Peter and Ivar made their way to Eltham this morning for the junior parkrun. Ivar as a marshal, Peter keeping the time.

It was the usual parkrun fun: around 100 kids, twice as many feet, the odd crying tantrum, a dog or two, and lots of high fives.

The sun came and went, but the breeze made this tail end of a heatwave bearable.

All in all it made for another excellent junior parkrun.

Our session at the Community Hospice got off to a brilliant start when Ivar arrived bearing a batch of home-baked solskinnsboller – Norwegian “sunshine buns”. They were absolutely delicious and perfectly suited to the sunny weather 😎.

We were also happy to see Mo wearing her red GoodGym tshirt - definitely part of the team now!

Fortified by our sweet treat, we headed with Jas, the Hospice’s Head Gardener, into the woodland area, where our task was to reclaim a patch of ground from the bracken and brambles that had started to creep back since they were last cleared a year ago.

Thankfully, the shady woodland offered some protection from the sun and we took things steady in the heat. This said, all the crouching, bending and pulling certainly provided a good leg workout!

Our trusty yellow gauntlet gloves proved invaluable as we tackled the thorny brambles and provided Ivar with the perfect inspiration for his pun in the title of this report!

After 75 minutes of ground work, three bulging bags of greenery had been consigned to the compost heap and we were super happy with the transformation.

We really enjoy our monthly visits to the Hospice, helping to keep the peaceful gardens looking their best. And a it's always great way to spend a Saturday morning with good company.

Why not join us next time!

We were out at the Community Fun Day in East Wickham, helping Discover Welling with their stalls. The team got stuck into running the fairground games, encouraging visitors to have a go, cheering them on, and politely pretending that some of the throws were, “very close indeed”. There was plenty of laughter and a good bit of friendly competition.

Alongside the games, we were busy chatting to residents, families and visitors throughout the day. It was a brilliant chance to be part of a local event that brought people together, raised smiles, and proved once again that no British summer fayre is complete without someone desperately asking their parents, “Can I have another go?”

Most importantly, the day helped raise money for Discover Welling and promoted other fantastic charities, including The KITE Foundation and Diabetes UK. So every game played, every pound donated, and every heroic attempt at winning contributed to some brilliant causes.

A huge well done to everyone involved in organising the day and making East Wickham feel even more community spirited than usual. GoodGym came, helped, laughed, and left with the warm glow of doing good, plus a renewed respect for anyone who can actually win one of those games on the first try!

This was a community mission in two parts - GoodGym were litter picking, whilst students from a local school were putting up bunting.

Both groups enjoyed themselves, knowing they were preparing the area for the coming community fun day the next day.

The students with the support of members of staff put up bunting all the way round the fun day area, whilst GoodGym volunteers got to work with picking up litter from the green.

We left the area looking its best ready for the next day when it would be transformed into a place of community fun.

"Look mummy, there's an elf!", said a child as we were out and about putting leaflets through letterboxes to promote Mind in Bexley's Mental Elf festive run.

It's not every day you see elves on a sunny October morning, but all for a good cause and it brought smiles to the faces of passersby. Although there were probably some bemused householders when they saw us on their video doorbells!

Our determined pace gave a good step count and being active and outdoors is known to be beneficial for mental health, so this task for Mind in Bexley was a great match for GoodGym.

We have lots more tasks coming up - fancy dress is always optional! - so check out what else is on offer and come and have some fun with us.

I joined Friends of Lesnes Abbey and Woods for their monthly litter pick, where ten of us braved the heat.

Three volunteers stayed to scour the ruins area which was pretty quiet today.

Seven of us branched out to Knee Hill and the woods area which was quite cool and shady. We speeded around the route and collected a few bags of rubbish each so it was a successful couple of hours.

At one point we was greeted by a field mouse who wanted to lend a hand with the litter pick 🐭! We also found a thermostat - the heat didn't need to be turned up today 🥵.

We came back together and did a stroll back to Chestnut cafe where it was an order of cold canned drinks all-round as we sat to cool of in the Monks Garden before heading home.

We'll be back again next month - we'd love to have you along for a lovely chatty morning in nature which really makes a difference.