It turns out GoodGym Lewisham are creatures of habit... meeting on the other side of the foyer due to half-term activities threw quite a few of you off! We welcomed two new runners this evening - go and give Aruna and Susie a cheer!

I popped along to GoodGym Leeds last week and was inspired by their warm-up activity, so decided to give the Big Wave a try, which seemed to go fairly well. Let's keep practicing!

Feeling sufficiently warm, we set off on a roundabout route to this evening's task. Even the long way round was less than a kilometer, but it turned out to be just long enough to arrive at just about the same time as our walking group.

A-bra-cadabra!

John greeted us with a very warm welcome, and gave us a helpful overview of the work that St Christopher's does in the local community. Their new shop has only been open for three weeks, so there was plenty still to do to continue getting them set up, including: getting mountains of clothes hung up ready to be priced, sorting racks of empty hangers into size order, and making sure all the bras were labelled with the right chest size.

Size matters.

John was extremely chuffed with what we achieved, reckoning that we'd tackled about a week's worth of hanging in less than an hour. Special mention has to go to Darryl for modelling the outfit of the evening - a pair of disco trousers and matching halterneck top! I imagine there's a few of us who might be back to hunt that one down (...or maybe just me!).

Many hands sort light shirts (and dark!).

After a short run back to Glass Mill, there was only one way to use up the spare time and energy - with a time trial! Thanks to everyone for participating and cheering with such enthusiasm, you did yourselves proud!

Thanks to Clare and Oli for this week's puns, Jacqueline for walk-leading, and to Rebecca and Oliver for back-marking!

See you next week for a spot of flyering for Age Exchange's Christmas Fair - sign up here.

Pat yourselves on the back for being part of such a big group of happy runners this evening - it was fantastic to see so many smiling faces turn up in spite of this evening's questionable weather! And a massive welcome to our veritable troop of first time runners - go and give them all a cheer - Luke, Claire, Polly, Raya and Katie (who gets an extra special mention for being dragged along for an evening of being told what to do by her big sister - which sounds a lot like most of our childhood!).

When we finally arrived at Chelwood Nursery (after only a mild diversion - thanks for backmarking this evening and keeping us all together Chloe), we achieved a huge amount this evening, even in the playground's gloomy conditions...

What's long, brown and sticky?

An entire hazelnut tree was felled (before the nuts have chance to grow, avoiding unwanted allergic reactions in the playground), chopped up into bits, stripped of leaves, and the resulting sticks were sorted into varying size categories ready to be used for... den-making! Just think of the hours of fun you've all contributed to in preparing den-making equipment (and the hours of fun you probably had making dens back when you were younger)!

They call it Nutbush city limits

Another hardy group ventured round the back of Chelwood's swanky new building to clear up some of the remaining building materials. It was tough work moving lots of heavy planks and shovelling rubble in the dark (it did look a bit like prison camp back there), but totally worth it to discover the nursery's long-lost story-telling penguin - on top of the den-making and the teeny tiny rakes, this evening's cute levels were off the scale.

Can you twig it?!

That's not even the end of it! An extensive weeding campaign was carried out, with Chloe, Martin and Sarah (who did her 50th good deed this evening, hoorah - more cheers needed please!) delicately foraging for weeds in between the strawberry and pumpkin plants (check the size of that pumpkin!). Tom did a sterling job watering the bamboo plants (yes, even in the rain), whilst Laura and Polly hunted down escaped smooth pebbles using only their sense of touch (like dolphins apparently, which are known for their highly developed sense of touch due to the nerve endings in their skin - who knew!).

"We're like dolphins!" - Polly

Fuelled by bananas, we set off back to Glass Mill taking the "scenic" route via a sprint up Hilly Fields (it would be rude not to!). Thanks to keeping us together. Don't forget to check out this Saturday's community mission planting bulbs at St Mary's Primary School in Lewisham, and get yourself signed up for next week's fizz and cake bonanza to celebrate adding the finishing touches to the Sensory Garden at Beecroft Garden Primary School.

Happy running!

P.S. Please excuse the really dark photos! 😬 P.P.S Thanks for the puns Oli!