This was something different from Sam's usual sessions. Nope, this wasn't a group run, community session or social visit, which are the three pillars of GoodGym. Instead, Sam was asked by GoodGym Central Team, if he wanted to lead a session on Friday 15th of March for a corporate group and knowing he could take a half day from his normal job, he said "Yes!".

Weeks in the lead up to this date, Sam had arranged the task with Simon (the coordinator at Thorlands Gardens) to host this session on behalf of GoodGym. Yet, to make sure, Sam ran over to Thorlands Gardens first to put out all the tools and make the necessary arrangements before jogging over to Oval station. Having arrived early and with just a name (Tessa) and a number, Sam waited outside the barriers of Oval station for around 20 people that might all look like they were in gear for a run or a walk. As it approached 14:00, Sam saw Two Circle employees come through the barriers and wearing his GoodGym red t-shirt he was not hard to miss. Tessa was his main contact and after waiting a few minutes for a few more Two Circle employees to arrive, Sam took them over to St. Mark's Churchyard across from the station to give his GG intro speech and to get introductions from the Two Circle team including answering his ice-breaker question, which was to do with St. Paddy's Day: "What is your favourite thing about Ireland?", yet there was a twist. Once an association with Ireland is mentioned, it can't be mentioned again...

Quickly, "Guinness" and "Irish Whisky" were gone in a heartbeat, but we had a couple of Irish in the group that did a shoutout to their family and friends.

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Weed like to help out and chip along, if we can

Noticing most had coats and bags, Sam asked the group whether they would like to run or walk and they opted to walk the 1.8km journey to Thorlands Gardens. Sam led the group down Camberwell New Road to Flodden Road and then Denmark Road arriving at Thorlands Gardens just after 14:30 to meet Simon, the coordinator and two more Two Circle colleagues.

Simon and Sam talked about the journey, the vision and the tasks that needed to be done at Thorlands Gardens today. After dropping their coats, bags and using the loo, Sam split the group as such:

• Six people took two wheelbarrows and a trolley along with two spades and two shovels to the woodchip and mulch depo to bring back woodchip for the woodchip path and mulch for the growing beds. Over the hour, they did half a dozen runs bring in 24 wheelbarrows/trolley worth of woodchip and mulch.
• Four opted to do the main transformative work of digging up weeds, turning over the soil and flattening it before adding a layer of cardboard and then raking on a thick layer of woodchip to continue the woodchip path that it going through the "Wild Garden" at Thorlands Gardens.
• Three took forks and hand tools as they went off to the "old stage" area to weed out the alcanets that had taken over this space.
• The last four stayed with Simon to learn about pruning as they used loppers and secateurs to prune a buddleia tree and trim its branches down further, so it could be composted down better. The group even had the chance to plant a few herbs and medicinal plants.

Within the hour, 17 Two Circles employees couldn't fault the session as they had fun, a workout, helped out a local community garden and even learnt a few tips and tricks about gardening from Simon and Sam. As for Thorlands Gardens, Simon was very appreciative that the group could come and help speed up the vision and the project of this space as at least an extra 2 - 3 hours of work was saved.

After gathering all the tools and taking a few group photos, they called it a day with 15 minutes to spare to get the group back to Oval Station.

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Thank You Two Circles

A personal thanks from me to the Two Circles employees that came along to Thorlands Gardens! It was a pleasure meeting you all and thank you for getting stuck into the task. As seen from the report above, a lot was done in an hour and a bit, you really smashed through the tasks with dedication and passion, so thank you!