We kicked things off last night with a warm-up and our Quiz Qu of the Week: Which country is wider than the Moon? Russia certainly threw us off the scent, but three of you cracked it! 🌍 Well done! Apologies that I forget to mention at the time, but a huge shout-out goes to Pritesh for running the Royal Parks Half Marathon yesterday – fantastic effort! 🏃‍♂️👏

We also welcomed Molly who joined us for their very first GoodGym session. 👋 Great to have you with us!

Then it was time to head out into the darkness and make our way to Paradise Community Garden, a special green space that provides a haven for wildlife and a green oasis for the local community. Community gardens like this are vital for supporting biodiversity, creating habitats for wildlife and giving people a place to connect with nature.

Unfortunately our original task to shovel manure had to be postponed as access issues meant it hadn't been delivered. Luckily, there were still two tasks to keep us busy – chopping up firewood and painting the shed. But first, we had to navigate our way through the frogs! 🐸 We've never seen so many - they were everywhere, creating, as Joput it,'a carpet of frogs', so careful footwork was essential. We did our best to avoid stepping on our tiny amphibian friends and keep this happy, healthy ecosystem thriving.

Once we'd safely negotiated the frog-filled terrain, we found our way to the firepit and split into two teams.

🎨 Team Shed Painting took on the challenge of finding the right colour for the job. Getting the shade just right was all part of the challenge, as was the dark surroundings. Nevertheless, they persevered and a beautiful newly painted shed was soon underway.

🪵 Team Firewood tackled the sawing, which came with its own challenge: mastering the two-handed saw. With a bit of practice, the team perfected their techniques with various implements around the site, keeping a safe distance from one another. All fingers and toes remained intact – result! Great work, everyone. 💪

As the rain started to set in and we'd already had a good workout, we decided to give the fitness session a miss this time and head back for some well-earned stretches. We took care to avoid the wildlife on the way, although the snails unfortunately didn't all make it through unscathed. 🐌 Let's just say it wasn't a completely casualty-free journey!

A huge well done to everyone for being adaptable, getting stuck into the tasks and helping look after this lovely community space.

Next week: We're heading back to St Mary's to give the outside of Battersea's oldest church a good blitz. 🧹 We hope to see you all there!

Until then, happy running, and thanks for being brilliant, GoodGym Wandsworth! ❤️

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We were back at Doddington for our monthly session last night— the evenings are getting darker, but thankfully it’s still warm enough to make the most of being outside.

We kicked things off with the important question of the evening: what colour is hippo sweat? Because why wouldn’t we? 🦛

Then it was time to run down to the garden, where we got stuck straight into a whole host of jobs. We laid down cardboard to create new growing space, dug out and replanted teasels, shifted soil around the garden and generally had all hands on deck helping with the maintenance of this special place where local people without access to gardens can grow food.

It’s such a beautiful time of year at Doddington, with amazing squashes and pumpkins growing all around the site. The children will be carving them for the local library, before the contents are cooked up and shared with the community — meaning everyone gets to be part of the life cycle of the garden. 🎃🌱

With the garden jobs done, we headed down to the square for our circuits-based fitness session. And if that wasn’t enough, we finished with a one-minute squat challenge. Our legs were definitely feeling it by the end!

Great work, everybody! 💪

Then it was off to the quiz to defend our GoodGym reputation. 🧠🏆

Next week, we’re heading to Paradise to shovel manure in this beautiful space. Come and get stuck in!

Sign up here for all the details.

Our task last night was a local nursery for under-fives, a fantastic facility that provides outdoor spaces to enhance the children's learning experience. There was plenty to do, and not much time to do it - so after a few stretches and a quiz question featuring the iconic golden arches (which Lorna nailed on her very first group run!) we set off for Balham.

A massive special welcome to Andreas and trivia master Lorna, who joined us for their first GoodGym experience last night, and a welcome back to Harriet. It was absolutely great to have you all with us, and we hope to see you for many more.

We divided and conquered to tackle all the jobs. One team repainted the benches in bright, vibrant colours to cheer up the welcome area, while another transformed the outdoor chalkboard to give the kids a fresh surface for their creations. We also cleared out the mud kitchen, sorted out the flower beds, cut back overgrown trees and bushes to reclaim the pathways, and took down the last of the summer bunting. The latter wasn't quite as straightforward as it first looked, taking the collective detangling skills of Robyn, Pritesh, Lorna and Beth to release the material. If you were watching at just the right moment you may have caught Beth speeding down the slide in a moment of post-bunting glory. And it was great to see Jason debut his brand new 100 tshirt!

Natasha, the head of the nursery, was thrilled with the transformation. She let us know that our evening of hard work saved the nursery loads of time and money, allowing them to focus resources directly on the children.

With the autumn nights drawing in we made a quick dash to Clapham Common for the fitness element of the night. We tackled a fitness blast specifically focusing on three different muscle groups. Everybody showed great form as we worked through arms, core and glutes before heading back to base for some thorough stretches.

Up next:this Wednesday we have a lovely evening mission over in Roehampton, helping to build raised beds for a fantastic local food-sharing initiative. For next Monday, I am just waiting to confirm the final details for our task—keep an eye on the website sign-up page. Great work everybody, see you at the next one!

Yesterday evening, a squad of GoodGymers met up at Roehampton Methodist Church to support Shared Roots. This incredible organization is dedicated to empowering local communities by turning underutilized urban spaces into productive, sustainable, and educational food-growing hubs.

With the ground still parched from a hot summer, the task meant a great workout. Moving heavy stones and shifting mud tested our stamina, but working together we shifted stubborn debris, hauled away stones, shovelled and levelled the earth. Shout-out to Jason and his trusty pickaxe!

The cleared space will support Shared Roots in their mission to boost local food security and give residents access to fresh, healthy produce by preparing the plot needed to construct raised beds.

Beyond the digging, it was a joyful session filled with lots of big life news shared across the group. We look forward to celebrating all these milestones together as a team over the coming weeks!

We will be heading back to continue supporting this fantastic project on our follow-up mission next Wednesday evening. Sign up on the website to help us build the raised beds and see this community garden really take shape

Last night saw GoodGym Wandsworth head out to a brand new task at York Gardens Children’s Centre in Battersea.

We kicked things off, as usual, with a warm up and a quiz question : how many “las” are there before Kylie sings “I can’t get you out of my head”? Three people knew the answer (32, if you're wondering!) — and with Kylie now firmly lodged in everyone’s heads, we set off towards York Road.

York Gardens Children’s Centre is an important local resource for families, offering a welcoming place for young children and their parents and carers to play, learn and get support. The centre provides activities and advice for families, alongside services such as health visiting and family support.

We were met by Toni, who explained that they were preparing for an open day and wanted the centre looking its absolute best. So we got stuck in. There was sweeping, weeding, clearing and generally attacking anything that looked untidy. It was hot, the ground was parched but everyone put in maximum effort.

The result was well worth it: a fantastic before-and-after transformation. The centre is now looking much smarter and ready to welcome the children, families and other users.

Then it was time for our fitness session. This week’s challenge was partner-based: work together for a minute, with the aim of increasing the number of exercises by one rep each time. It was hard work, requiring plenty of effort, encouragement and even some tactical play.

After that, we headed back to base for a well-earned stretch. Next week brings another brand-new task, this time at the Yvonne Carr Centre, where we’ll be getting stuck into more tidying and improving the local community space.

We’ll also be celebrating a special GoodGym milestone! Expect an impromptu pub quiz and half price off food at The Latchmere. Come and join us — the more the merrier!