Southwark News

• She's been doing good since May 2016, she's a powerhouse and represents everything that is GoodGym. Helena just reached 200 good deeds! Which meant she got the honour of wearing the shiny new GoodGym cape! Give her a cheer here.

• It was Pauline's last run today as she's finished her law studies and is going back to France. We'll miss you Pauline!

• There's a Great Get Together community mission on Saturday to set up the Bankside Open Spaces Trust. The Great Get Together was set up in honour of Jo Cox to fight divisive politics and bring people together. Find out more and sign up here.

• Next week it's a shorter run (3km overall) and we're going back to Cossall Estate to help tidy up and tend to their raised beds. Find out more and sign up here.

That's enough of the business

Wednesday evening means Old Spike is the place to be. We gathered in the cafe as we always do and had a special briefing to celebrate Helena's 200th good deed. What an incredible milestone! Here's a gif of her in her cape and tiara.

Aloha to Richard, Jared, Sam and Harriet who joined us for the first time last night!

We set off on a steady 3.5km run to Galleywalll Nature Reserve which is a special space in Southwark that's been protected from being built on by the Friends of Galleywall Nature Reserve for over 15 years. There's two ponds (with a new one coming along), allotment plots, a polytunnel, a composting loo and a new water-gathering prototype.

We got to work on several tasks:

• Sawing logs for the fire

• Pulling up nettles and weeds

• Bagging up fully broken down compost

We got so much done in 30 minutes, Christine and Olly were delighted. We said our thank yous, took a group photo and set off just as it started to rain. A perfectly timed rain storm to soothe the nettle stings! Although we did get COMPLETELY soaked on the way home. It had stopped by the time we got back to Old Spike and we did some well-earned stretching.

Great work team! See you next week.

Lucy J

It was my first time attending GoodGym Southwark and what a lovely little group we had!

8 GoodGymers, smashing 5k in total set off from Old Spike, winding around the houses through to Camberwell's Salvation Army where we had the task of disinfecting an entire toy cupboard!

Janet showed us the gloves, cloths, some well-Dettol'd water and also a few cheeky snacks she had left over. We had a quick sip of (regular) water and got on with our task.

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First the cupboard was emptied and it was a bit of a throwback - Remember those whale-shaped see-saws and the little one person cars where you had to use your legs Flintstone style?? So great. And we were almost mature enough to not play on them. See pics for those who couldn't help themselves. 👆

Everyone got stuck in, grabbing a few bits, giving them a once or twice over, and returning them to Emily who was slotting them back into the cupboard with the kind of skill you only get from years of playing Tetris.

When we were finished, we took a quick snap with our achievements, stuffed a few marshmellows in our mouths for the road and went round the corner to Brunswick park for a spot of Rock, Paper, Scissors WITH A TWIST.

👎 Lose = Sprint to the tree and back.

👍 Win = You do some squats or a plank. i.e. not really winning.

We even followed that up with some intervals between lamposts/phoneboxes/zebra crossings/roads on the way back.

GoodGym Southwark has some serious stamina.

When we arrived back, we had a quick stretch and parted ways.

Top work everyone and massive props to Alex for making this his first GoodGym run. 👌👌👌

Southwark News

• Next week we're going to Surrey Docks Farm - it's a 10km run overall but there's the option to get the overground back. Yay! Surrey Docks Farm means goats and pigs and sheep and loveliness. Come join the fun. Find out more and sign up here.

• This Sunday is the London Marathon! There will be a GoodGym cheer squad outside Somerset House around mile 25 - where they really need you! Hopefully we'll have the banner so we'll be easy to spot. Sign up here. If you're running it, you can comment your number on this page here so we can track you and give you a big old cheer!

• Saturday 18th May Friends of Nunhead Cemetery are having an Open Day and need help setting up. Find out more and sign up here.

• Dulwich parkrun takeover on 1st June! We'll be providing all volunteer positions and pacing (if we have enough volunteers!). Find out more and fill in the spreadsheet here.

That's enough of the business

Last night we gathered at Old Spike Roastery as usual to run 5km to help School Food Matters unload 3 tonnes of compost and then run back 5km back. A busy evening!

We set off bang on 7pm to make it on time and arrived at St Paul's Primary school ready to go. Unfortunately no one was home and after buzzing a few times, doing several laps of the school and calling various numbers, we had to concede defeat. School Food Matters got in touch with me today to apologise, they're not sure what happened and are very sorry as they expected Roy the premises manager to be there.

On the way over we'd spotted a brand new looking adventure playground in Burgess park so that's where we headed! First off we did the Burgess Park rollercoaster focusing on up and downhill running form and then - playtime!

A huge hello and welcome to Lara who came for her first group run last night AND ran the furthest she's ever run!

We made good use of the playground - swings, slides and all. Nothing like a good play! Then we set off home.

Sorry about the task team, next week will be a corker!

See you then, Lucy J

Southwark News

• Tonight more people are needed! A special community mission to help Crisis move lots of donations at their warehouse one New Kent Road. We're in need of more people to help out. You don't need a DBS check for this one and we won't be running as a group, just turn up and do some shifting. Find out more and sign up here.

• Next week we're going back to Bell House for gardening. It's a gorgeous house and gardens 3km away in Dulwich. Find out more and sign up here.

• GoodGym volunteers are eligible for Charity Worker Discounts! Have a look at the website to save some money on all kinds of things.

That's enough of the business

Last night 7 runners gathered at Old Spike Roastery to head off to Nunhead Cemetery to help out with cleaning up the cemetery in advance of their Open Day on 18th May. I'll be posting up a Community Mission to help them set up and take down so keep an eye on the website! There will be all kinds of stalls and of course lots of information on the beautiful cemetery available on the day.

We arrived and Jeff from Friends of Nunhead Cemetery ushered us in and set the group to work whilst I waited at the gate for Pauline who heroically ran from the bus with several bags in tow and a coat! That's dedication!

We split into three groups - two heading opposite ways along the boundary wall to pick up litter and one to clear up bits of tree on the main avenue. Friends of Nunhead Cemetery are so grateful for our help and we're looking forward to helping them set up on Open Day.

Oddest pieces of rubbish: an entire suitcase, several empty packs of butter, assorted underwear

Finishing up at 7.55pm we said our thank yous to the team and headed off to Nunhead Green for a game of Cups and Cones and Find The Cream Egg. It's amazing how much lighter the evenings are even from last week. Hooray! Bring on summer!

Great work team.

See you next week! Lucy J