Agents of deterioration: BadGym edition

This report has started with a lie. We are definitely not BadGym (especially as we did two good deeds tonight) and this report may be taken down for besmirching the GoodGym name.

So, 11 of us gathered in the dusk outside Charlton House and in honour of World Mental Health Day on Monday we each shared one way we take care of our mental health. From cooking to mindfulness to spending time in a Buddhist centre, we were left inspired by each other, before warming up with a slightly stressful shark attack game. We had a couple of stealth sharks who didn't identify themselves and some proper sprinting which was pretty much jaws dropping.

On our way to Kidbrooke we did some leafletting for Charlton House's Horn Fair this Sunday which we were told had a rather debauched history...true enough, as Wikipedia reliably informs me, "The 18th-century fair was infamous for its debauchery, and was discontinued in 1872."

Arriving at the centre, Mat took us inside for a little tour of one of the rooms storing over 1000 paintings in their hospital. Mat gave a very interesting overview and we pulled out some of the paintings to hear their stories. I bet you didn't know that your hands are actually 'agents of deterioration.' Yeah, if that's not unsettling enough we could talk about that little gem we learnt that eating a heart will keep you alive for a good while on a desert island.

After a fascinating 15 minutes we thought we should get to work and earn the supposed good in our name. We moved and sanded down some pallets of good strong wood which paintings are transported in that the centre want to repurpose into planting beds for local people, otherwise they'd end up being thrown out.

A nice run back to Charlton House and we were done for the night - great job gang. Tomorrow we've got volunteering at Charlton Parkrun and a litter pick and Sunday we're at Ballast Quay for some sweeping. Otherwise, see you next week for our run and social!