Another special addition Saturday saw 11 of us out to plant tree whips, clear woodpiles and create a loggery for Lammas Park Enclosure, all before midday!

We met after Gunnersbury parkrun where we welcomed new member Claire for her first GoodGym experience and ten others looking to do some good to kick off their weekend. This was the second of our January weekend offerings and it was great to see that lots of us are looking to take part in community volunteering on these weekend slots, we'll definitely be arranging more outside of our usual Tuesday evening slot in the future!

Special mention to Chris who completed his 50th good deed with GoodGym today, nearly one year to the day since he started, that's dedication and for that we applaud you! Thank you for all your amazing contributions!

Chief whip!

We had a short 3km run over to the task where we met Walpole Park ranger, Vanessa and lots of other volunteers who had come out for this community planting day. There was lots to do including getting to work on planting some of the 100 tree whips donated by the Mayor of London. After digging out holes (tougher than it sounds when the whole area used to be tennis courts and you continually hit rock and gravel!) we dipped our whips in a special protective root powder before bedding them in ready to start their new lives in the park!

Logging a good deed!

Next it was onto a bit of heavy lifting and digging which gave everyone a fantastic workout! Our task was to clear a large area of logs and tree cuttings so that more whips could be planted in that part of the enclosure. Alongside this we also had to dig a large trench to create a loggery for bugs and beetles to use as their habitat. Due to the aforementioned underground tennis courts this was literally a hardcore challenge!

After digging what looked to be our own grave, we began adding in the logs sticking out at all different angles to create a bit of an artistic sculpture for the parks wildlife and bugs to use as their own. It was so great to see it come to life after initially just being an overgrown section of park!

After an hour and a half of hard work it was time for us to pack up and part ways knowing that every time we now run past the park we can look at the trees growing in this fantastic community space.

14 GoodGymers ran 5k to help St Andrews Youth Club with a boxing inspired tidy up!

A bright and flowing run through the centre of town got us started off for the evening! Nipping around the majority of the central London foot traffic navigating down to the Oldest Youth Club in the World, St Andrews!!

Meeting the Adrian and Tom who were looking after use tonight we had a quick change of task and got stuck into the intricate tidying of the boxing store cupboard!

Beginning with a very long daisy chain method of removing everything from the chaotic cupboard. We managed to wrestle the room into some order, Archery, music, electrical and boxing sections were now easily accessible and in a precise order!

A splinter group had gone down to the always in need of TLC garage to tidy that and get everything into its rightful place on one of the many makeshift shelves.

The date for the GG vs St Andrews Olympics was set for the 28th of November where we will put our efforts against the mighty superpower that is the St Andrews youth!! The overall score line in 1-1 and we want to take the lead!! Have added a few pictures to show the Kinball match from previous encounters with St Andrew’s!!

Quick as a flash we were away and speeding up the famous Green Park Drag really putting in the hard yards for the evening!!

Great to have our GoodGym first timers along for their maiden voyage with the crew and hope to see you again next time!!

Next week we would love to have you as we do a Treat no Trick Halloween Special!! where we bring along anything we think would be well received by Westminster’s homeless community. Sign Up Here.

Have a great week

Smooth Running

Joel

After Double task cancellation we consoled ourselves with an epic fitness session being cheered on by The Queen and the guests of a very early Royal baby shower.

Not One but two tasks fell through this week at the last minute which left us in a bit of a pickle but we made the best of it!!

After a strong 20 minute running tour through Hyde Park in search of a bit of light we used the Royal lighting of Buckingham and St James’ Palace to illuminate our speedy running track on the edge of Green Park.

Hitting some brilliantly speedy and powerful running reps up and down the Green Park Drag including a strong 5 minute continuous relay. Then finishing off will the 500 metre burst all the way to the top!

With a little juice left in the legs we finished off with a 15 minute circuit to really challenge our leg and upper body strength!! Squatting, lunging and pressing our way to glory before a gentle well earned jog back to base with a very energetic session complete!!

Sorry for my lack of voice!! You all did amazingly to decipher what I was asking you to do. Thank you for bearing with me.

Have a great week, see you next time when we will be visiting St Andrews Youth Club to help them sort out their sporting store cupboard!

Smooth Running

Joel