Hazel & Willow are so sappy

There were seven sign ups for this group run at one point and then the heavens opened up in the afternoon and the rain came falling!

Yet, with group runs, it doesn't matter the numbers as long as someone shows up and five risk-adverse GoodGymers knew the rain would stop in time and it did.

Sam knew Emma would meet him at Thorlands, but after Matthew and Benjamin had arrived, we were unsure of whether Jen would be coming to the start are not. Sam started his updates and by 18:45 with no sign of Jen, they went out to warm-up in the alleyway as the Green was wet from the afternoon rain.

After the warm-up, our ice-breaker question tonight was meant to be something related to Mental Health Awareness week and the theme of "Loneliness" (this year's topic), but it was quite a heavy question, so Sam changed the question to: What is your favourite flower?

Benjamin said "Tulips", Matthew stated his favourite is "Sunflower" and Sam went exotic with "Orchid".

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Weeds, Willow and Hazel

Our 2.6k run took us through the backstreets of Peckham, up the incline hill of Chadwick Road through to Denmark Hill station and past King's College Hospital to arrive at Thorlands.

Jen, who cycled in, was waiting upon our arrival and a few minutes later, Emma appeared. Simon made his appearance to open up the Walled Garden, so that we could gather the tools to complete tonight's tasks.

We went into the "Forest" Garden where we split into two teams. Emma and Jen were part of team planting as they planted three Hazel trees and two Willow trees. They had a special system of digging, planting, cutting cardboard and watering the plant. Whilst the boys, Matthew and Benjamin were on team clearing. They took a mattock and Dutch hoe each to sort out the ever-growing weeds of thistle and bindweed that needed to be managed. Matthew made to get a wheelbarrow of thistles onto the compost and Benjamin had a bin bag full of bindweed!

The 30 minutes whizzed by as we had to bring back the tools to the "Walled" garden before departing at 20:00.

Our run back was a solo one as everyone shot off in their own directions home (as no one left anything at Old Spike).

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came and ran tonight! Although, it was just the three of us running there and only myself back, it was great to run up the steadily incline Grove Hill!

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Thank You Simon

GoodGym is all about getting fit and doing good! We praise the runners/cyclists/walkers who come to get fit and help out, but we often forget about our task owner. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Simon for always giving us the chance to do something at Thorlands! It's a massive project that requires dedication and time, which we're willing to put in. See you next month, if not before on a community mission over the weekends.