David and Sam were back for Round 2 at the Albrighton Community centre and this time, they were joined by Folarin who is slowly edging towards his target for the year.

Elodie brought all the tools as we aimed to tackle another section of the overgrown community beds. We found hand power was better than tools to drag the ivy out. Although, shears and secateurs assisted us wherever we needed them.

After an hour, it was time to call it a day as we managed to get where we wanted to get to

We will be back for a group run in September and it just so happens to be Sam's last one as AA.

Tonight's group run was going to be different. Why? It wasn't going to be Sam leading the run, but Maria. She did her Run Leader webinar the previous Thursday and wanted to apply her newly found knowledge straight away.

Before we could all get going with the group run, we needed people. Sam and Maria waited in Old Spike Peckham for Rosalind, John, David, Emma, Daryl, Nelly, Mikhail, Benjamin, Cecilia, Laura, Louise, Fi, James and Paulin to arrive.

As 18:45 arrived, Sam asked Maria to start proceedings before he went through his usual GG intro speech highlighting a few sessions happening over the weekend. Maria asked the ice-breaker question, which was a poll on whether people liked the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics or not?

It was a "Non" from most of the runners with about five saying Yes...the rain didn't help nor did the athletes parade on the Seine.

---

Litter Pick Bingo - Peckham Rye Park edition

With Maria leading the run, she took all the runners onto the Green to get started on the warm-up, which Sam normally does. She asked assistance from Emma to back-mark the run whilst she led from the front heading towards and around Peckham Rye Park to end the 2.5k at The Round Cafe where we met: Isaac, Folarin and Vic. However, we said our goodbyes to Mikhail as he was still jet-lagged from his trip from Malaysia.

Sam split the group into four groups of 4/5 and each group had at least one litter picker, a litter pick bingo card of 25 items, a black bin liner and someone recording their distance as the Litter Pick Bingo began! 30 minutes to find as many items on the litter pick bingo card as possible.

It was a tight contest as after 30 minutes all the teams came back in time....meaning no points deductions:

• In 4th place, we had Team "No Vapes" with 22.5 points (18 items found and covered 1.25km)
• In 3rd place, we had Team "R.E.A.M." with 23.1 points (22 items found and covered 1.05km)
• In 2nd place, we had Team "Trois3" with 25.5 points (17 items found and covered 1.5km)
• However, in 1st place, we had Team "Milibae's" with a staggering 35.68 points (23 items found and covered 1.55km)

With that, we had our winners: Team Milibae's who went into the lawn bowls social competition with confidence.

A few of us ran back to Old Spike Peckham to collect our items whilst the rest walked to Peckham Bowls to get setup for the inaugural GoodGym Southwark Bowls Championship. With two rinks booked, we split the semis into the two teams with five people against the two teams with four. Team "No Vapes" and Team "R.E.A.M." plus Sam took to Rink 6 whilst Team "Trios3" and Team "Milibae's" claimed Rink 5. It was a tight game on Rink 5, but on Rink 6, Team "R.E.A.M" took the first end, 4 - 0, but struggled to finish off their opponents quickly. After a few more ends and a pizza break, Team "R.E.A.M." took the game 8 - 3, whilst Team "Trois3" got their revenge on the litter pick bingo second place and book their place in the final.

Battling time and the light conditions, we played two more ends to determine the gold and bronze medal matches. Team "R.E.A.M" plus Sam took the Gold over Team "Trois3" with a 2 - 0 scoreline and Team "Milibae's" had to settle for Bronze as Team "No Vapes" came last in both competitions.

A great way to end July and I am glad we had two summer socials.

---

Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out last night! We did good and we had fun! A massive thank you to Maria for leading the run and can't wait to have you as an official Run Leader. Kudos to Emma for backmarking and to everyone for getting stuck in with the litter picking and social!

Three GoodGymers arrived at BFC to help Erina and a couple more BFC volunteers with their first delivery of the day.

There were a variety of tasks to be done while waiting, including cleaning up the veg trays and the fridges, packing up bread and cous cous, and tidying up the shelves so that the items from next delivery of the day can fit in.

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.

---

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!

---

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!

Must be something in the air or just the first signs of proper Spring weather as we did not just have one newbie, but two. Well, technically, Imogen had done a community session in Hackney a few years ago and Cecilia had another account, but we still treated them as first timers - welcoming them into Old Spike Peckham.

Along with the newbies, Sam met up with Maria, Alex, Sophie and Daryl as everyone came well before 18:45, so Sam could start his intro speech earlier. He did the long version to let the newbies know all about GoodGym and ended with his ice-breaker question which was: "Most memorable or best customer service you have received (either restaurant, experience or issue resolved)?"

Many found it hard as people remember the bad experiences more than the good, but we got a few shoutouts to local restaurants and restaurant providers, retailers that responded to feedback emails as well as Tesco's in Surrey Quays and McDonalds in Wigan for their awesome service.

---

It would be wild to "eat around the world"

After a quick warm up on the Green, Sam led the group out of Peckham whilst Daryl backmarked. Within 20 minutes, we ran up Chadwick Road (we always find it tough) and came down the other side to end up in Camberwell to meet Catalina (task owner), Richard, Elena, Folarin and Benjamin at the Wildlife Triangle. Sam also met Annette from the Camberwell Green Farmer's Market who kindly dropped off "Eat Around the World" flyers as this community event will be taking place next Saturday (18th).

Most were up for staying to garden and tidy up the Wildlife Triangle, but Sam and Sophie ran off with the flyers to do 25 minutes of flyer drops on Valmar Road and Crawford Road - tackling the big estates with multiple flats. They definitely hit their climb and step count.

Meanwhile, back at Elmington, the team cut back on the brambles, nettles and other weeds. Yet, they had to leave certain parts of the Wildlife Triangle to be wild. Finally, to ensure the weeds do not grow back as quickly, they put down some woodchip mulch.

Just like clockwork as Sam and Sophie arrived back for 20:00, the group were also finishing up. A quick group photo and then a run back to Peckham for a quick stretch on the Green and to obtain our belongings at Old Spike. Benjamin had run back with us and was up for a drink, so Daryl, Maria and Sam sticked around for a pint at the Angel Oak.

---

Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out last night! Congrat again to the newbies; Imogen and Cecilia for coming along and hope you had a lovely first session with us. Catalina appreciates everything that we do, so she passes her thanks. Thank you to Maria for taking the photos and Daryl for backmarking. Kudos to all!