We were ready for our close up last night in Hounslow as our task plastic picking by the river was to be covered by a photographer from Associated Press. It was with the flash of the camera that we left Chiswick Town Hall after warm ups to head to Kew Bridge.

Once there we met up with Dan from Active 360, who handed out litter pickers and plastic tubs. Luckily for us the tide was out, but unluckily it revealed masses of plastic bottles, cans, microplastics and wrappers that had been washed up onto shore.

We ventured down as far as we could go collecting everything we could see and chatting with local people who were interested to see what we were up to. We even spoke to one older lady who was stopped from studying geology at school because of her gender, but went on to do an archeology course in later life. She was very keen to see what treasures we might find! Unfortunately I don't think the British museum would be particularly interested int he discovery we made under the bridge last night....

The trugs were being filled quickly and our trainers getting muddier (see Breda's muddy badge of honour in the photos - hope you managed to get them clean!) as we picked and sorted. Before long it was time to bag up and count up how much we had saved from polluting our waterways. Dan worked out we got more than 6 kilos of waste, which is pretty good going in the time we had. Every little helps when it saves plastic getting into our water systems and aquatic life.

We made use of a nice well lit tunnel to do our fitness session, inadvertently creating an unofficial guard of honour for everybody that passed through - I think they appreciated the cheers! We knocked out various different lunges, jumps and leaps, which certainly worked up a sweat.

We saw off the evening with stretches, and for some, a warm up (and clean off, hopefully!) at the pub for food. There are a few fun missions coming up such as this one to drop off old trainers in Osterley and bashing and weaving on Chiswick eyot. Next week we're off to help Wild Chiswick in the allotments - see you there!

On a cold and fresh day on the Ham Lands, the GoodGym team joined Sharon and the rest of the Friends of Ham Lands to tackle an overgrown patch of brambles. John, Pippa, Monika, Kate, Chris, Adam, Suze, Rosie, Alex and JP were armed with loppers, gloves and plenty of enthusiasm as we chopped back and uprooted the brambles to reduce competition and open up space for violets and snowdrops to thrive.

The task involved cutting through dense, thorny growth and digging out roots to help prevent regrowth. Working steadily as a team, we cleared the area and left it ready for spring flowers to emerge. By the end of the session, the site looked noticeably more open and light-filled, giving native plants a much better chance to establish and spread.

We finished up with a well-earned cup of tea with the Friends of Ham Lands group, before making our way to the Swiss Bakery for drinks and snacks — a perfect end to a thorny but rewarding mission.

Next time will be on Valentines Day - sign up here: https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/helping-the-happy-ham-landers-8ee7fa0c-756b-4d38-9748-7b6b725f7d2e

13 GoodGymers, one very congested path to clear, below zero temperatures - it could only be our first group run of the year!

After a couple of weeks away from group sessions it felt great to be back doing what we do best - supporting local communities, getting active, and having a lot of laughs along the way.

Our job for the evening was at Strand on the Green school, where we were tasked with clearing a pathway that had become very congested with leaves, mud and branches. So after a run down to the school, avoiding all the precarious icy patches, we grabbed tools and got stuck in.

There were branches to break down, mud to scoop and debris to clear. We caught up on all the things we had been up to over the break - how many cheeseboards were consumed, who did festive parkruns, who started training for some epic 2026 races.

Before long the path had been transformed into a beautiful, clear walkway so we put everything away and moved on to fitness.

Diving up into pairs we swapped between conditioning and cardio exercises and soon any thoughts of the freezing weather were forgotten as we concentrated on who was doing what.

There are lots of exciting sessions coming up, including:

This Sunday mission in Putney I mentioned. It's going to a fun and impactful one creating a seating area for under fives - be great to see you there!

The January session weaving and bashing balsam on Chiswick eyot

..and next week's group session picking plastic by the river

We saw off another amazing year of doing good and getting fit in Hounslow last night with a task for an amazing charity, a run/walk that took in some incredible festive displays- and a bit of jeopardy thrown in for good measure!

It was a very Christmassy scene outside the Town Hall at 6:30 last night as GoodGymers met from far and wide, resplendent in Christmas hats and jumpers. Our job for the evening was our traditional end of year task to support the That's a Wrap project. This charity aims to get a gift to every child living in vulnerable circumstances this Christmas. We've supported them the past few years by spreading the word to encourage donations.

We were all set to pick up the leaflets which had been left at the Town Hall earlier that day. Except that - the hall had been locked up early. The grinch had struck!

It took quite some time of pleading, persuading and, let's face it, begging, for somebody to let us in. Thank goodness it eventually worked. We managed to run in and collect the leaflets - it was a Christmas miracle!

With no time to waste, we divided up into walking and running teams and worked out our routes. With 400 leaflets to deliver we needed to make it count. Before too long we were off putting leaflets through letterboxes and enjoying some of the finest Christmas lights Chiswick had to offer.

Fingers crossed all that hard work will result in plenty of donations to That's A Wrap. I'll keep you posted!

Job done, it was off to the pub for a celebratory knees up. There was secret Santa, there was quiz victory, there were festive socks, there was disappointing aubergine. But most of all there was a lot of laughs and plenty of joy to go round.

This year a whopping 70 of you have racked up an amazing 801 good deeds, which is pretty astounding. Five people have got their black tshirt and we have collectively covered over 9000 kms. What a year! Well done to each and every one of you - can't wait to kick off a happy, healthy, fit 2026 with you in January!