Congratulations to everyone that took part in the Big Half on Sunday, I'm so proud of you and all your achievements. We'll be celebrating those fantastic achievements at the social next week!

As we gathered at Glass Mill in the sunshine, it was lovely to see some new faces from different areas and those returning after a break - hope you had a great evening doing good in Lewisham.

There was time for a quick warm up including an interruption by a noisy Southeastern train and then it was time to hit the hills up to Seniors. There's no easier way to get there, I promise, but hills are good for you!!

We arrived at Seniors to meet the rest of the team and got stuck into the tasks: - weeding the patio to prevent it getting too overgrown - spreading top soil that had been donated - watering all the plants - cutting back the geraniums

Time flies when you're having fun and it was time to pack up, take a group photo and our slightly smaller group headed back up the hill to be rewarded with a beautiful sunset!

We'll back back at Seniors soon to dig some holes to plant roses that the team have grown in and also for the Christmas decorations. I'll get that date in the diary asap as I know it's everyone's favourite. Next week we are off to the Tiny Forest to build their extension - it's a shorter run and a social afterwards.

*I don't want to say it but we might be getting into headtorch season from next week...

As the group gathered at Glass Mill, one thing was obvious, everyone's beaming smiles because it was still daylight (and we got most of the task done in daylight).

We began our run to Wildcat, a route we hadn't done in quite a while and after a couple of locks to unlock we made it into Wildcat and to where our supplies had been safely stored by Maria - thank you!

Bags and gloves distributed, it was time to tackle the rubbish that lay along the path. On first glance there wasn't that much but once we looked a bit harder, that's when we found the rubbish and we found some gems: a lobster, a burger and football.

There was a large patch of rubbish that was proving too difficult for one person alone so we sent in the heavy lifters (Miguel and Oli) with top of the range protective gear (shorts) and equipment (the biggest bag we could find) who hauled the last of the rubbish out of the tight spot in the trees.

Vic arrived just in time for the group photo and most importantly in time for pizza! A team of 4 top GG-ers made their way back to Glass Mill and then back to Mamma Dough whilst the rest of the group detoured straight to pizza and missed out on 2km of running!

Next week we are heading to Senior's to help in the garden.

The task at Seniors at this time of year is a simple one: put up the Christmas decorations. This years task had an added step: check the trees and decorations weren't broken or not working.

First up we built the 5 Christmas trees to check all had their parts and all looked good and not too shabby. One didn't make the cut but on the positive side these trees have served Senior's well and are probably around 15 years old!

It was time to decorate, we had a couple of trees that had a strict colour scheme with matching lights around the room and then 2 trees that just had a mixture of tinsel, decorations, lights - these turned out to be my favourite and even got picked for the centre of the group photo!

There was also a group hanging lights (being careful not to fall from the step ladder) and hanging decorations.

The space was looking Christmassy when it was time for us to head back to Glass Mill. We ended up with a small but dedicated to the hills group making it all the way back - great work tonight everyone.

We have a couple of community missions this weekend: - filling the skip at Brownhill Road Baptist Church - helping in the garden at Marsha Phoenix - helping at FUSS Christmas Fair

Having not personally been to the St Mary’s Forest School for a few months, I was impressed by how much it has changed and turned from a blank canvas to an exciting space with a number of reshaped and themed areas, helped in no small part by a number of recent GoodGym visits.

Upon arriving this week our team split into two groups, with group 1 continuing last week’s efforts formalising the pathways around the emerging gardens many features & areas, whilst group 2 prepared other areas for cultivation with wildflowers. These pathway preparations again entailed the shifting of a top layer of wood chips to reach and also flattening of the earth below, so that weed-controlling membrane could be laid.

Meanwhile, by torchlight, group 2 were raking through and clearing the flower beds-to-be before deftly scattering wildflower seeds and treading them into their new home. As if to support the seeds’ settlement in-situ, we were even treated to a light passing shower mid-task!

Meanwhile, drawing on last week’s experience, group 1’s pathway work was proving swift and efficient as multiple section of membrane were laid and the top-chips returned before being spread and levelled. A final all-hands effort saw additional wood chip harvested from neighbouring areas to ensure the new paths received a good and even covering.

We will return to St Mary’s again next week to continue on this exciting project – who knows what further changes we will see then..!