*Credit to Khai, the GoodGym pun King

We started the evening at Charlton House, discussing what we would do if we had more time in our lives. The thoughts ranged from more walking, sleeping, reading to traveling, painting and phone free time. Maybe we can try to carve out more time this year to do the things that bring us joy. 🌳📖 ☀️

But, back to the task in hand - one thing that brings us joy is a good old painting session and that's what we got stuck into at the lovely Charlton Manor Primary School after a quick run around the block. Mr Turner-Wing had everything prepared for us and we got to work on three sections of the school restaurant to give it a fresh coat of paint to try and make it look as dashing as the back wall which the team painted last time. It's amazing how a lick of paint brightens up a room! After 45 minutes the tubs of paint were all used up and we'd enjoyed a good chat and therapeutic rolling. Hopefully it looks better than it did before – the morning will tell! We’ll be back for more painting in a month and will have soon got the whole room done.

This weekend we’re back at St Richard’s and next Wednesday we’re at Dee’s nursery.

Until next time!

Last night was our first ever session at the Woolwich Service User Project (WSUP).

Khai's summary: 'Well, it was a jolly evening with an assortment of tidying tasks to be done. From artwork and toiletries to clothes for comfort. When the group is having fun lifting and squatting, time flies.' 😁

Jas was in the middle of a trustee meeting so he gave us a quick brief of the task which involved sorting out a load of donations and bringing some downstairs. The biggest challenge was manoeuvering 7 of us to sort the donations into zones in quite a tight space! We made quick work of it and even got some dumbbells in and then took our group pic* and went home to rest up for our painting task at Charlton Manor Primary today!

*Sadly it took the whole of the evening for me to come up with the WASUUUUP wise crack and yes all of my friends hung me out to dry with that picture. I won't forget that.

Well done team. Until next time!

...No wages, bitter cold, an hour of freezing fog, safe return without slipping over doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success.

6 full size (and one mini) GoodGymers channelled their inner Ernest Shackleton in a temperature of -2C, navigating the ice-packed shrubberies of Anchor & Hope Lane and the frozen wastes of Bugsby’s Way to chip icicle-covered crisp packets from the stone-hard earth.

Charlton is a little cleaner thanks to the 8 bags of rubbish collected – it was freezing but everyone’s warm heart obviously kept them going! A nice hot drink at the cafe warmed us up ready for the rest of our day.

Well done team! On Tuesday we're at WSUP sorting donations - sign up here and Wednesday we're back at Charlton Manor Primary.

*With apologies to E. Shackelton.

GoodGym Greenwich's first Wednesday task of 2025 brought us to the brilliant venue of St Richard's Church & Community Centre in Charlton. Our tasks here have generally involved weeding the open space around the building , but plenty of tasks in the upstairs hall kept us busy this evening: from a ladder climb to sweep away the cobwebs of 2024 (long vacated by their resident spiders) to a good scrub of some chairs donated by local schools.

Whilst some of us got on with touching up some paintwork, cleaning & vacuuming, some DIY experts competed in a shelving rack building competition. By the end it was more a case of us vs the shelves but GoodGym won and the shelves were completed! A nice start to the year I think. Great to see everyone again & Happy New Year! 🙂

Next week we're at WSUP on Tuesday and Charlton Manor Primary on Wednesday. This weekend we've got Westcombe Woodlands and charlton litter picking .

Until next time!

Today was our first non Parkrun task of the year and It was no ordinary task as we were celebrating Julian's 600th good deed! That's a whole lot of good Julian's done in south east London 💥💪🏼🎉

We were back at the Maryon Park Community Garden today with an array of things to keep us busy. Laura was sweeping, Julian and Khai turning the compost and Marta and Cat weeding and getting rid of the dead leaves from the beds while me and Arthur were de-Christmasing the tree. We spotted a fallen over fence so Julian got to work fixing it and after a busy while it was time for coffee and lovely treats that Edna gets ready for us.

Great job team and a lovely start to 2025! On Wednesday we're at St Richards for some weeding!

Until next time.

On a misty cold morning, one of those in between Christmas and New Year days with not much doing, we decided to go along and support the younger parkrunners with their weekly 2k event at Eltham Park South.

The volunteers were out in force early but no runners! We wondered if there would be any but were reassured that the youngsters tend to turn up with a minute to go!

We were sent out to our marshalling point at the far end of the course then suddenly they were off!! Forty six 4-to-14 year-olds took to the field and ran their socks off. We had our 'power up' gloves on and gave them all a power boost as they ran round the bend. A few parents ran alongside. One mum and dad took it in turns to carry their less than enthusiastic little one! One dad told us it was his son’s very first full parkrun.

After following the tail walkers back to the finish line, we enjoyed a nice hot cuppa to warm us up before heading off.

Great morning and two volunteer credits, one for GoodGym and one for parkrun.

Next Sunday we'll be helping at Lesnes Abbey junior parkrun for more of the same!