This evening we gathered at Charlton House (Khai unexpectedly starring in a wedding photo shoot) and shared which gameshows, past and present we'd like to go on. We also did some balance and core exercises - remember to stand on one leg while you brush your teeth, guys - suck your tummy in and squeeze your bum = strengthen your core for the Big Half!

Today we were celebrating Marta reaching the 900 good deeds milestone! 😇😇 She's hoping to get to 1,000 by next march and then she gets a new t-shirt with a sun on it because she will have then been deemed to have reached godly status (I for one think she's already there but the Tshirt will prove it!)

A lovely evening for a lovely task and after a short run and meeting Robert, Annie, Bobbie and Ivar (email not ipad) at the task, Annie got ten of us got to work watering, weeding, planting some fox gloves and sewing some seeds. We got loads done tonight and it makes such difference!

Bobby gave Annie a hand back with the wheelbarrow on the rest of us trundled off back to Charlton House and during a quick stretch we discussed upcoming tasks: we've got the Community Hospice (celebrating Johnny's 500th good deed) and Hervey Road again on Saturday; next week we're back at Brooklands on Wednesday and the following week we've got helping at Horn Fair PARKSfest .

Until next time :)

Rachel

The sun was out and so were Good Gym. An amazing 8 of us turned up to help the team at Hervey Road, where Annie and Richard are working hard to build a garden behind the sports field.

We were met first by Khai who had had the presence of mind and kindness of heart to bring water for everyone, which was really helpful as it was certainly hot. Annie soon arrived and were assigned to a multitude of tasks with some of the team watering some very thirsty trees, others cutting the grass and others weeding the various beds, all the time making sure we didn't cut down or kneel on or otherwise trash any of the beautiful wild flowers growing. And what was also nice to see was that we were joined by countless bumblebees and ladybirds, showing that South East London is a wonderful hot-bed for nature.

After an hour we were all pretty much exhausted and it was time for photos before heading off to enjoy the sunshine,

Finally, I can''t finish the report without a shout out for Sarah, who had completed her 400th parkrun that morning,. This is such a brilliant achievement so well done Sarah.

Wednesday was no ordinary session. Firstly we had two newbies join us, big welcome to Ibrahim and Bobby - it was great to have you along!

Nadirah brought her team of students to film their documentary on an interesting run club- thanks for picking us!

After a quick interview, we introduced ourselves and shared our best binge worthy shows (books for those who don't watch much telly) and then did a little warm up and headed off for our run. We did feel rather important, with Nadirah sprinting ahead to get some action shots of us all. Now we know what it's like to be chased by paparazzi.

At the garden, Annie got us to task, with Robert and Ibrahim watering the trees. Shout out to Sarah for managing to open the padlock, we wouldn't have got far without the hose! The rest of us got to work weeding and cutting back the grass while chatting away and the crew filmed the lot. A lovely evening in nature and a good reminder of the positive impact of exercise, community and doing good- it does us so much good too!

After a group pic, Bobby headed back with Annie to take the wheely bin back and the rest of us headed back to Charlton House for a little stretch and a few shots of us walking away at the end of the session.

Well done team. It makes such a difference for 10 of us to do a load of work at the garden and Annie's always so grateful.

Next weds we're back at Charlton house for a run to Brooklands to do more soil shifting!

Until next time,

Rachel

We certainly did- I could tell by the rash on my arms yesterday 😏

Seven of us joined forces on a lovely Saturday morning, to do a spot of weeding in the wildflower garden. First a lesson in what was grass and what was some plant that I've now forgotten the name of but that is a grass imitator and in fact a plant we wanted to keep. And so we split into teams and cleared out as much grass as we could from 2 beds to give room for sowing new seeds. Annie and Richard were really pleased with what we got done so well done team! We'll be back in a few weeks!

On Easter Saturday we joined Annie to do some weeding at the Hervey Road garden.

We set to work, digging up the weeds on the long border and getting yes sir, yes sir, 3 bags full. We discussed Laura's upcoming trip to Mali and her rather grown up job out there - we will miss you Laura and look forward to hearing about it on your forays back to London! And Arthur interjected very regularly that he didn't want to weed anymore and wanted to go to the playground, poor little thing.

After a decent job on the long border we headed to the wildflower garden and witnessed Marta and Richard's magnificent dead hedging coming into its own. Here Annie patiently showed us what were plants and what were weeds and we got to work filling at least another 3 bags full. The conversation remained genial but little did we know, the morning was about to take a sinister turn.

It happened just as we were collecting our belongings and getting ready to go. Cat pulled a present out of her bag for Arthur. A little white chocolate chick. Awww sweet, "what a treat". And amazingly it wasn't at all melted. The first thing that happened was, inexplicably panicking that it would suddenly melt in my hands, I said "let's dig in" and promptly pulled it's head off. It's baffling really - as if I don't experience on a daily basis the things a 3 year old finds distressing 🥺 The wailing started. Quiet at first and then a crescendo to the dreaded high pitched banshee shriek. Every parent's nightmare and at which point I saved the day by stuffing a bit of the head into his mouth and he realised the decapitated bird was in fact, very yummy. More was consumed and we were all revelling in this moment of tranquility and sweetness when Cat piped up, "does it taste like chicken?" 🤯

Witty and sadistic in equal measure. Certainly disarming - in fact I forgot to get a group photo, so thrown was I by this turn of events.

A happy ending though. All the chocolate remained in his tummy even after the turns on the roundabout and we all trundled off to the rest of our weekends. Good job team!

We've got woodchipping at St Richard's on Tuesday and we're back at Prince Philip on Wednesday - hope to see you there.

Until next time!

Well, annoyingly I thought I uploaded this last week and have realised I had written it but not in fact uploaded it 😬 Can you remember what we did last Wednesday? If not, hopefully the excellent pun has jogged your memory

Last week Marta led us rather beautifully on our first run of the year to Hervey Road and the community garden.

Our task was to replenish the sticks protecting the lavender from being trodden on by unsuspecting drivers when they're getting things out of their car boot. At the beginning of our session there was a row of lavender with sticks scattered around and at the end all the lavender had sticks keeping them safe (and holding them up), safe from those pesky trainers. We even managed a bit of weeding and filled three bags of alkanet.

Job well done team and thank you Marta who has passed the fitness leader assessment with flying colours!

Next week we're back for a naval college start and run to St Richards

Until next time!