So much has changed since our last monthly visit to Doddington community garden, and the joy of going regularly means that we can see the difference we're making over time! This visit we were delighted to see that the beds we had dug last time were flourishing with courgettes and other crops.

But first things first. We kicked off the session at our usual meeting spot for some warm ups, and it was brilliant to welcome back some familiar faces and to have Rida join us for her very first session - great to have you part of the team!

We did some warm ups which tested our coordination as well as our muscles, and given we have just had a bumper week of fireworks, Halloween, Diwali and there are now 50 days until Christmas, we asked the group which is our favourite holiday. Answers ranged from Christmas, Boxing Day, bank holidays, Easter, Eid, Halloween and our annual leave. Goes to show we all love a party!

It was just a short run or cycle down to the Doddington, where Malissa wasted no time getting us to work. There was weeding to be done, trees to transport and a new bed to be dug, lined with cardboard boxes and then refilled with compost again. This is going to be planted with red onions for the community to enjoy, so keep your eye peeled next month!

After a good 45 minutes of hard graft we downed tools and went down to the square for a lower body challenge. Three minutes of seriously tough exercises with no break, all working those glutes, quads and calves - and everybody rose (or squatted) to the challenge. Great job!

All that was left was to run to the pub for the monthly pub quiz, and this time there was two bumper teams ready to battle it out. Team IstanWool (who will ever forget from this day forward that angora wool comes from the Turkish capital?) were pipped to the post by Paul, Dave, Jo, Laura, Justin, Jason and Catherine's megabrains...but we still have to beat our nemesis at the bar! Definitely next month.

Speaking of which, don't forget to sign up for our Christmas party where there will be plenty of festive fun to be had, and also this special mission to get everybody a warm coat this winter.

Every session at GoodGym is special, but last night was especially special for a few reasons!

First of all we got to welcome Carol, Abi, Adam along for their very first group run with us - let's give them a big GoodGym cheer! It was also fantastic to welcome back some familiar faces too.

The evening was in collaboration with Sport England's This Girl Can campaign, which aims to remove all of the hurdles for women to participate in sport. This is particularly relevant at this time of year when the clocks have gone back and the evenings are darker. There is a lot of anxiety around running after dark, especially for women, and last night's session was a chance for us to help make wider society more aware of this and what we can all do to help.

So just before we started the task we went round the group to reflect on how running after dark made us feel. There were lots of different answers from us all, including concerns about running in parks (which takes away some fun and freedom of going for a run) , worrying about trip hazards, how every sound is amplified, being hyper aware of everything around us, and the disappointment of avoiding it all together. It was really interesting to hear everybody's thoughts from lots of different viewpoints.

If anybody in the group every wants to go for a run but doesn't feel safe, then feel free to message the group in whatsapp and we can hopefully get a buddy system going - I for one am always up for a social run!

What also made the task slightly different yesterday was that, rather than run to a community organisation like we normally do, we had our session right at our meeting spot at the BAC. So all we had to do was turn the corner to find the amazing permablitz garden. This space is available for the whole community to use, and anybody is welcome to help themselves to the produce grown at this edible garden. It's all planted so it's sustainable, organic and full of pollinators.

This is a wonderful community resource but it's also a huge space, and so we rolled up our sleeves as head gardener Polly took us for a tour of the garden. We saw fennel seeds, curry plants, learned about walking onions and admired all the amazing herbs. Some of the volunteers who work at the site have accessibility issues and the leaves falling around the planters have made the paths slippery and unsafe. So while half the group set about litter picking in the beds, the other half got stuck in clearing the walkways.

Meanwhile there was plenty of planting to be done, so we grabbed our gloves and a big bag of bulbs and got stuck in. Great work everybody, you've made an amazing difference in just a short amount of time. And good news! The blue keys were eventually located....

With no run involved, we had to make up for it with an full body work out. It was so good to see everybody throw themselves into loads of different circuit based exercises, including those dreaded hill sprints, tricep dips, bunny hops,lunges, lateral jumps and so many more - all of which were made doubly hard by doing them on that incline!

Next week we are back with a bang - expect lots of lovely Diwali and Bonfire night fireworks as the back drop for our run! We'll have an extra great view of them as we're going to the Doddington rooftop community garden for our monthly session followed by the pub quiz social. Everybody welcome, the more the merrier!

Chaotic? Sometimes. A challenge? Definitely. Effective? Always!

Tasks can sometimes leave us scratching our head about the best way to execute them, and often they test our muscles and spatial awareness. But one thing is for sure, they always make a positive difference!

This was definitely the case last night when we returned to Waste Not Want Not to help Hadas rearrange the zero waste hub so that it can be used as a healthy eating centre. Hadas saves good produce from being thrown away, and aims to help the local community access healthy food.

There have been several issues here recently, including the electricity being switched off for 7 weeks, so we got straight to work!

We were delighted to welcome Adam to his very first session (great to have you join us Adam!) we did our warm up and had a quick discussion about our favourite soups. Everyone had their personal faves, including leek and potato, mushroom, carrot and coriander and lentil. Yes, we tackle the hottest issues at GoodGym Wandsworth.

The first item to tick off the list was putting up the gazebo, which always seems a straightforward job...until we start assembly. Of course it didn't help that the original location wasn't quite the right spot, so much to the bemusement of passers by we hoisted it up over the heads of the commuters and repositioned it.

Next was to rearrange the cookers and other (extremely heavy) items in the hub itself. Suffice to say it took masses of energy, some strategic thinking and a lot of manoeuvring but we got there in the end.

We finished off with sorting stuff into various boxes, which turned up some interesting discoveries - most notably a flame thrower!

Hadas was really pleased with the new lay out, and hopefully it means the centre will be back up and running before long.

The evening wasn't quite over as we still had our fitness session to do, which soon got competitive! There were definitely some tactics at play as we tested each other on how many squats, press ups and steps up we could complete.

Next week I'm just waiting to conform the task but you can still sign up for it right here. Hope to see you there!

It was our favourite Monday of the month last night, as we went for our regular visit to Doddington community roof garden, followed by the pub quiz! Only one thing could make it better - a new face joining our group. So imagine how happy we were to welcome Laura to her very first session! (and not least because she cracked the tricky anagram question in the aforementioned quiz...)

We started off the night with a balance based warm up and, giving we've just entered the spookiest month of the year, a poll about scary movies - yes or no? The answer was a pretty much unanimous no - obviously we're all too busy getting out there for runs and doing good!

We had a bit of a soggy run as we headed down to Doddington, a former derelict car park which has been transformed into a thriving community garden, but arrived ready to get cracking on various jobs.

Malissa explained that the main task for the evening was the rid the garden of various grasses, mallow, bindweed and salvia. After a quick run through of what exactly we were looking for we got stuck in, each tackling a different corner of the huge space.

Keeping in with the Halloween theme of the evening, we managed to dodge the many massive spiders as we watched over by the clowder of cats that have made the garden their home. We filled compost bins, pulled weeds and dug out soil until it was time for us to leave.

With the rain setting in we opted out of a fitness session and headed instead directly for the pub where we tested our grey matter. Out of a lucky 13 teams, I'm happy to report that the Bindweed Babes came a very respectable 5th and Jesmond Dene parkrunners finished in third! Great work everybody.

If you're looking for a fun and rewarding way to spend your Saturday, why not join the group at Unigate Nature Reserve in Streatham helping to clear the paths to make the area move accessible? It's a task that will make a big impact and will double up as a great workout too!

Next Monday we're back to waste Not Want Not to empty a room to make space for donations. Hope you can make it!