Hang on, didn't Brenda and Harvey meet up at junior parkrun earlier in the day? Yes, indeed, they did! And now they were back to Brixton for the continuing story of keeping the litter at bay. They joined the team of volunteers from Young People's Movement, collected high vis and litter pickers, and they were good to go.

Luckily, a friend from Lambeth Council's street rubbish waste team who they'd met on their last visit, was way ahead of our intrepid two! He was on the case - collecting litter, bringing our team up to speed, and making sure all parties pulled in the same direction. A gent.

Brenda and Harvey worked the way around their pitch, leaving the whole area looking (almost) spotless! Job done, Brenda headed off to tackle another good deed. And Harvey went home :)

It was great to see happy faces receiving enough food, as there was plenty to hand out to the customers.

Received two deliveries that required quickly managing food packing for customers on Friday.

Once Brenda and I had discovered that the arms of Mr A's large-ish sofa folded down flat, the task of manoeuvring it out of his living room and front door became a little easier...albeit we still needed to negotiate 4 flights of stairs for it to reach ground level - thankfully Gravity had also joined us as the third member for this task, and so with a bit of caution as everything was quite narrow, we slowly allowed the sofa to make its way down each flight with a human brake at one end, and we soon had it out of the front door and parked behind the communal bins as requested.

Thunder? Lightning? Merely a warm-up act for GoodGym Lambeth, who absolutely refused to let a bit of dramatic weather stand between them and a good deed. A magnificent seven assembled at Papa’s, ready to get their hands dirty — and we mean that quite literally.

A huge welcome to Rich, joining us for the very first time! 🍾 He turned up on a stormy Tuesday evening to do unpaid weeding with strangers, which either speaks to his tremendous community spirit or his very adventurous social calendar. Either way, we’re delighted to have him! 💪🏼

A special shoutout to Fi and Katie, who stepped up as makeshift superheroes when AA Yianny was running a little behind schedule 🦸‍♀️🦸‍♀️ — safely shepherding the group from Papa’s like the absolute legends they are. No cape required (though it might’ve helped with the rain).

The full heroic lineup: Fi, Dan, Michael, Ben, Tilly, Katie and the newly initiated Rich. What a crew. 🌟

Tonight we returned to help our beloved Roses of Brixton — the wonderful Annick and Jean — giving their gardens a thorough seeing-to. We’re talking weeding, sweeping, clearing, and cleaning… and then things got avant-garde. 🎨

Yes, we laid carpet. As a weed suppressant. 😱🤩

Look, when you think about it, it makes perfect sense — the weeds get a cosy living room, which you might say is to die for. Truly the most passive-aggressive gardening technique known to humanity, and we are HERE for it. The gardens are looking lush, Annick and Jean were thrilled, and the weeds are already regretting their life choices.

Another brilliant evening of running, doing good, and laying soft furnishings in unexpected locations. See you next time! 🌿❤️

GoodGym Lambeth — getting fit, giving back, occasionally redecorating.

Our friends at Brixton Windmill needed a hand setting up for their May Fest event. Quick to answer the call to arms was Lambeth local Katie, our friend from the North (London) Emily, and long-time-volunteer-first-time-GGer Joe. Welcome, Joe!

We joined the massive volunteer team from the windmill to set out chairs, tables and gazebos, and remove litter from the site.

We were rewarded with a pot of coffee and some interesting facts about windmills. Did you know that lots of common phrases including 'the daily grind' and 'run of the mill' both stem from windmill history?!