After warming up with a coffee after parkrun, we headed out along the lake path to see what we could clear.

Inspired by my socks, we introduced Andy and Nene to some exclusive Pompey vocabulary - there was talk of dinlos, squinnying and chufty badges, amongst some other slightly ruder expressions! We then moved on to languages, and Andy impressed us with his Welsh!

We didn't find many of the usual litter pick bingo finds, but Dave did find a delightful bow tie! There was also some death-defying stunts to retrieve litter from the reeds - fortunately nobody added a cold-water swim to their morning.

Team GG headed out to Lakeside today to help and partake in parkrun.

We had people in the car park, marshaling and dancing. Some say to entertain the arriving runners, others say to try and increase their temperatures from below zero.

The course was a mix of pink and red as we headed out and marshalled and cheered.

Jen also added to the good doing by shouting out "Pole!!!" and "Keep Left!" to ensure all runners were safe. She continued this in the queue for pistol run coffee by bellowing out names of orders as the staff made them.

Welcome to 2026, GoodGymers!! We had an impressive 10 GGers for our first Group Run of the year, with Abby debuting as our Walking Group Leader.

As with our previous visits to the Community Kettle, Nicole had prepared a list of tasks for us to work through. Crossing them out as they were completed was incredibly satisfying.

Katie, Katie and Sammy made light work of unloading, moving and reorganising a book shelf. Katie's attempted additional good deed of watering some plants did go slightly awry when she realised there was a hole in the bottom of the pot!

Louisa had the tricky job of supervising Dave and Andy with moving a fridge. Lou was able to convince them to find a tape measure to ensure the fridge would fit in it's new home, and with some wriggling and jiggling, it was successfully relocated.

After sorting out the toy cupboard with Sinéad, Abby discovered a new talent - being able to separate the double-sided tape where others had tried, failed and sworn a lot before. Lou provided excellent ballast for me, as our resident climber, to mount some felt boards on a slightly sad looking wall.

Ness proved to be a one-woman power-house, single handedly lifting a desk that was bigger than her! And it was shifted so quickly and efficiently I didn't get a chance to snap a photo. Incredibly impressive work!

We got to enjoy a Community Kettle special Hot Blackcurrant whilst we worked, and were rewarded with some sweeties and biscuits before running back to the Lido. Andy's life may have flashed before his eyes after nearly being mowed down by Lucy, logging some kms on her bike ride home from work.