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?!

On a sunny Saturday morning I jogged from parkrun to the Community Healing Garden. My job for this session was to plant dozens of seeds into pots and trays for the greenhouse - cucumbers, beans, and squash. We all enjoyed a cup of tea together at the end.

The sun was shining, the fountains were flowing, and the litter was just begging to be picked. So two intrepid goodgymers descended on the beautiful Agnes Riley park in Clapham, grabbed their litter pickers and bin bags, and filled them to brim with waste.

On our last trip to Agnes Riley, we helped mulch the newly planted hedge whips in the community garden, so it was lovely to see how much they've grown since then.

It was also great to speak with local residents who were delighted by all the developments in the park recently, and were grateful for our efforts.