It was a glorious July evening, and twelve GoodGymmers took a break from watching the Olympics to came along to enjoy the sunshine, do good and get fit. Some of us walked, some of us ran and some of us made our way along the marvellous riverside by two wheels to the Ham and Petersham Sea Scouts.

Over the past few weeks, we had been helping the Sea Scouts to repair and lay a footpath which was worse for wear. JP and Harry had done a great job at finishing off the hard work on Saturday's Community Mission, but Russell still had plenty of work for us to do, and had four tasks ready for us to get stuck in to.

Heat, Feet and Concrete

Newcomer Rob joined Suze to finish filling in a final pothole on the pathway. Supported by Julian, there were literally sparks flying as Suze showed off her pickaxe skills and Rob learnt how to mix up cement. Bob the Builder, more like Rob the Builder!

Push and Shovel

Adam and our other first timer Lynn were put onto compost duties. A big warm pile needed moving from the compost pile across the grounds, and the duo did a wheely great job in the allotted time.

On the fence, or stick to what you know?

JP and Steph were the ones feeling strong, and Sea Scouts Chris took them off to help with some 'heavy lifting', which involved moving a load of fence barriers, manouevering the trolley and loading up lots of wood, sticks and logs.

Path of Least Resist-ants

Chris, Harry, Maena, T, Monika and Lucy were with Russell for what he referred to as 'industrial weeding'. This was not just any weeding, as the name suggested, as he took us through a jungle of trees armed with spades. Once we were deep in the forest, Russell explained the plan was to clear the long grass and pampas to make way for a new woodland path. This was sweaty work, a marathon rather than a sprint. There was also a hammer throw event (but with newly shifted grass instead of hammers), gymnastics with the beam and bar, hurdles over tree roots and diving into bushes.

Just under an hour had passed, and it was time to finish up for the evening, and make our way back home into the sunset.

Well done to Teresa and Susannah for their big cycle ride down to the Isle of Wight over the weekend, and for cycling along tonight too! A big welcome to Robert and Lynn who came along to their first ever GoodGym sessions today, and to Harrison for joining in his first group run. Hopefully we will see you all again soon, although we can't guarantee this weather every week, sadly!

And finally a big thank you to everyone for behaving for my first official session led, and not causing a riot whilst Liz is away!

An unexpected Canada Day celebration this evening when task owner Ken sprung out with a flag, maple syrup and waffles!

But that's getting ahead of ourselves as the evening started with a run session at Richmond Green, welcoming first timer Steve for a warm-up and then five laps around the green. Those who wanted to added in two short sprint sections and those who didn't went for a steady pace that kept everyone pretty much together.

A very short walk from the green, we met Ken at the St Mary Magdalene war memorial for some weeding around the monument and a few dodgy looks from the pigeons who have built nests at the top!

On completion, Ken went full Canada and served up the snacks, followed by a few seconds stroll to the nearest pub! A relaxed evening altogether, just the way the Canadians are! 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦

Smokey and background music was in the air : not the Smokey Birmingham one you would think in the Peaky Blinders but BBQ smoke from the summer street party at the A taste of Twickenham!! The Peaky Pickers gang haunted the streets of the festival to get rid of the litter left by food enthusiasts. Seems that the Pickers looked mean and fierce and had the locals not littering alot as they were putting their waste in the bags that the gang waved around.

A glorious morning of sunshine greeted the 7 GGers who headed out to the Ham Lands for a morning of doing good. As usual, Sharon was there to meet us and led the group to an area we had tackled around the same time last year, where we had cut down the suckers growing up near the cherry trees.

So it was a morning of sticks (and saplings and brambles). We cut them down from the main tree in the middle, from the surrounding areas and from the undergrowth, and gathered them up to deposit in the ever-increasing pile tucked away amongst the trees.

While most of us were having a stick-y time with the choppers and loppers, Rosie tackled an even stickier challenge left behind by a passing canine to help prevent sticky shoes for walkers using the pathway 💩

We worked hard and made a lot of progress, and at the end of our allotted time we had made a real difference, as well as soaking up some vitamin D from the warming sunshine.

All that was left was a group picture before we headed off to the Swiss bakery for delicious coffees and snacks.

Next time up is the 8th June - you can sign up here: https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/helping-the-happy-ham-landers-3ae1f524-d6fd-44ec-a291-890a4ec45133