A beautiful sunny day and a bit too hot for a marathon but 59,000 people braved it and some of us cheered them on in different spots before meeting up for our litter pick with the amazing Friends of Woolwich Common. We teamed up to tackle different areas and overall the common was in pretty good nick but we still collected several bags between us. A great way to start the day so well done everyone!

10 GoodGymers made their way to The Prince Phillip Maritime Centre in Kidbooke for tonight's task, daydreaming of favourite holiday destinations as the sun started its daily descent.

A mixture of tasks awaited us, starting off with adventures in DIY, putting together a potting bench and a shelving unit for the greenhouse. Divided into two teams, we gave TV gameshows a run for their money in a race to be the first to complete their structure (obviously ensuring thoroughly stable and well-connected results).

Out to the garden now, where we put the newly built equipment into place and gave the recently potted seedlings a sprinkle of water. The centre's herb garden is looking in Mint condition 🌱 and hopefully will be joined by the various plants from the greenhouse once they're strong enough.

A spring task isn't complete without a little gardening, so while some got on with some wedding & watering the raised beds, others in the team made a start on our final piece of Arch-itecture. Time, however, was as ever our Arch Enemy, and whilst we made a great start on this last building task, completion is delayed until our next task at this venue. As a wise man once said, 2 out 3 ain't bad (and we definitely managed 2 and a half...!)

Great to see everyone & thank you all! 😊

Today we joined the Friends of Mycenae Gardens for a spot of dead hedging!

On arrival a huge pile of branches awaited us ready to be added to the dead hedge at the end of the gardens and we spent a merry while chatting and dragging branches over and the pile gradually depleted until it was definitely time for a cake stop (yum yum, thanks Virginia!)

Sugar levels replenished, our next task was giving Holly a haircut. She was wildly overgrown and well due a trim so off we set with secateurs and shears and in 15 minutes she looked 10 years younger, with all of her trimmings having the added benefit of making a prickly top to the dead hedge - an extra deterrent for any curious climbers.

Well done team- proof many hands make light work and special welcome to Eleanor for her first task with us!

Tomorrow we've got the litter pick on Woolwich common.

Wednesday we're at the Prince Philip Maritime Museum and next weekend we've got:

• Helping at Maryon Park Community Garden

• Talk and tidy at Hornfair Park

• Maintenance at Westcombe Woodlands

• Helping organise Mama2Mama's storage unit (Bank Holiday Monday)

Until next time, lovely people 👋🏼

Rachel

5 Goodgymers made their way to Sutcliffe park in glorious sunshine to join Friends of Sutcliffe park to plant sunflowers. Special shoutout to Julian who completed his 800th Goodgym task at the Sutcliffe parkrun the same morning, and a welcome to Maeni who attended her first!

While being watched by Bonnie, the Sutcliffe park swan, we went to work. Instructions were simple enough. Dig a hole, put a seed in, cover it up, water, repeat! The ground was very dry, making the digging a challenge. But we got there, the seeds found a new home under ground, and we finished off this sunny session with coffee and cake.

Last night we were a merry crew running and walking to the lovely Bridge Community Centre. Those of us who met for the run shared the things that we could do a 20 minute presentation on without preparation. Answers ranged from cooking to science to Arthur, Parkrun, something on AI and space!

We welcomed Niki for her first task with us - lovely to have you and hope to see lot more of you Niki! At the Bridge, the birthday boy had already arrived along with the rest of the team who had emptied the container and our job was to sweep up and put everything back in a more organised fashion. Off we got to task and a short while later the container was looking much tidier and we've got the photos to prove it! Since we finished early we had plenty of time to find a pub to celebrate JC's birthday which was harder than envisioned- the first one had a gig on and the second had a pub quiz and the lucky third was what we went for (cheapest pub crawl we ever did!)

We'll be back at the Bridge in July to help move items before some improvement works they're having in the main building.

This weekend we have:

• plating at Myceane

• planting sunflowers in Sutcliffe park

• the Woolwich common litter pick.

Next Wednesday we're at Prince Philip Maritime Collections Centre.

Until next time! 😁

7 GoodGym-ers met Liz and the team today at a new Community Mission venue, The Pet Cemetery on Shooters Hill, by the Charlton Lido & Hornfair Park. Our mission was a very long way from a Stephen King movie though, with a lovely spring sun shining down on us.

The venue has lots of history, part of Charlton Village Conservation Area. Originally the Blue Cross Quarantine Kennels at Shooters Hill, the site was acquired to house the dogs being brought back home by returning soldiers and families after the first world war. Nowadays, it's looked after by the Friends of the Pet Cemetery,  who work to maintain this as a tranquil space and respectful memorial to the 4-pawed friends buried there.

Lots of volunteers meant we got plenty of tasks completed, including removal of a huge number of Sycamore seedlings, which we were assured would have turned the area into a Sycamore forest if given the chance. Along with this was weeding the beds around the edges to give the flowers more space to thrive, cleaning the wall plaques, sweeping away debris from the tall trees around, and clearing tiny plant growth from between the paving slabs. 

Helped along by a 4 pawed friend, Otis the cockapoo, we were soon out of time but could see we'd made an impact. Thanks all & Have a great weekend ☀️