What a glorious evening!

10 runners met in the dusk sunshine at the top of the very busy Peckham Rye to run a short run to get our hands dirty at Cossall Park.

After a warm up with a variety of different jumps whilst giving a mini intro, we set off in a totally different direction to Cossall Park to help the lovely Jaki and Allen. They manage the community grow beds which are built into the local park, engaging school children, scouts and local residents in outdoor activity and growing veg and plants. They also look after nearby Kirkwood Nature Reserve which they reclaimed which was an overgrown den used as a sharps dumping ground and a dog toilet.

It was lovely to see what they've been up to and we got set to work weeding in 3 areas with some wonderful gardening tools. With the radio playing, local kids playing near and a beautiful sunset to boot, we made light work of the weeding despite finding lots of hidden mini potatoes and lots of impressively long worms.

Jaki was pretty pleased with how much we had gotten through and had the orange squash ready for us once we'd finished. Deepak had to be torn away from turning earth so we may have to revisit or continue the gardening run (ha) this spring. Matt also had his nettle cuttings ready to brave making nettle risotto - we have a very practical group here in Southwark!

We said our goodbyes to the lovely couple but not yet to the park... when we arrived, it was clear that the play area could been used for a bit of fun so Jo set up a mini obstacle ... plank, sideways bear crawls, squats on the most unstable platform and a run through the rope gauntlet. The squats were pretty tricky but everyone survived (don't panic headoffice!) and finished by hanging off another implement and realising how difficult chin ups were.

Warmed up and a bit sweaty from the obstacle, we ran the short distance home at a quick pace, fuelled by squash and sunshine. If that's not a perfect Wednesday evening...

The prospect of Camberwell Grove's delightful incline wasn't enough to put off GG Southwark this week. Especially knowing that we were visiting the lady who put the jelly babies in our tagline (the worst kept secret of our borough).

For the first time in weeks, we got to run outside in the dry and ironically, had an indoor task. It was pretty nice to not have to wear waterproofs though. We welcomed Deepak and Chiara along for the first time and had a few regulars to show them the ropes. After a 2.7km run including incline / decline, we were welcomed to the Camberwell Salvation Army Community Centre Church by Janet. Instead of sorting out baby clothes, we were presented with bowls of dettol, cloths, tea towels and lots and lots of toys. They have children's playgroups 3 times a week and the toys don't get a wipe down. So we got to work. Not only were the toys cleaned and dried (and reminisced over - was the green train in Thomas the Tank Engine Percy or Henry?) but they were also sorted into the correct boxes. Please note that kitchen goods and play food are two different categories!

In the last 6 minutes, there was a countdown style rush to see how many vehicles we could wipe down. See photos for an impressive car park of fisher price gangster wheels! As we finished up, in the spirit of Easter, Janet presented us with mini eggs to get us ready for the hills home.

Despite the worry that some people might be sick due to aforementioned mini eggs, we played the chain to make the hill a bit easier. Jogging in single file, the last runner has to sprint or side run up to the front of the group (thank you Simon for that one). Almost to general disappointment, no one was sick and we made it back in time for a quick stretch and a reminder of all of the opportunities for a social drink in the next weeks. tomorrow and next week. In case you were wondering.

We ran 10k to Ha Ha Road in Charlton last night. In the wind and rain to tidy a dirty stretch of road side

The power of Twitter

We didn't have a job this week so in an effort to find something beneficial to do for our Greenwich brethren I put a tweet out asking if anyone knew of any areas that could use a 'GoodGym flash mob clear up'.

We got a response from TheOnlyWayisWoolwich who told us "the Ha Ha on Ha Ha Road is always in need of a litter pick". So we did it...running 5k out and 5k back to give it a bash.

chicken and crisps....a fabulous ditch

The Ha Ha is a former river running alongside the road and though it could do with a clear out, it was leaves rather than rubbish that need shifting. As the rain came down we decided our time on this visit was best used in tidying an equally messy area of the road just up the street. This spot (opposite the hospital) was an eyesore- full of cans, crisp packets and chicken shop paraphernalia. So we quickly bagged it up and found a bin to chuck it in.

We'll head back and attack the Ha Ha in future- when we have more bags, bins and leaf raking equipment!

5k home

We set off home on leg 2 of our 10k run- back to Greenwich Uni. Back was much easier than out, mainly because we ran down rather than up Greenwich hill. We got home by 8.30pm for a quick stretch out of the way of the Warner Bros film crews who had ensconsed themselves on campus. Hopefully a GoodGymer will have secretly strayed in shot!

On a rather wet Wednesday evening 15 GoodGymers headed to two tasks across Camden

The first group of 8 headed to the American International Church to help make beds for the homeless. Run report written by Pritesh:

We were back at the homeless shelter at the American International Church this week and eight brave Camden-ers were on hand to get the beds prepped for their guests this night. A bit of rain never harmed anyone and after a quick briefing from Paul ("don't fall off the stage!") we headed off into the wet night with myself and Becky looking after the group.

Don't fall off the stage

We'd clearly proved our hand at bed making last week and with Stephanie our usual contact away we were just told the number of beds needed and left to get on with it! With fewer of us than we had last week we all had to be efficient and apart from a few issues (is this a double duvet that I'm trying to put a single cover on?!) we managed to get all 18 beds laid out and covered in time. The staff were very grateful and we departed just as the guests arrived.

Castlehaven Run Report:

The other seven wonderful GoodGymers headed to Castlehaven, which is a small but high profile, vibrant community association that continues to develop and respond to the needs of local residents.

After a gentle run there we met Fred and he explained our tasks. We split into two groups, one forking, shovelling and generally rearranging a compost area. The second group raked leaves up around the gardens, this is to prevent any needles or other unpleasant things ending up in the leaves which could be picked up by children.

Forking Compost

Great news from Fred from Castlehaven who told us that the bulbs we planted in autumn are now flowering - really amazing to see the value of our work!

Pritesh and Becky's group arrived at Castlehaven just in time to help pack up before a slog down the canal through the rain and back to base. After a quick stretch in the rain a few people decided they weren't quite wet enough and headed for a deserved beverage at 'the local'!

Starter session on Saturday 5th Match to Kentish Town City Farm. Bring your friends!

Also as Camden GoodGym we are going to do Regents Park 10k together at the start of April.

Thanks for coming, hope you all got dry!