After Sunday's football excitement, we were a slightly smaller crew than usual. Could it be a coincidence? Whatever the reason, spirits were high and there was plenty of energy where it counted.

Before we set off, it was quiz question time and this week it was a clean sweep: everyone knew that Avatar is the highest-grossing film of all time. It was far too easy for the brains of GG - be warned, next week's question is going to be a lot trickier! We headed down to Doddington for our monthly visit to this fantastic community rooftop garden . It's an incredible local space, not just for growing fruit, veg and flowers, but for bringing neighbours together, sharing skills and creating a green oasis in the middle of the estate. Exactly the kind of place GoodGym loves to support.

A big Wandsworth welcome goes to Michael, who joined us for his very first GoodGym session! It was brilliant to have you with us—and little did we know we'd also recruited an absolute quiz ringer for later in the evening. More on that shortly...

Once we arrived, Malissa showed us to our patch for the evening. Our mission, simple but satisfyingly tough, was to pull up invasive mallow (and a healthy collection of other weeds) before turning over the soil so it would be ready for future planting. Half an hour of digging, pulling and turning later, we'd made a big difference. Along the way, conversation covered a wonderfully eclectic range of topics including all things green, killer cows, and the importance of getting a good night's sleep (particularly if you're Felix!)

With the gardening complete, we moved over to a (semi) green space for a fitness session. This week's theme was unusual planks. There were diamond planks, walking planks, bear planks, commando planks, pull-through planks and side planks.

Then came the decision between stretching at base or straight to the pub quiz - where we're delighted to report that we finished first! The winnings will be going straight into the pot for our 10th birthday celebrations on 10th August. Keep an eye out over the coming week for more details—it's the big one.

Next week we'll be splitting into two groups to spread the word about Balham Nursery and the Battersea Youth Scheme helping two brilliant local organisations reach even more people.

See you there!

A special run, this one - a magical mystery tour of the locations that made up the first ever group run and the first ever coach run - from over 16 years ago (💾 📼 📟)!

Why? Well, to bid farewell to a special guy. He's tall, he's pale, he's handsome, he has an OBE. It's goodgym's founder Ivo Gormley. Many words were said about this man at the leaving party after the run, at the beautiful Calthorpe Community Garden, so we are not going to attempt to do him justice here. But the fact that a group of otherwise strangers, all wearing their red and black uniforms with pride, were gathered on the steps of York Hall (can you use their toilet? NO) a full sixteen years after the first group of otherwise strangers gathered on the steps of York Hall, to run around and help some people, has to mean something about how powerful and enduring Ivo's idea has been.

Warm up? LEG SWINGS UP THE WAZOO 🦵🏿💨 💨💨 - led masterfully and mindfully by Ade - along with some other limbs and muscles essential for running.

Bags loaded up in the Mechanical Cycling Machine™️ (it's Fast Boi Shaun Dixon on a cargo bike 🚚), we are led off by Euclides Montes who, by his own admission, doesn't actually know the area at all. But who cares?! It's the running that counts! More being lost equals more running! For the relatively small Venn diagram of people who were both a) on a goodgym run and b) knowledgeable about football, Darren performed the role of Roving Reporter (bluetooth speaker) with the GOALS! GOALS! GOALS! from England's match against DR Congo. There were indeed three goals but it wasn't a pretty picture for the 68 minutes between goal 1 and goal 2. We ran past some awfully concerned looking pub goers! But it had a happy ending WAHEEEYYYYY ⚽️.

First stop (probably, can't remember the order because the goals were so compelling) was St Hilda's East Community Centre - the site of the VERY FIRST GOODGYM GROUP TASK. In 2009, Ivo and 13 others emptied a cupboard. And how! St Hilda's is awesome - long-term friend of gg Tower Hamlets, the Centre (led by Lucy) provides bilingual advisory services around employment 🧑🏾‍⚖️, offers activity clubs to combat loneliness 🎯, exercise classes for the elderly 🪑 - it's the kind of place that communities across the country utterly depend upon.

Question, is it possible to belong to goodgym for 12 years and still not know the name of common little yellow flowers 🌼 that come in pots? Answer: Yes! But we planted them on the roof. Those who were particularly confident at differentiating between plants (alive) and plants (dead) also performed a valuable weeding service (let's hear it for weeds 🌱!), leaving things very spruce and cheery up on the terrace for users of the Centre to enjoy.

Next stop, just round the corner off Arnold Circus, where one Ian Drysdale (runs a long way, never looks sad 👨🏻‍🦱) gave us the next bit of the history tour. DID YOU KNOW that Ivo and Ian worked together in a social-enterprise-cum-think-tank in Shoreditch, before goodgym even existed? If you didn't, you could guess. Ian showed us the EXACT SPOT where Ivo first turned to him and said, "Ian I have an idea about a club where people run around and do helpful things instead of just be in the gym" and Ian was like, "WHAT? No Way!" and Ivo was like, "Yes absolutely WAY and I'm doing it, and you're DOING IT WITH ME because you know about computers 🤓 and I only know about films and being kindly." I am fairly confident this is what was said. And so goodgym became a thing with a name and a team.

One! More! Stop! It was only TERRY'S HOUSE wasn't it! "Who's Terry?" - have you been living under a rock? Terry was the clay-pipe-collecting (no, still no idea), amateur-boxing, newspaper-reading, Ivo-appreciating elderly man who became the defacto first-ever goodgym coach. Ivo used to run to his house and there they did have a chat, and that really was it and that was kind of the point. Another goodgym man John Hunter (👋🏻) has also been a long-time coach visit-doer and so said some words about this. Those words were like: "Having been running to my coach Florence 👵🏿 for 6 years, and then Richard 👴🏻 for nearly 2 years now, I have learned a couple of things about what it means to make these visits. It is a friendship, not a service, and it has the potential to be profound for both of you." They were very serious words and I'm not crying, you're crying.

With that, the history had been retold, and it was time to jog on 🏃🏻‍♂️🏃🏻‍♂️- to Calthorpe, and a garden full of over..ooh, a hundred? people with love and admiration in their hearts for the phenomenon that is goodgym. Ivo is a very humble man, but let's be honest, it wouldn't exist without him, would it?

With the temperatures a little kinder than last week's heatwave, we gathered in Hyde Park before setting off on our run to the Abbey Centre. The route was a familiar Westminster obstacle course of tourists, bikes and the occasional unexpected change of direction, but everyone made it safely to Smith Street.

The Abbey Centre is a real community hub in the heart of Westminster, providing activities, support and services for local people of all ages. From youth programmes and wellbeing activities to advice services and community events, it plays an important role in bringing people together and creating opportunities for local residents.

We met Brenda and Khai, and got to work in the community garden. There was no shortage of jobs to get stuck into: weeding beds, sweeping paths, shifting an impressive collection of pots to create a bit more room for the elderly users, and finishing off with a well-earned hose-down for the plants.

We identified a errant banana palm, wondering whether it would survive outdoors in London - or would it be happier inside? After some research Caitlin planted one in a nicely protected pot, so we'll be keeping a close eye on it over the coming weeks. Watch this space to see how our new plant mascot fares!

Despite wrestling with a rather leaky hose, Brenda somehow managed to give the garden a thorough soaking while avoiding soaking the other GGers. Although, after last week's weather, a surprise drenching might actually have been quite welcome!

Next Tuesday we're heading to St Andrew's Youth Club for another evening of community action. We'd love to see you there!

Tracey, Anna, and I met outside the property for a quick chat before being ushered inside to tackle a wobbly double bed. The three of us made short work of the heavy lifting by channelling our inner Friends and pivoting away, proving that teamwork really does make the dream work!