Southwark News

• This weekend do the double! Saturday morning Emily Mcgovern is going to Hilly Fields parkrun and then scooting the 2.5km over to Telegraph Hill Playclub to help transform their garden space. Find out more and sign up here.

• Busy on Saturday? Help put up a polytunnel at Tabard Community Gardens (near Borough station) from 11am. Find out more and sign up here.

• Hannah Foote is a hero! She's been doing good since November 2016 and she's about to hit 50 good deeds! Give her a cheer here.

• Next week we're cleaning and greening at Galleywall Nature Reserve - it's a 7km run overall. Find out more and sign up here.

That's enough of the business

Last night 10 runners ran 8km to Camberwell Subterranea to spread 2 tonnes of mulch on the raised beds.

Mulch = 'A protective covering (as of sawdust, compost, or paper) spread or left on the ground to reduce evaporation, maintain even soil temperature, prevent erosion, control weeds, enrich the soil, or keep fruit (such as strawberries) clean.'

We left bang on 7pm last night to run the 4km to Camberwell Subterranea to see Barnaby and his two tonnes of mulch! We arrived before Barnaby did and go to work on our secondary mission:

Make a representation of the number of what GoodGym launch we are (14)

Emily got to work with her vision, making an ingenious use of headtorches. Meanwhile Barnaby arrived and I helped him get all the tools and barrows out. Big shout out to Emily for the great photo!

We got to work - shovelling mulch into barrows and then shovelling it back out onto the raised beds outside the bike workshop. It looked like a daunting task on arrival but we finish both bags completely!

Photo Op! In the bags... obviously...!

A super duper task, and loads of help for Camberwell Subterranea!

Great work team, Lucy J

Southwark News

• 24th Feb is the GoodGym January long run. There's two pace groups, we're meeting at Brixton Station in the morning (times vary depending on what group you're in) and finishing at Forest Hill for lunch. Find out more and sign up here.

• Tuesday 26th Feb Emily is hosting a fundraising pub quiz night in Westminster - help them in their amazing aim to raise £2500 for three fantastic charities. Find out more here.

• Thursday 28th Feb Matt Guy is holding a fundraiser for Westminster House at Batch. It's an evening of short films on running (called 'Running Shorts' oh the pun joy!) - tickets come with a free drink get them here.

• Next week we're spreading the word for Food2You a new volunteer operated service for over 50s suffering from or at risk of malnutrition. Sign up here. Next week is also the social so hang around after for a drink and a nibble!

That's enough of the business

Last night 8 runners gathered for one heck of a task! We ran the 4km (plus a bit) to Camberwell Subterranea to meet Barnaby who showed us our mission.

2 tonnes of soil to be moved into raised beds on the shed roof

I have to admit it looked like a daunting task! The operation worked thusly: shovellers shovelling soil into plastic crates, crates then wheelbarrowed to near the shed where they were lifted with great chutzpah (by David and Barnaby) to the team on the roof who then spread out the contents up on the roof. We realised on arrival that we hadn't quite grasped just how much 2 tonnes was! But once we'd worked out the system, it was a well oiled machine of all nine (including Barnaby) of us working hard to get the bags emptied and onto the roof.

13th November is Galentine's Day (it's a Parks and Rec thing)

At one point we thought the planters might have nearly met their capacity. We were wrong! Barnaby came up onto the roof and stamped down the existing soil in the beds and we realised there was plenty more to go. Ah well, better crack on!

Fun Fact: Nearly 50% of us were called Lucy last night

I realised at the end of the evening that I'd forgotten to put the flash on my phone so all my photos were incredibly dark. Woops! Victorious with the empty bags, we were buzzing as we ran home.

And if a two tonne soil bag , lands infront of us

To shovel by your side, well the pleasure, the privilege is mine

What a task!

Great work team, we'll be back moving even more (but this time mulch) in two weeks time. We'll need even more hands on deck then.

Lucy J