Ring-a-ring-pull-a-roses

On this GoodGym Lewisham Starter Session, five bouncy runners skipped happily through Deptford towards the John Evelyn Community Garden, where they pulled weeds, discarded pebbles and discussed ring-pulls.

Today, we had a slightly different start point: with Glass Mill being a little too far away for a Starter Session, we met at Wavelengths Leisure Centre in Deptford. We greeted regulars Jacqueline and Jamila, welcomed John to Lewisham for the first time and said hello to new-comer, Lucy. After an introduction to GoodGym and all that we do, we jogged to a little green space for a quick warm-up. We then tackled the busy Evelyn Street, before ducking down a side road to our destination.

Here, we were met by Malcolm, from Pepys Community Forum, who signed us in and showed us around the lovely allotments and garden. We heard a bit about what happens here and how people can become involved, before popping on a much-welcome extra pair of gloves, to work over a flower-bed, removing stones, pulling out weeds and replacing any escapee worms.

While we worked, we talked about the social (it looks like Mezze Mangal is a winner, yum) and archaeological digs (John had found a tiny bone, which could be dated to around 2015, probably fried chicken). It turned out, at this point, that John didn't know what the heck a ring-pull is, so we had to explain. Time flew by very quickly - it would have been lovely to stay the afternoon and get more involved - there's something about working in this way that slows down time and helps clear your head - but we had a few drills to do before heading back to our start point. We returned our tools, took off the gloves and said goodbye to Malcolm, who we will no doubt be seeing when it get s a bit lighter soon.

As we headed back to Wavelengths, we paused (sort of!) at Pepys Park for some sprints, a little arm drill and some good, heavy panting. Nice and warm and feeling rosy-of-cheek, we jogged back to Deptford Church Street, with John taking on a cyclist in a race (battle of wills?!). At the leisure centre, we stretched, said our goodbyes, waving off three cyclists and two who were continuing the run home.

A lovely afternoon was had, running, chatting, digging and learning new words. Well done everyone!