Lawn cut and help with other garden tasks for Ms J

Several Goodgymers assisted VGCC at their foodbank on Friday 20th March, including sorting, packing and serving the local communities.

Lovely sunny afternoon meeting Ms A and hearing all about her life - so much chatting we forgot to take pictures of the garden before/after, just some war wounds from the rose bushes!

Vauxhall Gardens Community Centre serves around 80–120 families and individuals in crisis every Friday with short-term food support. It was an absolute GoodGym takeover today, with 6 GoodGymers giving it their all during a marathon 6-hour shift: three hours of prep (9–12 pm) followed by three hours of full-on distribution (12–3 pm).

Our three seasoned GoodGym vets – Brenda, Chandrima and Susan – enthusiastically led the charge, joined by three fantastic newbies: Ayan, Aysha and Rafa. A very warm welcome guys!

Together they left no stone (or spud) unturned: every single crate was meticulously quality checked before crate-mixing mountains of veg including parsnips, potatoes, broccoli, cabbages, red onions and carrots. They also put serious muscles to use lifting, unloading and sorting heavy crates full of cereal, pasta, rice, vermicelli noodles, loads of frozen meats (chicken, pork, beef), cans of fizzy drinks, mixed beans, snacks - crisps, flapjacks & buns, and bottles of various pasta sauces. Once the eye-catching fruit, veg, meat and snacks display was ready, all 6 got busy with distribution, greeting everyone with big smiles and making sure each person left with both a full bag and a full smile!

True to their hardcore engineer roots, the newbies crew even squeezed in some AI chat, sharing fun ideas about how it will change things for the better. And honestly, after today’s session, it feels like the future’s in pretty good hands.

We’re already looking forward to seeing our brilliant newbies back for many more Friday sessions!

Another Tuesday, another band of Lambeth legends proving that the only thing we love more than a good run is getting so mulch done for the community. 💪🏼✨

Our superstar squad rolled out from Papa's in fine form — AA, Michael, Dan & Jo lacing up and hitting the tarmac on foot, while Fi, Katie, Nehal and Adam rolled deep on wheels and wellies (well, approximately). The vibes? Immaculate. The chat? Flowing faster than we were. 🍾😂

Our mission this evening took us to the wonderful Agnes Riley Gardens, where the brilliant Jo from Friends of Agnes Riley and Tom from Lambeth Parks had a job for us: spread woodchip along the hedges to give the freshly planted whips the best possible start to the new season. 🌱 Think of it as tucking the baby trees in for spring. Cosy! 🤗

And did we chip in? Oh, we chipped in HARD. The team shovelled, narrowed and spread that woodchip with the kind of efficiency that would make a professional landscaper weep with pride — job done in no time, leaving us the very important task of... standing around a pond staring at newts. 🦎❤️ And honestly? Absolutely worth it. The pond was JUMPING (well, crawling, they're newts) with wildlife and we are not ashamed to say we were absolutely giddy about it.

🌟 SPECIAL SHOUTOUT 🌟

A massive welcome to Nehal, who joined us for her very first Group Run tonight! Having already dipped her toes in with Community Missions alongside Katie, Nehal is clearly committed to the GoodGym life — and we are SO here for it. Welcome to the madness, we love having newt members of the team. 😱🤩

Until next time, Lambeth — keep running, keep giving, and for the love of all things good, keep spreading the chip. 🌿🏃‍♀️💚

On a beautifully sunny Saturday, Goodgym-ers from Lambeth and Wandsworth joined forces to help the team at the Community Healing Gardens in Vauxhall. It was especially good to welcome Amy to her first ever Goodgym session!

The Community Healing Gardens is a gorgeous green haven in the middle of an otherwise built-up area, which provides residents with essential outdoor space, and a habitat for birds and other wildlife. The volunteer team have recently planted mixed native hedge whips around the perimeter of the garden and our mission today was to give these freshly planted areas a bit of TLC to encourage growth.

We were given a warm welcome from Head Gardener Hugh, and then joined local residents Hannah, Nehal and Stella, as well as Gareth from Friends of the Earth Lambeth, to tackle the tasks…

🌿 Ben and Michael filled a huge planter with soil

🌱 Tracey and Katie weeded the beds where the new hedges had recently been planted

🍃 Amy filled in potholes in the lawn and collected litter

Once those jobs were completed, we all took it in turns to fill wheelbarrows with mulch to put down in the freshly weeded beds to discourage weeds.

As if by magic, two flasks of tea and a Victoria sponge cake appeared just at the perfect moment for a well-earned break!

We all agreed that many hands make light work, and that we like the Healing Gardens very mulch - hopefully we’ll be back soon!