The clocks had gone forwards, the sun was shining and the skies were blue at 6:45 in Richmond! There was absolutely nothing better to do than be outside on a joyful spring evening!

Feeling Fly

Chris, JP, Liz and Lucy thought so, and made our way across the green and along the riverside path, taking in lush views (and the pesky flies that had also decided to enjoy the new warm and light evenings!). We arrived at the Sea Scouts, where Russell was already working on the nights task. A huge pile of construction aggregate had been delivered, and rather inconveniently dumped on the path leading to the scout hut. Our job was to make a start of shifting this off the path to level out the surface, and move it out of the way!

*Rake it off *

Once Chris had a new dating profile picture from atop the mound of gravel and stone, we got to it taking it in turns for a full body workout, sharing raking out and scraping from the bottom with shovelling down from the top. And, a bit of wheelbarrow lifting and loading too.

*Worth the Pile *

Although the mound of aggregate was still present, we had made an impressive dent on it between the four of us. And of course we had to make sure there was something to do for next week’s task! We waved goodbye to Russell and enjoyed the sun setting over the Thames as we made our way back home.

A chatty run by the river on a super clear night under the stars as we headed to Petersham to the Sea Scouts base. Task owner Russell knows exactly what GoodGym can help with and had a large pile of heavy driftwood to move from the area it was drying out to the logpile, making room to store the newly arrived boat for the scouts.

Team work, a very hardworking trolley near retirement, two wonky wheelbarrows and a lot of heavy trips across the lawn and the job was complete!

We will be back at this lovely spot by the river on the 31st March.

A night of rolling out the wheelbarrows at Petersham and Ham Sea Scouts. A peaceful jog along the riverside under a starry sky led us to the scout base where task owner Russell was ready with shovels, barrows and bags for one group to shovel soil that had collected on the driveway and bag it up to use elsewhere at the site, while another pair lifted and shifted some heavy concrete posts from one spot to another! Sea Scouts always means a good workout of some nature and tonight was no exception!

We are back there later this month to help further with outdoor tasks.

One GoodGymer turned up to help 27 Sea Scouts cubs from Petersham learn how to plant trees. This involved a lot of digging to plant holly and hawthorn trees on Petersham Common followed by hot chocolate making. In the end 75 trees were planted and almost an equal quantity of hot chocolate was consumed.

Starting at Tap Tavern, Jp celebrated his 600th task, an additional 100 tasks from his milestone 500 in just 11 months!

Beyond the bright lights of Richmond, an intrepid group of GoodGymmers headed off into the dark lands of Petersham to the hidden lair of Petersham and Ham Sea Scouts.

One pair set about emptying a broken trug of soil, one pair helped to level ground to put slabs down for the wheelie bins, and the remaining people got stuck in to a task to filter the ash from the huge bonfire and remove any metal nails that were in the palettes that were burned! A good team task that had everyone doing their bit to get the job done and keep fit while we did it!

The evening ended as the temperature dropped quickly and the group ran back towards the high street and home!

The Petersham and Ham Sea Scouts hosted their annual Bonfire and Fireworks on Saturday night. 2 Goodgymers helped out on Sunday morning to clear up a few areas and as the last remnants of the Bonfire was still simmering, with a spade we lifted the ground around the fireplace. Grass seeds will be strewn around this area to allow the grass to regrow again. More work will continue on Monday nights group task.