This Greenwich and Pleasaunce Land

On a gorgeous South East London evening, seven eager athletes spread the GoodGym love through the borough of Greenwich. Covering 4km, emptying, cleaning, tidying and filling a container with toys, embracing some speed-play and nibbling on some chocolate biscuits, all while enjoying a fine, golden sunset

Greenwich was looking lovelier than ever tonight as we gathered in St Anne's Court. It was still chilly though, but we were warmed by marathon talk from Abdullah, our security guard for the evening. On Sunday, he will run his second London Marathon and is aiming to go sub-5 hours (though, hearing some of his training run times, we are convinced he'll smash four hours!). As 7pm approached, not one, not two, not three, not four, but five first-timers turned up! Five! Poor Natalie felt slightly outnumbered, but did a great job of being in-the-know.

A Pleasaunce Evening

We had got a little cold hanging about in the shade, so quickly warmed ourselves up before our shortish run over to the East Greenwich Pleasaunce. We did wonder about the name of this unusual little hidden gem, which is also a graveyard and you can read about its history here. We were greeted at the gate of The Bridge by Raeleen, who showed us in and introduced Ruth and also her little daughter, who was a super helper throughout the task.

Tonight's task was to pull all of the toys out of a large container, clean and sweep the container itself, wash the toys in soapy water, rinse and dry, then return everything to its original spot. Hopefully. Wow, this container is like the tardis! The grassy area was very soon covered in an array of colourful plastic and our energetic helpers got down to scrubbing the mini-cars, bikes, tables, chairs and so on, ready for the children who use the space to enjoy very soon.

Magic!

Looking around at all the toys on the grass, it was really hard to imagine that they would ever fit back in the container, but they did and ever so neatly too! As if by magic! You could see that a lot of thought had gone into organising the space, so toys can be reached easily and stowed away at the end of playtime. Gradually, the sun went down, the sky grew golden...and time ticked away, nearing 8pm...

Biscuit Time!

It has been said that GoodGym Islington 'own' biscuits, but we're sorry chaps, tonight the biscuits were all ours. Ruth and our little helper had set the picnic bench with colourful cups, a jug of water and plates of chocolate biscuits and choc chip cookies! Not all tasks come complete with half-time refreshments! It was all getting a bit cosy, with everyone enjoying a chat and a snack, but there was more running to be done, as lovely as it is to sit in the park on such a beautiful evening!

We said goodbye, with another date for our return on the horizon and another great task lined up, then headed back towards the University. This bit of Greenwich is a little magical mystery tour, you meander along any street to find yourself right at the water's edge. With the warm glow hovering above the buildings, we had a feeling we might be spoilt tonight. We simply had to pause and take in the stunning view that greeted us at the Thames: the Dome in one direction, the Cutty Sark in the other and Canary Wharf across the water, sparkling.

Just a little bit of fartlek to sharpen the legs and a gentle jog back to our start point. We stretched, we talked marathon cheer points, fuel, jelly babies, next week's task and everyone wished Steph all the best on Sunday, as she runs London Marathon...just up the road! Show Steph some support here and sign up to hang out at the cheer point here.

It was great to see so many new faces tonight, looking forward to seeing you again next time.