6 GoodGymers caught some good deeding vibes amidst London’s festive fare!

Settled in the heart of Piccadilly sits St James’s Church.

At this time of year, it is a favourite of tourists and Londoners alike (arriving for carols and services aplenty), and we had to bustle our way through the crowds to arrive on time last night.

Yet we were soon off and away to a peaceful garden, where this special group — of Alex, Charlie, Imogen, Kush (new to GoodGym — a huge welcome!), and Steve — made a wonderful difference.

Huge and bountiful trees border this green space, and they’ve been shedding their summer coats since October. Our task was to rake the lawns and sweep the paths, clearing the leaves for good for another year.

The brilliant Catherine from Green City Projects was our host, and alongside her we turned a leaf strewn garden into a clear, safe, and tidy spot in just 60 minutes.

Thank you, everyone! Here’s to next time!

8 GoodGymers made a wonderful difference in Kentish Town!

We took a visit to one of our usual haunts last night.

Nestled in a corner of a cul de sac — away from the usual bustle of Kentish Town — is a very special sheltered housing scheme.

With a winding garden full of seasonal delights, this group got to quick work yesterday evening!

❤️ Alex, Sam (on their first good deed — welcome!), and Steve transformed a weed strewn vegetable patch into a perfect image of fresh soil ripe and ready for next year's planting :)

❤️ Gary and John started off by weeding one flower bed... then two... then three! And then they turned their quick hands to raking and sweeping, making everything better by the minute :)

❤️ Caitlin and Jackie visited a resident's garden and made the swiftest and most efficient work of the fallen leaves, gifting this space back to the very grateful resident :)

Thank you, everyone! Here's to next time!

In tonight's task: Goodgym Greenwich foil the Rhubarb plot at Prince Phillip Maritime Collection Centre...

An unseasonably mild 5th November saw 8 GoodGymers make their way to Prince Phillip Maritime Collection Centre in Kidbrooke, where our tasks often involve gilded ceilings, or work in the thriving community garden.

A veritable rainbow of fireworks guided us on our run, and once at the task we sparked into life in the community garden area, cutting back some amazing smelling but slightly overgrown rosemary, weeding the woodchip paths, and clearing wilted tomato plants. A sad part of the task involved removing a giant sunflower (a definite sign that Winter is Coming...) but a cut back of the huge Rhubarb plant provided a great harvest we'll be stalking about for weeks.

The run home loomed, and we managed not to crumble, however being accompanied by the flash, bangs and whizzes of fireworks, poor Rhubarb was unable to utter the immortal lines of "It's all gone quiet..."

On Sunday we've got Clean up Charlton and next wednesday we're leafleting for Age Exchange.

Thank you all & catch up soon!

Sarah

10 GoodGymers turned out for the most autumnal of all autumnal tasks AND Emily hit 200 good deeds!

This special group – Alex, Danny, Emily, Helen, Jackie, John, Kareem, Siobhan, and Steve – donned head torches and gloves and grabbed rakes and brooms in our first properly dark task of the season!

Our home for the evening was Cecil Sharp House, which is itself home to the biggest and best trees in all of Camden...

... which does mean there are plenty of leaves!

Cue 10 GoodGymers meticulously collecting bag upon bag upon bag of falling autumn :)

And amidst all of this effort we were celebrating a very special milestone yesterday evening: Emily – who frequents Camden, Islington, and other GG areas – hit a whopping 200 good deeds! A huge well done and thank you, Emily!

We will back to Cecil Sharp every 3 weeks during the leaf-falling season, and I'm already looking forward to the next session :)

Thank you, everyone!