A very cold trip to the Feed the Hill Foodbank to pick up supplies for the disabled Ms L. As usual the requests from Ms L was rice, pasta plus any fruit and veg they have. One of the unusual things on offer was pumpkins - I checked with Ms L before taking one but she was eager for me to bring one back. Once the shopping was unloaded at her flat we had a chat about recipes for pumpkin soup.

While I was waiting for my turn, I had a chat with one of the volunteers about whether GG could help in any way with their operation either as a one off or more regularly. They will have a think and come back to me.

With the promise of a relaxing evening bulb planting, the number of red tshirts (some hidden under many layers) was promising as we headed off to RUSS Community Housing, only to find out we weren't planting bulbs but instead shifting topsoil!

In true GoodGym spirit no one minded the change of task and it was definitely a task that kept us warm!

Part of the group stayed by the time capsule (and hopefully didn't open it!!) ready to receive the bags of top soil and empty them onto some pre-laid out cardboard.

Another part of the group tackled digging up the top soil and putting it into bags. There was a good rhythm going by the end including some lovely delicate shoveling with the small spade!

The remainder of the group wheeled the bags to and from both locations! There was a variety of modes of transport, some could handle the job and some looked like they might tip over at anytime - the modes of transport, not the GoodGymers!!

We were then treated to tea and biscuits to warm us up before we headed back to Glass Mill for a quick cool down. Not before we admired Vic's running technique as she disappeared into the distance and decided to try our best to replicate but we might have all ended up with pulled muscles so we'll leave that to the experts!

Heavy bags but enough to keep Mrs J going for a week or two

1 GoodGymer joined 28 other hardy volunteers on this windy Sunday morning to help make this junior parkrun happen! It was a fun one, with a visit from parkrun HQ and lots of discussion about what makes parkrun special.

One of my regular plogging sessions on the Ravensbourne in Deptford’s Brookmill Park. Water levels were quite low so there were a couple of sections of the floodplain/bank that I was able to get to bits I don’t usually reach. The rest though was still pretty good from last week’s plogging, with one exception - an abandoned Lime Bike which was reported for clearing.

Course check ahead of parkrun was more removing small branches brought down by the fringes of Storm Bert than plogging (although that was done too!) Mountsfield Park looking lovely despite the grey skies and winds.