"Who's at the door? I saw something red." - Mrs Z.
"Kash and Sevan from GoodGym to help you with your garden." - Sevan.
"Pardon?"
”We're the volunteers to help with weeding your garden."
"You're supposed to come tomorrow."
"No, we've been confirmed for Sunday, and we're here to help you today."
"Peace."

Despite the GoodGym visit apparently taking Mrs Z by surprise, the lady welcomed gardening help with gratitude. Unfortunately, she didn't have any tools and had only one black bag to spare for the garden waste. Mrs Z led Sevan and Kash to the back garden, which was covered with dried cuttings and had new brambles appearing along the wall and the fence. There were also beautiful flowers that Sevan praised.

"What do you want us to do with the garden?" - Sevan.
"Do what a man does in the garden." - Mrs Z.
"We'll do what we can." - Kash.
"That's good. I'm very grateful." - Mrs Z.

Having received the artistic license, the GoodGymers had a thought about what was in their power to complete without the tools. Kash has spotted a rake and a spare black bag and decided to rake all the old cuttings into a single pile and pack what she could into the rubbish sack. Sevan, in the absence of cutting tools, pulled out brambles with his gloved hands alone, while Kash went back to the Stone Age, cutting the stems with a piece of debris.

Mrs Z recalled two strange incidents she had not long ago while going to the garden. Firstly, she just found herself suddenly in the garden, sitting on the ground, and not realising how she'd ended up there. She gathered she must have had a fall. Not only that - she'd been stuck in the garden, waiting for the carer to rescue her - as, apparently, at midday Clapham becomes still like the space and no one can hear your scream. Another time, Mrs Z went to the garden with kitchen scissors to cut the brambles and dropped the cutting tool. At the time of the GoodGym visit, she was convinced that the scissors were still somewhere on the ground, but despite all the raking, Sevan and Kash couldn't find them.

As promised, the GoodGymers did what they could. As a result, the garden looked more pleasant to the eye, and Mrs Z was extremely grateful and wanted to treat them to some tea, which she'd already offered before the two started the work.

"Maybe it's not allowed, but come on, you deserve at least some tea! Man cannot work the whole day and have nothing to drink." - Mrs Z.
"But we're here just for an hour and a half." - Sevan.
"Well, even for that, you should get something!"

The GoodGymers were scheduled for another mission in the afternoon at the other side of the river, so they had to politely say no to Mrs Z's invitation, say their goodbyes, and set off for a run to another GoodGym area.

What a Tuesday evening! While the rest of London was busy grinding to a halt (tube strikes, police incidents, and the general chaos of just existing in this city 😅), our GoodGym Lambeth legends were already pivoting like pros — heading straight to the task like the well-oiled volunteer machines they are. 💪🏼

And what a team showed up! The brilliant Fi, Adam, Ben, and Katie were out in force, but the real plot twist of the evening? A surprise appearance from the one, the only, the magnificent Nicole 🍾🎉 — or possibly her AI body double (we’re choosing to believe it was the real deal 🤖👀).

The mission? Heading to Brixton Library to join the wonderful Annick, her friend Anouck, and the Friends of Brixton Library for an evening of weeding, watering, DIY and general sprucing up of the outdoor spaces. Think of it as a glow-up, but for a library. 💅🌱

Armed with trowels, determination and an impressive collective tolerance for getting their hands dirty, the team got stuck in — pulling up weeds, giving the plants a much-needed drink 💧 and making the whole space look lovely since being absolutely overdue for some love. (See what we did there? It’s a library. 📖 We’ll see ourselves out.)

The results? Stunning. The vibes? Immaculate. The puns? Clearly unstoppable.

Check out the pics — the space looked absolutely incredible by the end, and it’s all thanks to this lot ❤️😱🤩

Big love to Annick, Anouck and the Friends of Brixton Library for having us — we had the best time and can’t wait to come back! 🙌

Until next time, Lambeth! 🏃💚​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

I helped cut back Mrs R's garden so that she can enjoy the summer.

The GoodGym Lambeth crew were out in force this week, and what a force they were! 💥

Our merry band of do-gooders assembled at the legendary Papa’s HQ, laced up their trainers, and set off for a quick loop around the block before getting stuck into some seriously satisfying border edging back at base. 🏃‍♂️💨

Now, some people might think border edging sounds like a snooze. Those people have clearly never seen THIS lot with a spade. 😤🔥

Our small but perfectly formed squad — Tilly, Michael, Dan, Ben, Marie-Noelle, and a very special welcome to first-timer Alfie 🎉🍾 — absolutely smashed it from start to finish. Six heroes. One mission. Zero untidy borders. 🌱

A MASSIVE shoutout has to go to the one, the only, Tilly 🦸‍♀️ who stepped up as run leader this evening while the usual boss was away. She kept the troops in line, the pace on point, and the vibes absolutely immaculate. We’re not saying she was born to lead… but she was born to lead. 🤩

Session well and truly nailed. 💪🏼 The borders have been edged, the kilometres have been run, and the community is just that little bit tidier thanks to you legends. 😱❤️

Check out the pics — they say a thousand words, but we think “flipping brilliant” just about covers it. 📸✨

See you next time, GoodGym Lambeth! 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️💚

Helped Ms G in the house moving some bags to go to the charity shops down stairs then headed out to the garden to weed the beds and patio

Sevan's story

Kash and Sevan's first E of the day, Mrs E, had them stumped for a while. Mrs E was moving out and had inherited items from a number of relatives who'd passed away. She needed to sort through the items that she'd inherited before moving so she needed to get access to them.

All of the clothes to be sorted were in the loft and Mrs E was sure that the pole to open the loft hatch was nearby. Kash and Sevan hunted high and low and there was no sign of it. They were stuck, so they thought about alternatives.

1. Could one give the other a punt up to the high ceiling? Maybe, but one of them wasn't keen
2. Could they create a makeshift pole from things lying around? Apparently not
3. Did Mrs E have a ladder? Yes!

Kash went to find Mrs E's step ladder and returned with something very short, leaving Sevan still 20cm away from unlocking the hatch. Mrs E said that there was a bigger ladder hiding somewhere, which Kash found. It was so tall that Kash could reach the high ceiling herself and drop the ladder down.

Finally able to start the search for clothes in the loft, Sevan climbed up and looked around, finding lots of bags and suitcases. Some were empty, some contained documents, one was full of video tapes and plenty had clothing, curtains and blankets. Mrs E's priority were the last groups, so those fabrics were slowly moved into Mrs E's spare bedroom.

Mrs E believed that there wasn't much more in the loft, except for some pots and pans. Kash and Sevan brought them down too, plus 48 toilet rolls that Mrs E wouldn't otherwise be able to get to.

There were still plenty of items left in the loft, so Sevan described what was there and showed Mrs E some photos. She was surprised as she thought that the GoodGymers had more or less emptied the space.

Kash and Sevan closed the loft hatch the same way that they'd opened it and walked to their next E of the day. Ms E, who lived not too far away.

Kash's story

A black and white cat jumped off the bed as Mrs E got up to search for a stick to open the loft. The attic hid years of history the lady hadn’t seen for a long time - and probably wasn’t looking forward to seeing. The previous year was a devastating time, when Mrs E, already struck with illness, lost several family members, and now had to move out of the property. And now that stick - the key to the past that had to leave the house together with Mrs E - was nowhere to be found.

Two strangers who came all the way from West London to help Mrs E, and introduced themselves as Sevan and Kash, couldn’t find the stick either. But they had an idea. A long step ladder they found in the kitchen let them reach the high ceiling and open the treasury of Mrs E's family history. The lady asked them to bring down any clothes, bedding, glassware and dishes they could find in the loft and organise them into suitcases and black bags to keep in one of the bedrooms.

The carrier bags currently storing the belongings in the attic were so fragile that they’ve been falling apart in Sevan and Kash’s hands before making it to the lower floor. But the two had ideas to remedy that, and patiently repacked the items into sturdier bags that could be safely carried down.

Ninety minutes of problem-solving and moving things around brought the most important items to the spare bedroom for Mrs E to go through. That concluded the first chapter of reviving the family history. Mrs E was grateful to have people to help her with what would otherwise be impossible on her difficult journey to the past. Video cassettes, lampshades, carpets and bags of sandpaper will have to wait in the loft for the next adventurers who will dare to venture to the further corners of Mrs E’s past.