9 GoodGym-ers made their way from various start points between Charlton & Woolwich, along the river at Woolwich, to the outskirts of a retail estate in Plumstead, where fast food, a major roundabout, and several pedestrian/cycle interchanges have contributed to a huge build up of rubbish.

Our task might not have been as exciting as this morning's Lunar Litterpick, but adventures were to be had as we got to see the best & worst of the area, passing through local parks along the way.

Joined by other volunteers, we hastily got to work gathering the usual bottles, cans, coffee cups, masks, water bottles, chocolate wrappers & papers into bags. Some of this involved hedge battles to rescue the captive litter, which in general I think we won, with many bags of waste & recyclables to show for it.

Time made April Fools of us all, and soon darkness was announcing the end of today's task. A final workout taking lots of full rubbish bags to the bins around the corner and we headed our separate ways.

Until next time!

It’s been a great sunny morning for us GoodGymers, enjoying the parkrun community and making the most of the weekend.

First up, Bea was holding it down at Thames Path as tailwalker, with a front-row view of some serious Saturday overachievement. One runner (we think John!) had already ticked off Charlton parkrun and still made it over to Thames Path to finish ahead of Bea—two parkruns in one morning! Honestly, if we could, we would too 😄 Bea, meanwhile, kept the good vibes going and cheered everyone home to the finish.

Meanwhile, over at Greenwich Peninsula, Julian was on finish token duty – or should we say token gesture turned token tornado! A rogue gust of wind sent tokens flying at around position 200, creating a brief moment of chaos. But in true GoodGym style, calm heads prevailed, teamwork kicked in, and every runner got the correct time. That’s what we call a finishing touch under pressure.

Back at Charlton, I joined fellow GoodGymers including Linda, our fantastic Race Director. Evie, who brought the beats as well as the feet 🎶. Armed with a speaker and an upbeat Spotify playlist, we parkwalked, chatted about past and future races, PBs, and toughest courses – because what’s a parkrun without a bit of sole-searching? I even dropped a nugget from Jim Kwik: “When you move, your brain grooves” – and honestly, it felt spot on.

Post-parkrun? Straight to the café for a coffee and a catch-up before heading off to the next GoodGym task. Lovely jubbly! 🌞

Three different experiences, one shared vibe: getting out there, showing up, and being part of something bigger. These are the moments you don’t get sitting at home waiting for motivation – you create them by lacing up and stepping out.

As always, the best way to start the weekend is right here in this brilliant parkrun community. Just bring a smile, and connection comes easy

Till next time. Cecilia 🍀

Today’s first session at Windrush Primary School in Thamesmead saw a fantastic team effort with eleven of us focused on transforming an overgrown and be-littered area into a future space for children to enjoy.

The task for the day was twofold: clearing accumulated rubbish and cutting back foliage and branches, preventing child eye injuries! This work is the first step in an exciting plan to make the space into a forest school area for the juniors. At present, the woodland is very much a no-go zone, with significant litter dumped from the nearby footpath.

We made great progress, removing large amounts of waste and opening up sightlines through careful trimming. Plenty more to do so we will be back throughout spring and summer to get the whole space cleared and also finish off a half painted fence.

Among the more unusual finds today: a little Mr Tickle which sparked particular joy for Sarah and Johnny! Proof that treasure can be found among the trash if you look hard enough 🧐🥳

A huge welcome to Alex and Lisa, who joined their very first GoodGym session today, great to have you both on board!

Celebrations were also in order:

🎉 Congratulations to Iyabo on completing your 10th good deed, double digits and going strong since joining in January. Amazing work and you're already part of our much loved furniture!

🎉 And huge well done to Johnny for an incredible 600 good deeds, an inspiring milestone and testament to long-term dedication.

Until next time!

Rachel

I headed down to Thames Path parkrun for this week’s course check, where a light mist was adding a bit of “atmosphere”.

A steady run along the route to check for hazards, and some bollard wrangling to keep it interesting. Gate unlocked, bollards lowered: the course made significantly less impale-y for the morning’s runners with only some light knuckle grazing along the way.

With half an hour to spare, I headed west for more running along the Thames. And when I reached Greenwich Peninsula parkrun, the mist was lifting and the morning beginning to look much brighter.

Which made me wonder — maybe by the time parkrunners at Thames Path had summitted the Curly Wurly, they’d have seen a better view than I did!

Every day brings a bit more light into our lives this time of year, so evening was only just falling when 13 GoodGymers met in Woolwich for an uphill run to one of our regular task venues, Glyndon Community Centre.

Our tasks this evening included making a dent in the sorting project of the centre's big shed. We found several bags of clothing left over from previous donations, which meant an impromptu adventure to the nearby clothing recycling bank. ♻️ (Big thanks to new recruit Laura and her local area knowledge for showing us where to find this!) Other team members did some moonlit foraging for weeds in the back garden area, something I'm sure we'll be doing on a more regular basis as spring approaches. (Get those Glove puns ready). Some litterpicking & sweeping of the car park concluded our mission for the day.

Job done, it was downhill all the way for a quick intervals training session & au revoir, and very warm welcome to GoodGym Greenwich, to newcomers Hashir and Laura!

*Coming up *

Saturday 21st March: Gardening at Oxleas Woods

Sunday 22nd March: Painting at Windrush Primary School

Wednesday 25th March: Inclusive fitness session

Until next time! 👋🏼

Remember that bright and shiny thing in the sky that we haven’t seen in a while? Sun, I think it was called? It was out today, greeting Felicity, Ivar, and the rest of the volunteers at Oxleas woods, showing the area from the best possible side halfway through March.

Today’s task was to resuscitate an old dead hedge, and for the Goodgymers that meant taking shovels and removing all the leaves and mud that had gathered on the road next to the old hedge. As in an archeological dig, we excavated and found the ruins of the old hedge, and the mud was thrown over the ruins and into the brambles on the other side. Many a worm got a ride on Spade Airways* as we flung the mud over, and once we were done we had made a neat line for the new hedge, and regained quite a lot of the road.

*no worms were harmed in the writing of this report.