In a couple of weeks we are helping the Community Hospice collect donations alongside Bexley Rotary Club's much loved Santa Sleigh. Our task this evening was delivering leaflets to houses along the route so they knew when Santa will be visiting their street.

It was an earlier-than-usual start as we were heading for our Xmas meal straight after the task.

We set off briskly, admiring the Christmas lights and decorations as we weaved our way in and out of driveways. On route we arrived at the Xmas House ablaze with lights and it's own Santa sleigh 🛷 🎅🏻 on the roof! What a spectacle!

After photos we carried on with the leaflets, racing around the roads to cover as much ground as possible. Unfortunately Manish had an encounter with an excited pup 🐶 and needed to get some medical advice. We wish him well and hope to see him soon.

Leaflets delivered, it was on to our Xmas social where there was lots of merriment and celebrations. We have had an excellent year at GoodGym Bexley and as we reflected over the achievements we all raised our glasses 🍷. Sarah is very near to completing her 500 good deeds - wow what an awesome achievement! Massive well done to her!

Johnny won the GG quiz and Lisa came second! Well done to them! We even got our dancing on Tik Tok!

We can't wait for the next party night!

A brisk wind greeted us this Sunday, reminding everyone that winter is just around the corner, but the cold weather didn't deter the fantastic juniors at Lesnes Abbey Woods parkrun!

I had the pleasure of volunteering as the Tail Walker, ensuring that every runner, jogger, and walker made it safely around the course, and leaving no one behind.

It was wonderful to see so many little hands and feet moving quickly to stay warm!

Thank you to all the juniors who came out, and we look forward to seeing everyone back next week to earn those post-run treats.

It was a classic late-November morning at Danson Park—cool, grey, and squishy underfoot—but the atmosphere was anything but muted.

This week, I had the privilege of seeing the entire event unfold from the finish funnel, volunteering as both Finish Token distributor and Report Writer.

Handing out those tokens is truly the best view: seeing the sheer effort, the final sprint, and the massive relief on everyone's faces is absolutely infectious.

The core of parkrun shines brightest on these chilly days. It was fantastic to see so many determined runners and walkers, and we also want to give a huge nod to our community partners who joined us, supporting the important White Ribbon initiative.

Thank you to all the runners, and especially to every single high-vis hero! It's an honour to write about the spirit you create every week.

With most of us coming from a thwarted leafleting task earlier in the morning, and Ceci meeting us at this task, we were back at the Community Hospice for a second session of thorn-thrashing - cutting back a prickly area of brambles so that hidden fruit trees and other suffocated plants can thrive again.

We had cleared about half the area last month, and this time we were determined to get the rest done. Before the rain.

And we did just that!

Just as we were taking the tools back to the shed, the rain set in. It was definitely a lucky escape as the forecast would have seen us getting very wet much earlier. Or perhaps the weather gods recognised that GoodGymers giving up their time to help others deserve a break!

The hard work done, a few of us enjoyed a tasty lunch and good natter in the Hospice canteen, then headed home.

Jason, the Hospice's head gardener, is sure to have plenty more for us to do on our next visit, and the more hands the better, so come along and join us!

This morning was all about helping two brilliant local charities and supporting a local parkrun.

First up Bexley parkrun - Manish in hi-viz handing out finishing tokens; Marta, Julian, Johnny and me running. Afterwards we mingled with the other runners, giving out Mind in Bexley's leaflets promoting their Mental Elf run in the park next weekend. So far, so good 👌!

When Ivar arrived, we donned jolly elf hats and set off to pop lots more Mental Elf run leaflets through letterboxes of houses close to the park. Well, that was plan at least.

However, a resident at the second house told us he already had a leaflet because someone else had delivered fliers along the street earlier in the week 🤔.

Not wanting Mind in Bexley to receive complaints from locals about having been targeted twice, we called it a day on that task, said 'bye' to Manish and moved on to the Community Hospice for some bramble-bashing.

Things may not always go to plan with GoodGym, but we always have fun time when we get together, so it's never a wasted venture.

Come and give GoodGym a go.

We had a treemendous time decorating the trees at Parkview Care Home last night!

After some of us ran to the task from the sports centre, we met up with Andy, the care home activity co-ordinator, and the other GoodGymers.

We split into two groups in order to decorate the trees in different lounges, with the help of some of the residents. We had a lot of fun chatting with them and sorting through all the baubles.

In no time at all the trees were done and it was time for us to go.

Ho ho ho until next time ✨️!