Sam's penultimate group run as AA led had finally arrived! It was also going to be our last time going to Cossall Estate for this year. As Old Spike Peckham opened, we welcomed in Cecilia, Daryl, Rosemary, David, Maria, Nelly, Rosalind and Mansur. Sam knew that Benjamin would meet them there.

He went through his usual speech and on the day of "Cheese burger Day", Sam asked an ice-breaker question to identify: "Where the best cheeseburger is?", for those veggie, vegan or didn't understand the question: "What's your go-to fast food chain?"

We had a mixture of GoodGym and Women's Aid as favourite charities, I can't read what people are reading...apologies and lastly, we had from Neck Oil to Guinness as people's favourite beers...yes, Guinness is a stout...

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One of our shortest runs

After a quick warm-up in the the Green, Sam led the group out through to Peckham Rye park to cover half of the park before heading into Nunhead Green and down to Cossall Estate. It's easily our shortest run at GoodGym Southwark minus Salvation Army Nunhead. Daryl backmarked the run and we met Benjamin at the task as he had cycled there from home.

Alan and Jaki were waiting for us inside Cossall Hall as well as Oscar the dog. They had prepared all the tools and were ready to split the team into two. The first team were led by Alan with litter pickers and black bags to do a litter picking session in Kirkwood Nature Reserve. This consisted of Benjamin, Daryl, David, Emma and Rosemary. Whilst Maria, Mansur, Nelly and Rosalind stayed to clear and clean the courtyard of Cossall Hall from weeds and leaves.

As 20:00 arrived, the litter pickers were back from their haul and the gardeners had finished tidying up the space. Just enough time to pack the tools away and take a group photo on the stage. I can't believe that is it for the year and we will be back in the Spring of 2025!

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out last night! Alan and Jaki are always appreciative of all the work we do and the help we can give. Thank you to Daryl for backmarking the runs.

Has it been half a year already?! With Summer solstice behind us, it was time that we came together to celebrate the summer in true GoodGym Southwark fashion - summer social at a rooftop bar in Peckham!

However, before we could get to that stage, we needed to put in a good shift. The night started with everyone feeling the heat from the hottest day of the year as they arrived at Old Spike Peckham. Sam opened up coffee shop for Maria, Sarah who came visiting from GG Greenwich, Emma, Nelly, Paulin, James, Nathan, Daryl and Louise. Sam knew a few GoodGymers would meet him at Cossall Estate, so even before it turned 18:45, he got going with his usual speech and his ice-breaker question. Tonight's ice-breaker was a little bit depressing as it was Day Against Drug Abuse, so he asked: "If I mention the word "Druggie" or "drug abuse", who do you think of or what film, book, documentary?"

Books like A Little Life, Films like Trainspotting and people like Pete Davidson and Matt Healy were mentioned.

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Breaking soil ground

We headed out to the Green to warm-up, but since it was already warm in terms of temperature...it didn't take much to get an elevated heart rate. After the warm-up, Sam led from the front and Maria from the back as we run half of Peckham Rye Park before venturing towards Nunhead to drop off Paulin, James, Nathan and Emma who kindly volunteered to help with a last minute second task that wasn't completed on Sunday and so the task owner, Serife, asked for a small group to complete the job on Wednesday, which they did.

The rest of us ran another kilometre and a bit to reach Cossall Hall to meet the other GoodGymers: Folarin, Jess and Sander as well as Alan, Jaki and Oscar (the dog).

Alan needed four people to come with him to litter pick Kirkwood Nature Reserve, so Maria, Sarah, Nelly and Louise went along with litter pickers and bin bags to pick up unwanted and discarded items throughout the Reserve and in front of both entrances. Whilst Daryl Folarin, Jess, Sander and Sam followed Jaki with a trolley and wheelbarrow of tools to tackle the growing beds which had loads of weeds, grass and nettles growing in it. However, the task proved more difficult with hard soil. Still the group managed to fill 10 bags of garden waste...

Time flashes by during our GoodGym sessions and after 40 minutes, we had to put away tools and throw away the bin bags. A quick photo call inside the courtyard of Cossall Hall before we said our goodbyes and had to rush off back to Old Spike Peckham as we had the other group waiting for us as well as a social to enjoy!

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out last night. Two tasks done within 40-45 minutes and a delightful time spent at Frank's Bold Tendencies for our summer social and to celebrate our achievements so far. Great to see faces that I haven't seen in awhile and hope to see you soon. Kudos to all and if I don't see you next week, see you soon!

On International Day of Pink & National Siblings Day, 16 GoodGymers came out in full force to help out Alan and Jaki at Cossall Estate and Kirkwood Nature Reserve with litter picking and weeding.

Sam arrived in time to open Old Spike to Maria as Lindy, Rosalind, Daryl, Gemma, James, Andrada, Adrian and Nathan trickled in. We caught up on weekend trips away and activities that we did. As soon as it hit 18:45, Sam got on with his usual speech, but posted a photo on the WhatsApp group....siblings or dating: snap poll. As everyone introduced themselves and answer the ice-breaker of first thing that they think of that's pink, they also had to say if the photo shown was a photo of siblings or two people dating.

In the snap-poll, most thought they were dating, but in fact they were siblings. Top of the list for "pink" word association was "Pink" the artist then came Barbie and then piggies...oink!

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A getaway bag, a hoover and mixed pairs of high heels

Since the evenings are getting lighter, Sam opted to do the warm-up on the Green. Afterwards with Paulin backmarking, off the group went down towards Peckham Rye Park as we needed to do a loop around to ensure we covered at least 2.5k. We ran into Nunhead and down Gordon Road to reach Cossall Estate to meet Alan, Jaki, Anna, Sander and eventually, Folarin and Jessie. Here Jaki explained that she needed 3-4 people to stay in the courtyard to tidy it up, but the rest could head to Kirkwood Nature Reserve as we split half the group to weed the nettles and half the group to litter pick:

• Emma, Jessie, Nathan and Paulin stayed behind to tidy up the courtyard.
• Anna, James, Rosalind and Sam stayed around the gates of the Nature Reserve to weed the nettles and unwanted plants to beautify the entrance.
• The rest paired up with one holding a bing liner and the other using the litter picker to pick up litter: Maria and Adrian paired up, Gemma and Folarin, Andrada and Lindy and finally, Daryl and Sander as they combed the Nature Reserve finding hidden treasures.

As the night started to draw in and as we reach 19:55, those in the Nature Reserve gathered outside the gates to take a photo of their haul - 8 bags - including 5 bags of litter (including a hoover, shoes and baby/kids lunch boxes...) and 3 bags full of nettles and weeds. We threw them away and met up with the other group back in the courtyard for a final group photo and to say our goodbyes to Alan and Jaki.

It was only a 1k run back to Old Spike Peckham. After a quick stretch on the green, a few of us opted in for an impromptu social at The White Horse.

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out last night! Alan and Jaki (plus Oscar) were very pleased with what we got done in 45 minutes and can't wait to have us back in June. Thank you to Paulin for backmarking both ways.

We welcomed not one newbie, but two newbies to our group run this week! Andrada and Sunday came along for their first GoodGym experience with Sunday also doing his DBS check to get going with more good deeds!

Everyone packed up inside Old Spike as Sam delivered his GG intro speech to everyone, but did the longer version for the newbies to understand what GoodGym is all about and ways they can get involved. Kudos to Claire for hitting her yearly target of getting to 30 good deeds by the end of 2023. Since she is off to Portugal soon until after the Xmas social, Sam gave her gift, which was a "Women of London" map depicting where there are buildings designed by women architects in London including our very own, Dawson's Heights.

After our final warm-up on the Green, Sam's ice-breaker for tonight was a two-parter: With Sourdough September coming to an end, what is your favourite type of bread? or the second question was: It's Women's Health & Fitness Day in the US, who is our fitness female role model?

Many people liked sourdough and the various forms it comes in from crumpets to loaves, but we had Tiger Bloomer, Baguettes, Sunflower seed, brioche, and Irish soda bread...

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Fire fighting

With Sunday opting to walk to the task, Daryl accompanied him as the rest of us ran the 2k via Nunhead to get to Cossall Hall to meet up with Alan and Jaki who were in the courtyard getting the tools out. We also met Alice, Anna, Laura, Mikhail and Vic there.

Since it was too dark and the Nature Reserve was shut, we couldn't litter pick inside. However, we still had some keen beans with the headtorches on to litter pick around the estate.

There were six, Alex, Anna, Laura, Lindy, Nelly and Vic, that stayed behind in the courtyard to clear it all up. Whilst the rest went outside to the entrance of the Nature Reserve to weed the planters in and around them. Armed with various tools including a strimmer that Mikhail happily took on, we cleared as much as we could in the 40 minutes. We easily put away 10 bags of weeds, litter and trimming as the beats of the 90s were playing in the background. With limited light, we could only do so much.

As we approached 20:00, Sam called it a day and decided that we should pack up and head back to the courtyard to bring back the tools and collect the others.

Most depart their way from Cossall Estate, others on the run back, but some stayed until the end with a few of us heading to White Horse for a pint or two.

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out tonight! Firstly, a massive thank you to Daryl and Emma for walking to and from the task with Sunday and to Emma and Laura for backmarking the run there and back. Thank you to the rest of you for coming along as gardening in the dark has it's potential dangers and surprises, but we all managed to do what we can! There was a definite transformation in the courtyard and we would only see the changes to the front of the Nature Reserve in the daylight.

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Thank You to Alan and Jaki

GoodGym is all about getting fit and doing good! We praise the runners/cyclists/walkers who come to get fit and help out, but we often forget about our task owner. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Alan and Jaki for allowing us to come after canceling last week due to the heavy rain. That's it for group runs to Cossall Estate this year and we'll be back when it's lighter. We are always up for doing sessions on the weekends to help out with any weeding.

With Glasto and a few people on summer holidays behind us, it was great to see 13 GoodGymers show up for tonight's group run! Sam had brought over some Slovenian snacks to share as Gemma talked about her Glasto experience as people were coming in.

After Sam's quick GG speech, we did our usual warm-up on the green, this time Sam has given the ice-breaker question in advance...a bit controversial, but he asked it anyway: What luxury item would you take down with you when you have signed up for a trip to see the Titanic in a submersible?

We had all sorts of answers from not going to getting the basic essentials like food. Others did think "luxury" with a more private screening for the bathroom, camera, music, phone, cashmere blanket, but the best answer has to be from Tim who said the Titanic DVD to check for accuracy...

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Apples, Hazel and Pears

Although, Cossall Estate is only 1k away, Sam took everyone on a longer 2k run via Nunhead to ensure we got a sweat on before arriving at our destination.

Jaki was waiting for us as she prepared the tools for the task. Sam was expecting to split the group in two, but Jaki decided to concentrate on the gardening task rather than litter picking in Kirkwood Nature Reserve. As Anna, Folarin and Jessie arrived at the task by foot and bike, we were a big enough group to tackle multiple beds that had been overgrowth by weeds!

As a group and working in threes, we slowly over the 45 minutes at the task managed to bag 26 bags worth of weeds and cuttings! It was such a wholesome transformation as we worked collaboratively as a team.

Once we collected our tools and brought the bags of green waste to the bins, it was time to say our goodbyes and head back to Old Spike, but this time the more direct 1k route to get back to base on time.

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out tonight! It's always great to see GoodGymers in numbers as we see the impact immediately as we did tonight. Another thank you and shoutout to Paulin for backmarking and ensuring no one gets left behind.

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Thank You Jaki

GoodGym is all about getting fit and doing good! We praise the runners/cyclists/walkers who come to get fit and help out, but we often forget about our task owner. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Jaki bringing out the tools and getting us to stick as a team to tackle one task and we did so quite well. We will be back in August to tidy it all up again and we may get a litter picking trip into the Nature Reserve.

Tonight, we had a newbie as Sam was getting ready to welcome everyone, Oriana appeared outside Old Spike. He opened the door and welcomed her in. After a year or so of signing up, she had decided to join us for a group run. Since it was meant to be the "launch of GoodGym x Raleigh", she thought it would be the best time to come. However, Sam never received the treats from Raleigh...so this has to be postponed.

Like the previous weeks, Sam had the privilege of 7 GoodGymers joining him on this group run as everyone knew it was going to be a short 2k run there and 1k run back. Lindy, Nelly, David, Claire, Paulin and James were all up for this run in colder than usual conditions (given the time of the year). As 18:45 approached, Sam delivered his intro GoodGym speech for Oriana before everyone went out to warm-up in the alleyway for the last time before next week we'll be warming up on the green.

Sam's ice-breaker question tonight had nothing to do with any social dates, so he used one from his list of ice-breaker questions, so he asked: Which cartoon character would be your friend and why?

There were suggestions from Spongebob Square Pants to Winnie the Pooh!

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Hardly any Lambrini

Our steady 2k run from Old Spike to Cossall Estate took us on a detour as Sam had to ensure the run met 2k and he had 5 minutes to burn. Once we arrived at Cossall Estate, we met up with Vic who smashed it at the weekend with a 3:22 marathon time - hence she walked to the task...we also met Alan and Jaki, who showed us to the tools and the tasks.

Sam split the team as there were two tasks:

The team that stayed at Cossall Estate to de-weed and remove moss from the courtyard was Claire, David, Lindy and Paulin as they chatted and cleared the courtyard in 40 minutes.

The second team picked up some litter pickers and bin liners to join Alan and Jaki in Kirkwood Nature Reserve. James and Oriana paired up and Nelly and Vic did too as they found some unusual items in the calmness of this beautiful, but unknown Nature Reserve.

With a warden sitting in the Nature Reserve waiting for us to finish our litter pick in order to lock-up, we stayed making our way back to Cossall Community Centre at 19:50.

With the weeding team finishing up, we packed all the tools and took a few group photos before saying our goodbyes to Alan and Jaki. Our run back was more direct and just over 1k.

Despite the monthly social being next week, Claire and Sam met up Daryl at The Montpellier.

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out tonight! Having a big group definately helps as we were able to do two tasks in 45 minutes. We will be back to clear the courtyard and do extra bits and bobs for Alan and Jaki in June. A warm welcome again to Oriana and I hope to see you again. Thanks David for coming for your second good deed and hope to see you again too.

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Thank You Alan and Jaki

GoodGym is all about getting fit and doing good! We praise the runners/cyclists/walkers who come to get fit and help out, but we often forget about our task owner. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Alan and Jaki for organising this session and managing to split the tasks and supply the tools. I'll be in touch about the next group run session to Cossall Estate and Kirkwood Nature Reserve.