It takes extra special effort to lace up your trainers and get out the door when it's freezing and raining, so well done for making out tonight lovely Wandsworth gang!

There was a huge amount to celebrate tonight, but first let's a give a massive to cheer to our first time group runners:

Nick

Emma

and Anwen - who is the new trainer for Oxford.

Give them all a big welcome!

There was so much good stuff happening this weekend - a huge well done to everybody that took part in a very successful parkrun takeover on Saturday - it couldn't have happened without you. Yesterday was the Fulham 10k where so many GoodGymers put in great performances, cheered on by an amazing squad of supporters. Well done especially to Sian and Morag who both got brillient PBs!

It was also a big congratulations to Jessie for reaching that magic milestone - 100 good deeds!

Our job tonight was at Doddington & Rollo Rooftop Garden - a formally disused carpark roof which has been transformed into a beautiful community garden for local people to grow their fruit and veg. They rely on volunteers to keep the garden going, so when they got a giant 75 litre bag of compost delivered to the street below the garden, they knew who to call! Cue an increasingly damp GoodGym team turning up tonight, primed and ready to shift that soil.

Meeting Hadas, a regular volunteer, we grabbed tools from the shed, and headed downstairs to start the process of ferrying bags of soil up to the garden. If you've ever wondered how ong it takes 31 people to shift 75 litres of soil up two floors and across a garden - and of course who hasn't - then the answer is (drum roll) 20 minutes. Great work, team - a job that we got down so quickly would have taken the volunteers the whole day to do, so it was definitely an evening well spent.

The job was perfectly/terribly (delete as appropriate) timed, as just as we waved our goodbyes and started our fitness session, the heavens opened. So we took an almost unanimous decision to abandone of glute-based session and keep warm with a run back to the BAC. By the time we had stormed up the hill, there had been a short reprieve which we seized upon, furiously bashing out sumo squats, before conceding our defeat. Rain 1 - Wandsworth GG 0.

Not to worry, we'll have another crack at it next week when we'll be back to finish off planting bulbs at an estate in Battersea. Get your thermals ready, and let's get planting!

First up, a massive hello and welcome to Asa and Sinead. Give them a cheer, because tonight they came to their very first group run. Hooray!

News Round Up

Our GoodGym Tooting parkrun takeover happens this Saturday! We still need a few roles filled, such as token collector, run report writer and pre event set up, plus pacers for sub 20 and 30+. Please sign up here if you can make it and let's turn Tooting parkrun GoodGym red!

To finish off a lovely weekend of running volunteering, why not sign up to help out at the City Runs Fulham 10k this Sunday. As well as basking in a satisfied glow after spending your weekend helping other runners, you will also benefit from a medal, Adidas top and 50% off future City Runs events for your trouble! The only catch is that you have to sign up by Wednesday. Here’s the link to follow

Bus' a move

Tonight's task was at Leonard Chesire Disability centre - an organisation in Battersea which support individuals to live, learn and work as independently as they choose, whatever their ability. Led by people with experience of disability, they have a focus on community life here in Wandsworth.

But before we set off, we headed outside the BAC to warm up. It's particularly important at this time of year because starting to run without properly warming up cold muscles can easily lead to injury. It's just as important as the stretch afterwards -no excuses team!

After some dynamic moves to get our hearts pumping, we did our weekly poll. Tonight's burning question - with only six group runs left before Christmas what do you hope to find in your stocking (or other seasonal celebration)? You better be good boys and girls for the next few weeks if you want to find puppies, gin, a winning lottery ticket or Spice Girls tickets there!

It was a short run down to the charity, and we got there in no time at all to find tools, bags a washing equipment there ready and waiting for us to get stuck in. So, dividing up into teams, we took on three jobs:

Raking up the masses and masses of leaves around the building

Pulling up the weeds in the pathways and giving it a good spray with weedkiller

Washing the mobility buses (brrr!)

After 40 minutes of hard work, the place looked a lot tidier. Frank, who manages the centre, is always really grateful for the work we do here, and sends lovely emails to say thank you for our time and energy. This week he even left us a sweet treat int he shape of biscuits and water to "keep our energy levels up"!

With a sugar high imminent, it was a good time for us to run over to Battersea Park to knock out a tough fitness session. We started off with shuttle runs, which test both our endurance and pacing, before playing a quick game of 'What did you do this weekend?' - with either squats of sprints depending on our answers. It sounds like some of you had some very interesting Saturday nights!

After all that there was just time for our weekly plank minute before running back to the BAC to stretch it out. Brilliant work everybody, you all kicked off your week with some great running and a dose of do gooding too! Next week we have more of the same, so sign up here for more Monday fun.

With a backdrop of pretty colours in the sky and the smell of bonfires in the air, it was a cracking good group run in Wandsworth last night.

News, lovely news

So much good stuff to report on before our run! Here's a little roundup:

It was our very own Mr Christopher O'Driscoll's 50th good deed last night. That is a massive lot of gardening for elderly people, painting, shifting and lifting for community projects, and who knows how many miles covered! Give him a cheer next time you see him in his spanking new black tshirt for he is a GoodGym star.

Don't forget our Tooting parkrun takeover on the 17th November. We need as many eager beaver helpers as possible! There are a range of jobs to do and I'll be putting out the spreadsheet soon - sign up using the link above in the meantime.

Alyx told us about a great run she is leading soon from King's College. This women only run will be to the Fawcett Society, the UK’s leading charity campaigning for gender equality and women’s rights, to sort and pack sanitary products, to be distributed to women via a charity that tackles period poverty. Sign up here

Don't forget it is the monthly social on Thursday - sign up here for more fun, puns and all things GoodGym!

Please give Peter, Alex and Andy a huge cheer - they came for their first group run last night! A huge welcome to the group.

After that bumper crop of news we headed outside to do our warm up, before running the 3k to our amazing task for the evening. But first, we did a poll on all things Bonfire Night - top of the pops came fireworks in our list of fav things about the night, then came bonfires (handily), all the goof food and hot alcohol, sparklers, hot baths and friends. Aaah.

After a nice steady run over to our task, accompanied by the whistle and pops of Wandsworth fireworks, we arrived at the Oasis Adventure playground charity. This is an amazing organisation that supports local kids, many of whom have disabilities. Oasis Play provides innovative and inclusive outdoor play and learning opportunities that enable disabled and non-disabled children and young people to lead happy, fulfilled lives and play positive roles in the community. It also has one of the areas most bonkers and brilliant play areas, and we had to stop ourselves getting stuck in for a good old clamber over all the fun stuff there.

We were met by David, who gave us a little background on the organisation and its history (and is well placed to do so after over 20 years at the charity!), and who had prepared tools ready for our big job that evening. Our task was to dig out a big area ready for swings and other play equipment. It was hard work - and a great upper body workout - but after just 40 minutes of work, the difference was huge. Check out the photos to see the massive hole we dug!

After all that digging we didn't have a huge amount of time left, but just enough to stop for a few minutes on the way home and knock out a quick but verrry intense tabata session. Nice frogging everyone.

Sweaty but happy we arrived back at the BAC for stretching - next week we're back to Leonard Cheshire disability charity to give them a hand with various jobs (including a wash down of those mobility buses, so wrap up warm!) . Sign up here for more Monday fun, good deeds and fitness.

Lambeth trainer Katie covered the lovely Wandsworth group this week and disaster struck at lunchtime when our lovely task had to cancel due to illness.

RATS! Said Katie.

She quickly called upon some helpful Wandsworth runners who suggested some other spots to go. Sadly, none of them could arrange a task at such short notice so instead we headed down to Battersea Park, split into three teams of seven and played the Trick or Treat Challenge. Each team had to complete eight Tricks and eight Treats, with location specific challenges around the park. As it was such a chilly evening, this task worked well as everyone had to keep moving at all times. One of the Treats included some plogging and gaining a feeling of great satisfaction. Well done to the team who found a Prosecco bottle - very Battersea Park!

It was Jordan's team that made it back to base first and who also made the best Spooky Photo. Well done gang!

And with that, it was back to base with in a Ghoulish manner - everyone set off as fast as possible and a team of five chasers tried to catch us all before we reached home.

This is a big hill at the end just before you get home! Said everyone.

Once back at base the first prize team enjoyed some Fiendish Fancies and everyone else got a consolation eyeball. Don't say I don't spoil you Wandsworth! Thanks for having me and happy birthday to Brian too.

Eight wonderful GoodGym-ers joined me to help Brent Mencap and run 5km!

Tonight we were off to meet Ann the wonderful director at the Brent branch of Mencap. We were delivering flyers in the local area for their upcoming event revealing the history of the building they are based in. Via a grant from the heritage lotter fund they have been able to do some digging on the history and found that in some way or form the residents of the building have been serving the community for 100 years!

Serving the community

After a short run we met Ann, she had prepared the flyers for us and we split into three groups of three. Armed with our flyers and a section of the local residential streets we spent a good 35 minutes working our way around. We all headed back to the Mencap offices and there Ann told us a bit more about the event and the services that are provided.

We delivered 500 flyers between us which was a great achievement - well done everyone. Ann kindly provided us with some refreshments and a free tshirt after our efforts. With our goodbyes said we covered the rest of the distance back to base.

We had our stretch and then said goodbye to Rachael who is moving but thankfully to another part of London with a goodgym!

Sign up for next week's run here - task to be confirmed but likely some garden-based work before the light leaves us for good!

Cheers, Pritesh

Tuesday night, it’s H&F GoodGym night! And to add to the excitement tonight it was part I of the H&F GoodGym 2nd birthday celebrations and a two task special. Tonight we were first heading up to St Mungo’s Reconnection Post and then up to White City Adventure Playground.

To get both tasks completed I required lots of runners and pairs of hands, and thankfully a wonderful 22 GoodGym-ers joined me on a humid autumnal evening for this party run, to do good, twice over! It was lovely to have Alice and Imogen, Mitzi along for their first GoodGym group run and to have Larissa and Jenni from GoodGym Ealing and Michele from GoodGym Hounslow doing some GoodGym tourism! It was also great to have one of my favourite GoodGym trainers, Ana, of GoodGym Wandsworth and Hounslow join the fun – extra great to not be on the other side of her fitness sessions for once!

As always everyone congregated in the Hammersmith Fitness & Squash Centre, however, this week being the party run, Sarah and Johnny were on hand to provide party hats and the homemade banana cake for the post-run celebrations. Much like GoodGym’s group run disclaimer “you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do” some opted out of wearing a party hat, understandably their aerodynamics would’ve been altered and it would’ve slowed them down. Party hat’d up we headed outside this week for a round-up of the weekly news (my voice vs a motorway I think there may have only been one winner, so for those of you who missed any of it…

1. GG London-wide 'Hamingslow' Social – This Thursday!! GG Hammersmith, Ealing and Hounslow will be uniting and hosting the social! It'll be in Hammersmith upstairs at The Rutland Arms! Sign up here.
2. GG H&F's 2nd Birthday - On Tuesday 11th September, part II of the birthday celebrations with a post-run social at The Draft House! Important pre-social request - Please email or whatsapp a photo of yourself aged 2 to Bex before the date for the baby photo quiz round!
3. September Long Run – 22nd September. This month the long run will be the Wandle Trail led by yours truly and Andy from GG Hounslow. There will be two pacing groups and the option of a shorter start point along the way. Sign up here.

AND a big well done to Jason who completed the Spitfire 10K and to Sarah who came 5th (3rd) with her triathlon team at the weekend!

While everyone was gathered in a circle we did a quick name and number count and everyone answered the “what do you like to do on your birthday?” question. The answers ranged from having drinks in the pub, spending the day with friends, having a lie in, eating lots of cake, doing GoodGym to the wonderfully decadent cheese on toast for breakfast.

Following a quick warm-up and the loser of the bus vs walk judgment tonight, Sophie we all headed north on the short 1.5km run to the first task at St Mungo’s Reconnection Post. Despite the group throwing me a ‘red herring’ as to where the actual entrance was (I of course 100% knew where it was…honest!), we arrived at St Mungo’s and were greeted by Philippa, the Deputy Manager who explained to the group the services they provide to vulnerable and homeless adults in the community – as well as providing housing, they work with the residents to get them reconnected in the community.

Need for weed

The task tonight was simple, tackle their garden – tidy as much as we could in the half an hour we had with them. Everyone gloved up, tooled up, and prepared the 3 large garden waste bags for the filling of weeds and cuttings. The group got to work tackling the garden as briefed and with all hands either on deck or on the tools providing a much needed weed and/or prune to the plants around the garden. In what is becoming a weekly tradition, Sarah posed with a bag and Sophie posed in various stances on demand. Chris, Michelle and Jason also got involved in the fun too…check out the photos! Amongst the photo opps the group put in a hard gardening shift and quickly filled the 3 large garden waste bags. The time flew by, as it always does when you’re having fun…as Fiona wonderfully exclaimed, “that’s been half an hour already?!” and it was time to down-tool, tidy-up, empty the bags, and pose for a couple of group photos along with Philippa. Task one complete! We said our thankyous and goodbyes and headed off on what was meant to be a short 1.2k run up to our second task at White City Adventure Playground.

Lost-term memory

In a nice trip down memory lane back to the first couple of weeks when I got the group lost and lead on a ‘magical mystery tour of H&F’ I managed to lead the group down not one, but two blind (well closed) alleys…

Following the minor detours and bonus running up to our second task we eventually arrived at the wonderful White City Adventure Playground and were met by Rob from the Play Assocation. He explained to the group that the Play Association were a non-profit charity based in Hammersmith & Fulham that deliver after school and holiday provision for local children aged 8 to 14 years and specialise in providing play opportunities for disadvantaged children, and children with complex needs. Unfortunately with the summer nights well and truly drawing in it was too dark for the group to admire the outdoor adventure playground in all its glory but I can vouch for the fact it is ABSOLUTELY AWESOME!! A kids dream!

Skip to it

Our second task of the night was another simple one, load the skip they had ordered in which was currently sat empty and being collected Wednesday at 7am with bricks, old timber, and everything both to the side of the skip and in the outdoor storage unit. The group split off into different groups and began to fill the skip in double-quick time! A human chain was formed to get the old timber and storage unit completely emptied, much to Rob’s amazement! One final sweep by Lucy and pick-up by Michelle, Joyce, Johnny and Sarah ensured no scraps or Uno cards were left behind. Answering the old age question of “How many GoodGym-ers can you fit into an empty storage unit?” everyone piled into the unit for a brilliant group photo, party hats still mostly in-tact!

With the skip completely filled and the darkness upon us it was finally time to say goodbye to Rob and head back on the 3km run back to base. Once back at base Rachael waved everyone in with the tall feather-like plant she had very usefully run with from the first task – a very handy beacon throughout! After a quick stretch out and round-up of the night there was only one thing left to do…eat the delicious homemade banana cake and all the sweets! (….obviously in moderation!)

Hat's all folks!

Part I of the H&F 2nd birthday celebrations completed! What a great and fun double-task night. One skip that would’ve otherwise gone back empty filled to the brim and a garden a lot less weedy and overgrown. Apologies for getting you back a ‘touch late’ but I hope you all enjoyed it! Great running and a big welcome to the ladies from FOX and the National Geographic: Alice, Imogen and Mitzi – 6km run, 2 tasks completed, awesome stuff! And thank you very much to Jason for as ever being my trusty back-marker and to Ana for leading one group back and Jo for providing the navigational expertise back from the second task. Have a lovely week and hopefully see you on the group run next week!

Next week we’re back to Askham Court to help out in the residents community gardens – sign-up here.

Eleven excellent GoodGymmers ran to Gladstone Park to pick up litter and help keep this brilliant local space tidy.

We were unfortunately taskless going into tonight, but that doesn't stop GG Brent. After a quick stop to grab some bin bags we headed to Gladstone Park in double quick time to get to work picking litter.

We were joined today by Rosie for her first ever GG run: WELCOME. Everyone give her a cheer. We were also joined by Nicky who was visiting us from Lambeth. Love a bit of tourism.

We divided into twos and threes in the park and started picking litter. The team worked hard for half an hour grabbing loads of rubbish as the sun went down behind us over the hill. One might even say that it was lit(ter picking 👀). Can you tell I found it hard to choose which pun to use. Thanks for James, Rachael, Liz and Rosie for the brain storm in the pub after.

That done, we dumped the rubbish in the bin and met for some drills. I marked out a 50 metre run and set the team to work on strides: 50% effort out then 70% back x 2, before squats, then the same again, calf raises, then a hard run out and a recovery run back to recover. It was a brilliant effort by everyone!

From there, it was a light run back to base for a stretch and drinks in the pub 🍻

Thanks for having me Brent

D