The team had a productive session tidying up at Squirrels today! Kicking things off with a real test of strength, with a very large roll of paper that needed shifting in the van - the perfect warm up! We then got stuck into some serious tidying with trimming a tree and clearing weeds and moss, leaving the area looking much neater. Great work, everyone, it's always brilliant when we make a visible difference!

Our third visit to Raynes Park station to help with the planting. After donning our high-viz jackets, it was all hands on deck to move the delivery of soil from the street up to the platforms, fill the planters and beds, then do the watering. Luckily we had a large turn out of loco-motivated volunteers for a heavy job, and the new recruits swiftly passed their training. A special welcome to Alex for her first task. After all that hard work, some of us let off steam over a swift half at the local pub - just the ticket.

What a way to end a long day! Rachael, Jade and Rhian stepped in to help pack up the Sustainable Merton and Paws Wash gazebos after their fundraising dog walk event.

Having already tackled a much larger gazebo earlier, we organized everyone to ensure instructions were given to pack down each gazebo in stages, like seasoned pros! Practice truly makes perfect, and this was a fantastic workout to cap off our busy day. Teamwork makes the dream work, especially when it comes to getting the cover on ;)!

The afternoon session at Abbey Mills was a buzzing success! With 2 extra pairs of hands on the trainer-pong stand, we had some fun getting passers-by involved in the game while chatting about all things GoodGym.

The extra hands (and efforts) paid off as we collected even more trainers (following those collected earlier in the day) and got a few more players throwing shoes for an entry into the prize draw! We even had a bit of time to explore the other event activities and squeeze in some extra promotion whilst walking around and meeting lots of the lovely doggos returning from their walks. What a great way to spread the word!

Welcome to Erica, thanks for you help and well done on completing your first session. Hats (or shoes) off to Rachael, Rhian and Jade who powered through from the morning session and even stayed for the Sustainable Merton and Paws Wash pack down of the gazebos once we were all done and dusted...

The team set up next to the bandstand at and then helped Sustainable Merton and Paw Wash with the signage for the fundraising walk and other activities around the site, that were going on throughout the day.

Then it was time to spread the word about GoodGym whilst playing trainer-pong, with the donated trainers we were collecting to send to JOGNON! As we did a bit of leafletting and engaged passers-by, we also helped with directing dog walkers to the Sustainable Merton stand for their fundraising walk finisher packs.

It was great to connect with new faces and even meet a few people who've already signed up to Goodgym but haven't made it to a task yet. Mission accomplished - the word is spreading! A big thanks to Rachael for her support throughout the whole day and a massive shoutout to Rhian who joined us for her first task and the other sessions too.

This weekend, GoodGym stepped up to an impromptu request from Councillor Caroline Cooper-Marbiah to support Sustainable Merton and the Merton Community Fridge e-bike team at the Colliers Wood pop-up tip. Our brilliant, last-minute volunteers made a huge difference!

As well as chatting with residents about GoodGym we handled local pick-ups and gathered feedback.

Highlights:

• Rachael chatted to residents sharing how GoodGym offers something for everyone, whether you run, walk, cycle, or simply want to be active.

• Jade went the extra mile (literally!), on her second run of the day, over to a nearby church, to help load an old filing cabinet into the e-bike trailer.

• Mike showed true dedication, walking to collect an unwanted electric Christmas tree, whilst the e-bike and trailer were in another job.

• Most excitingly, we salvaged four bicycles from landfill! These bikes were then taken in the e-bike trailer to the Full Cycle Bicycle Project, New Malden, to be refurbished and put back into the local community to get more people mobile - a truly circular success story!

Beyond these feats, we collaborated with the Labour Action Team (and wished Councillor Caroline a happy birthday!) and other volunteers as they collected surveys and helped with ad-hoc collections. Well done, team, and Matthew (Merton's Community Fridge e-bike team) for a fantastic effort and picking up a couple of new jobs for GoodGym as well 💪.