Wood You Believe It? A Busy Evening at Strand on the Green! 🌳🪚🎨

What a fantastic evening we had last night at Strand on the Green School, where our mission was to protect some of the school’s outdoor wooden structures with a fresh coat of wood preserver and to tame the overgrowth that had taken over parts of the car park!

We kicked things off with a warm welcome to Sara ** – benvenuta! 🌟 So lovely to have you join us for your very first GoodGym session – we hope it’s the first of many.

There was plenty to cheer about before we got stuck in: 👏 Steph completed an ultra at the weekend – massive congratulations! 💪 And Eloise is gearing up for a half iron(wo)man this coming weekend – sending all the luck and power your way!

Armed with brushes, gloves, and secateurs, we split into teams and got straight to work. One group got busy painting and preserving the wooden structures, while the other tackled the overgrown bushes that were creeping into the car park. The transformation was impressive – big impact in a short time!

Once the task was complete, we rounded off the evening with a fitness session in the school grounds. It was a spicy mix of cardio and conditioning, with Emily, our reigning Queen of Planks, showing us all how it’s done! 🏋️‍♀️🔥

Looking ahead, we’ve got a fun mission coming up – we’ll be helping to marshal for the West London Queer Project’s 10km charity walk. It promises to be a joyous event.

Thanks to everyone who came along. Next week, Michelle will be leading the group at the Comboni Centre for some peaceful and mindful gardening. Don’t miss it!

On a blustery, rainy bank holiday six GGers fulled by coffee and bananas ran down to Bramford community garden to plant a goji berry bush, do a massive litter pick and do battle with an ailing raised bed. Several brackets and rusty screws later we think we emerged victorious but time will tell - we'll check in with the bed and its curious robin next visit!

** A Towering Team Effort with Tom's Run Club 🌱🏃‍♂️**

Yesterday's session was in collaboration with the fantastic Tom’s Run Club, a friendly and inclusive running crew known for combining social miles with a real sense of community - and plenty of post-run socialising! We met up at Bermondsey in high spirits, so after lots of introductions and a whole load of energy we did a warm-up that got the blood pumping.

With the sound system fired up, we hit the streets—winding our way through the hustle of London Bridge and along the Thames to our destination: the new garden by the Tower of London.

This isn't just any garden. It's part of an inspiring project by Grounded Ecotherapy, a community-focused organisation that supports people in recovery or facing mental health challenges by connecting them with nature. They’ve been transforming what was once a sad, neglected space into a lush, thriving green haven—and we were here to help keep that momentum going.

Once we arrived, we split into teams and got to work. Before we could tackle a huge planting task we had a serious challenge: hauling bags of stones up the stairs. A proper workout, with a purpose! Then it was onto getting the greenery into the ground. It was incredible what a difference it made - what was once just concrete planters suddenly came alive with pollinators, herbs, flowers and a whole range of other plants.

And just when we thought we’d earned a rest… we finished with a squat challenge followed by a cheeky core triathlon that had everyone working hard.

With the job done and muscles worked, we wrapped up with a shorter run back to base, took a team photo, and hung out for a well-earned post-run social. Running with Tom and his crew was a real pleasure—here’s to more teamwork, more miles, and more positive impact ahead. 💪🌿