met Lottie (task owner), Folarin and eventually, after taking the bus over, Louise.

With loads of paint tins and paint brushes, Sam split the team:

• As mentioned, James, Paulin and Phil applied pink paint to a bench and had to quickly sand a mossy chair before quickly putting pink paint on it.
• Daryl, Isaac and Lindy painted two wooden chairs pink.
• Folarin, Lucy and Steve initially had to sand a bench before applying a grey-ish green paint.
• Louise, Maria and Tim concentrated on one wooden bench and painted it blue.
• David, Nelly and Roberta applied blue paint on two wooden chairs.

It was such a therapeutic task and we had plenty of time (40 minutes) to apply a good coat of paint. Once it came to time, we took back the paint and paint brushes to the kitchen to wash up before taking our mandatory group photo.

On the way back, we said goodbye to a couple of runners as they peeled off home, but those who stayed until the end got a lovely stretch!

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out last night! It was a chilly night, but hopefully running faster than usual helped with warming the core. Thank you to Daryl and Lindy for backmarking on the run. We're off to Salvation Army Camberwell Corps next Wednesday for more painting on Valentine's Day!