We kicked off by welcoming our new runners - Rose, Alice, Alistair, Struan and Crissy - Nice to have you along!

And then it was time for the SPOTM with possibly the best(worst) SPOTM ever?! This month's winner was the recipient of:

• a bookmark
• 2 luggage tags
• a couple of sachets of deep heat/freeze
• 2 t-shirts made from recycled cotton and plastic bottles

and the pièce de résistance (donated by the wonderful Katie Welford);

• A SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH OF JOANNA LUMLEY

And the worthy winner, who smashed her 10k target by 7 and a half minutes, and recently did her 50th good deed was Aislin!!! Give her a massive cheer! 👏 👏 👏

Absolutely Fabulous.

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George lead a group on an 11k run, to complete the final stage of an epic task for the Lambeth GP Food Co Op. We started a few weeks ago by emptying soil from some huge planters in Stockwell. Then they got transported to Crown Dale surgery where we moved them into position last week. And then this week it was all about filling them back up with soil.

With encouragement/entertainment from a couple of local lads, the team aced it, getting the job done, smoothing out the soil and headed back in time for a quick stretch.

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The rest of us ran 4k to help Justin at Ruskin Park Community Garden. They've been doing a load of work lately to get the space looking tidy and producing lots of fruit and veg.

We were mostly in the fruit cage, using all manner of tools to de-weed and remove grass. It was pretty cosy so some of the team cut a big chunk of bramble back, which will eventually make room for more vegetable plots.

When all the excess greenery was on the compost heap, we headed back via a quick hills session. Squeezing a couple of hill reps into your run is an awesome way to improve your running form and give your cardiovascular system a boost.

We focussed on - keeping the body straight with your head up, bringing knees up higher than they normally would and using your arms and driving them back and well as forwards.

After a few reps, when everyone was sufficiently worn out, we made the run back with limited enthusiasm for red traffic light squats and lunges...

Top work everyone! 👊

Next week we're helping out at Papa's Park with some weeding and painting. Of course we'll be fitting in some 1k loops, some circuits and we'll even be delivering some posters for Age UK's Food2U project. Sign up here!

OH MY GIDDY PLANT

Last night was all about the plants and the planters and thankfully we had a massive gang of GoodGymers to tackle our two tasks. They probably quite fancied the pub afterwards too.

Big up Angela, Mira, Georgina, Kerry, Em and Clare for coming on their first ever GoodGym run! And nice one to all the tourists who came for a piece of the Lambeth pie. 🥧

Tonight we had 2 run options: * George took a small group on a serious 6k trek to Crown Dale Surgery in West Norwood to help the GP Food Co-op rearrange some planters and fill them up with soil. * The rest of us went on a 2k jaunt to Myatt's Field for some bindweed removal and FITNESS FUN.

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George's group arrived in West Norwood to be mysteriously greeted by nobody... but then they discovered the plans for the planters and they were off, lifting and shifting to get them into place. There was some excellent lifting from the legs (see pics) and they even had time to fill a planter and a half before heading back to base. It was a warm evening for all this work and those guys absolutely smashed it. 👏👏👏

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Everyone else had a quick warm up with a classic knees up and kick-ass and began the run to Myatt's Field Park. We were greeted by Eliza who showed us the task - removing nasty bindweed from the compost heap. Unfortunately it was wreaking a bit of havoc and needed to be removed pronto.

// For all those keen gardeners: Apparently growing plants in compost with any hint of bindweed is a bad idea. It'll just wrap around your lovely plants and suffocate them. //

So we removed the pallets and the tarps to find an absolute tonne of the stuff, still managing to grow in the dark. Everyone was then very diligent with removing all traces of bindweed (as well as any rubbish we could find, obviously. #goodgym). We filled up a couple of big sacks and made a reasonable pile of rubbish.

🐸

The highlight was undoubtably the discovery of a family of frogs and even some newts! Despite a couple of screams, some brave souls moved the frogs to avoid them getting squashed.

We then had a quick game of RUNOPOLY in the park. It's basically circuits:

• Community Chest - Press Ups
• Pass GO - Sprints
• Squatting (it's a property-themed game after all)
• Chance - ??? It's a mystery (I tell you what to do).

30 seconds on, 30 seconds rest, next exercise. Twice round. Everyone smashed it. 👊

After that, we ran back to Papa's, had a nice stretch, decided that Papa's park's concrete bench needs to be painted GoodGym red (more on that in a few weeks time...) and then we hit the pub.

Ace work, everybody. 👌

Next week we've got 2 tasks; finishing off the soil shoveling at Crown Dale and back to Ruskin Park Community Garden. Sign up here.

I made a pun about the wind. But it blows.

It was a wild one for GoodGym Lambeth this evening with diversions, a snoop around Brixton Windmill and many, many tasks.

We started off giving a big Lambeth welcome to Laura and Becky! Woop woop! And we mentioned that our friends/rivals across the border in GoodGym Wandsworth are going to Clapham Common Parkrun on Saturday. GG Lambeth represent and look out for the red tees.

With the wind in our sails we had a quick warm up and headed up the hill with Jim, Nicky and George taking a long and windy route around the houses and myself and Beth heading straight there (apart from missing a turning... but hill training is really good for you!). Freyja and Lucy walked and still beat the rest of us...

When we arrived, we got cracking on a multitude of different tasks inside and outside the Windmill:

• Planting shrubs 🌴
• Trimming branches ✂️
• Weeding in the play area 🌾
• Dusting surfaces in the windmill 🌫
• Removing grass from the pavement gaps 🌱
• Litter picking 🗑
• Getting rid of cobwebs 🕸

When we were done, Jean gave us the lowdown on the Windmill, how the council is building a new visitor centre there and about some of the events they've got coming up. Not least the BEER AND BREAD festival. i.e. two of the best things in the world. Lambeth social? I think so.

On our way back to PAPA's we were thinking about FAB:

F for FORWARDS - Thinking, looking, moving FORWARDS. i.e. no side to side motion.

A for ARMS - Moving the arms back to propel oneself FORWARDS.

B for BALLOON - Imagining a helium balloon attached to our heads, keeping us upright - not leaning down or backwards.

And because of that (and the fact that the entire route was downhill...) we shot back to PAPAs at lightning speed and finished off with a quick stretch.

NEXT WEEK is our monthly social so come along for some well deserved beverages after our run to the Portico Gallery Sign up, show up, eat up, drink up.

Cheers GG LAMBETH 🍻

38 fantastic do-gooders took to the streets of Lambeth last night to run to Myatt's Field, a community-run park near Brixton, for some serious tasking and fitness fun.

We started off by welcoming 7(!!!) new faces - Claire, Maeva, Ben, Kate, Miles, Maisie and Ryan! Give them a massive cheer!! 👏 👏 👏

We also heard about Tim, Beth and Ruth's weekend trip to Monsal with GoodGymers from all over (check out the run report here) and we mentioned the big GG trip to SOFIA in BULGARIA in May. Get involved!

This month's SPOTM prize was truly dreadful with a mix of party hat from Katie's last run, a selection of distinctly average hotel biscuits, some notepad paper from Aston Villa and a Strava sticker. The worthy winner was Beth Hoskins who recently smashed her SEVEN HUNDREDTH GOOD DEED. 700. omg.

And talking of Strava, GoodGym Lambeth now has it's very own Strava Club which you can be a part of! Check out what training runs other people have been up to and give them many kudos!

John ensured everyone was warmed up and we headed off into the night. Steve and Nicky lead a 5k route and myself and Lucy took half the group on a 2k jaunt. When we arrived at Myatt's Field, gardening expert Taye showed us the task he had planned and we got cracking.

We had a huge pile of twigs, branches, leaves and dirt to sift through, separating it into compost and stuff that would turn into compost eventually. The compost was moved into a huge bag and the rest was wheelbarrowed over to a pile for composting. But separating the 2 needed the help of a massive sieve... which came in the form of a shopping trolley! It was basically like making a cake - Ingredients go in the top, wonderful brown compost comes out the bottom!

Taye was very grateful and said it was great to have so many of us there. We got a big job done which would normally take one person ages to do.

👌👌👌

We threw in some Meet & Retreat around the park, working on keeping a steady pace at different tempos. It was dark, some people nearly got lost, but thankfully everyone was looking well worked out by the end!

We headed back as a big group and did a few stretches to finish.

Ace work GG Lambeth!!

Next week we need all hands on deck with a whopping 3 tasks! Sign up here.

Lambeth News

• Fancy a long run this Sunday? We're running 15km from Brixton station this Sunday, finishing with yummy food of course! Find out more and sign up here.

• Back by popular demand! Sunday afternoon, come along to a GoodGym track session - an hour of running bits n bobs based around improving your technique. 'I've heard it's fun!' - Ruth. Find out more and sign up here.

• Next week Katie is back, it's Shit Prize of The Month and you're off to either Crisis (8km total) or Brixton Youth Centre (3.5km total). Sign on the line here.

That's enough of the business

Last night 32 of us gathered at a very lively Papa's Park for two excellent tasks: 8km roundtrip up the hill to the Portico or 3km round trip to The Remakery.

The Remakery splinter group were 17 strong and headed out after a warm up on the basketball court and a very swift cough moment dithering with padlocks. And off we went!

Saw-ry seems to be the hardest wood

On arrival we were met by Manuel and team who took us through to the back quietly as there was an event on... at least we tried to be quiet but the Incredible Edible Lambeth team spotted us and shouted 'Wahay GoodGym!' And we walked through the room to loud applause. What an entrance! Once there we split into four groups: breaking down pallets (with minimal tools, very ingenius), taking nails out of planks of wood, bagging up wood and sawing wood.

It was a more-than palletable experience

After half an hour we had loads of bags filled with wood (see photo), many pallets deconstructed and the task owners were thrilled.

A few words from team Portico

Fifteen of us ran the 4km up Brixton Hill to the old favourite Portico Gallery. John and Methuselah (the Portico cat) were waiting to greet the gang and tell us about our tasks for the evening, but only once we had learned about methuselah’s biblical namesake (the grandfather of Noah).

Big warm hello and welcome to Jen, Laura, Emanuele and Rachel who joined us for the first time last night!

We split into two teams, with one sorting gazebo sides into ‘clean’, ‘dirty’, and the suitably intriguing ‘dirty dirty’. The other team helped to move buckets of pottery glazes so that John could work on replacing the shelves next week. In no time at all we were done, and set off again to enjoy the run downhill back to base, finishing with a good warm-down stretch against the railings.

Smashing work all around team.

See you soon!

Lucy J

Hooray for balmy February evenings when you have an outdoor task! No snow! No sleet! No cold rain from the sky! All of these meant a fortuitous evening ahead, surely?

Well. Sort of. We headed to the lovely Myatt's Fields park in two groups - one heading the 2km straight there and the other taking in a 4km route with sights including: Stockwell AND Oval underground stations, plus the busy junction bit at the end of Brixton Road. Don't say I don't spoil you Lambeth.

I really love that busy junction bit at the end of Brixton Road! Said Steve on his 4km sightseeing run

On arrival at Myatt's Fields we found the lights were not on and noone was at home. Oh dear! A mix up meant that they were not prepared for our arrival. However, they were soon to be on their way, so we took advantage of the lovely low wall to do some squats and ankle conditioning whilst we waited. When we got let into the park, there was a muddy area leading to the nature garden that needed some matting putting down and then lots of gravel covering it.

A crack team of very neat MATTERS started laying down the undercoat, whilst everyone else went on a headtorch run around the park, then did some lovely jump squat high fives and some squat knee jousting. Once ready, we used our hands as human shovels to start spreading the pebbles all over the matting. It was something of a religious experience I would say, where people could perhaps make a wish or take a moment to think about what they wanted to let go of before having a good old scatter.

This is the most ceremonial gravel spreading you have ever seen! Said Katie

I am not sure everyone agreed with this perspective but hey ho I'm the boss, though to be honest not for much longer folks, so either way you're in luck!

As the clock started counting down to the end of the session we grabbed some shovels and plastic boxes to get more gravel spread out. Most of us headed back and a small group of committed individuals left no stone unturned until there was an excellent spread across the whole area.

The task owner could not believe her eyes and we could all head home proud of a wacky job well done. Pure GoodGym!