Last night’s GoodGym Wandsworth run had community impact, zombie related content, a lot of manure, and some EMOMs that made sure no one noticed the freezing temperatures.

We kicked things off with a warm-up and a chat about how the January Challenge has been going. We've logged plenty of good deeds but we're still only 75% of the way there - can you help us get there? There’s still time to add to the total this Saturday's community mission in Doddington followed by coffee ☕️.

Before heading off, we paused to celebrate something pretty special: Jordan’s 300th Good Deed. From missions to group runs, socials and celebrations sessions Jordan has shown up to make Wandsworth a better, more community-minded place to live. A great milestone and one that deserves cheers (and cake, next week, when we'll have even more to celebrate!)

We also tackled the big question of the evening: who would you want on your team in a zombie apocalypse? The shortlist was eclectic. Bear Grylls (obvious survival skills), Barack Obama (calm leadership and negotiation under pressure) and Claudia Winkleman (great fringe). Strong team. The Zombies wouldn’t stand a chance.

Then it was time to run – heading up to Age UK Wandsworth Day Centre. This day centre is a vital community resource, offering support, connection and activities for older residents – a place that helps people stay active, social and independent. Spaces like this really make a difference in people's lives.

Our task involved two massive piles of manure which needed spreading across the garden beds. Tools were initially in short supply, but this is GoodGym – we adapt, we improvise, we get it done. With a bit of teamwork and some impressive resourcefulness we dispersed the manure and also squeezed in a big tidy-up of the surrounding area, leaving everything noticeably more welcoming.

With the task complete, it was straight into a fitness session in the car park. The workout? A EMOM (every minute on the minute) session featuring lunges, shuttle runs and squat jumps which kept the cold at bay. Strong effort all round.

Looking ahead to next week: we’ve got more milestones to celebrate, another great task, and then our monthly pub quiz. See you there!

Brenda, Anastasia and Gosia attended a mission in Southwark today - Ms P needed help with moving out of her property (which will be soon taken down 🏗).

We arrived at 1 pm and buzzed 🔔 two times before her relative came in and made us realise that we were not buzzing at all 😆. We were then welcomed by Ms P in the ground floor kitchen 🍽 area.

First impression was that there was still a lot of furniture and stuff around the house and clearly a lot of work still to be done! We knew that we won't tackle all but we could still try our best 🫡 and also prioritise the tasks that require few pair of hands.

At first, we were tasked with taking out a washing machine. Befre doing that we needed to unplug it and also disconnect from the waterpipes (which brought a bit of thrill as we were nor sure if water was already disconnected or we are going to flood 💦 the kitchen). Once free, we pushed it outside of the house to a designated place right to the waste collection area 🗑. After that we tackled few more items from there and then moved to the first floor.

We have spent most of the time emptying the upstair bedroom 🛏. This included taking out a bed frame, chest of drawers, curtains, a number of boxes 📦📦🗃 full of papers and stuff. Some of them were to be kept, some of them to be taken outside. What was incredibly useful was an inbuilt lift inside the house which Ms P - who uses a wheelchair - typically used to move around the house. We used it to transport items (especially the heavier ones 🏋‍♀️).

We were also given a special mission of taking down a lamp shade. Nimble Anastasia stood on the bed to unscrew it along with the bulb 💡. The shade went to the bin but we have put back the bulb which still worked (!) even after an accidental fall 😆.

We then moved to the bathroom and were asked to take whatever we can straight to the bin. Nothing unusual to report other than the bag that seemed very sturdy didn't cope that well with the load and one of it's handles snapped when we were going down the stairs. All under control 👌 and after few moments were were back on track with the move.

Throughout the task we had a little helper 🧒(maybe Ms P grandson) who also moved some of the things out as well as showing of with his toys 🧸🪀 and very cool trainers 👟 (with a small light at the back).

We tried to keep the waste area tidy and do not obstruct the parking area. In a short time the space became pretty crowded so at some point we did a bit of reshuffle to keep them compact and neat 🧹.

We said our goodbye 👋 after finishing with the bathroom. Ms P was very grateful for our help and wished us very well.

Before leaving the property, Anastasia had a great idea to take the hangers (that were planned to be binned) to the near charity shop so they can make use of them to present the clothes for sale.

There's no denying that last night was a bit of a damp squib - but in true GG Hounslow style we made the most of the rainy evening. We grabbed every piece of waterproof clothing we could find (including Gus' fetching plastic trousers), headed out into the drizzle and met with Jo from Wild Chiswick to spread the word about hedgehog habitats.

The last time we delivered leaflets in a different area of Chiswick to let people know what they can do in their gardens to protect the hedgehogs, the charity received three enquiries before the evening was out - so the task has a proven track record of effectiveness. We tried to bear this in mind as we did the rounds of the sodden culs-de-sac!

There have been growing numbers of hedgehogs spotted in the area but it's crucial we do everything we can to help them thrive. They are in decline in Britain and are now listed as vulnerable on Britain's red list of mammals, with numbers falling by up to 30% in urban areas and 50% in rural areas. Wild Chiswick want to let people know what they can do and have volunteers who travel round the area to create hedgehog runs through peoples' gardens so they can find the food sources they need.

After 40 minutes of damp delivering we decided to call it a night and made a run for hot tea, warm pubs and to see if the local water supply had been switched back on - fingers crossed!

Next week the weather is meant to be quite chilly so thankfully we have an indoor task at Chiswick Methodist Church - see you there for a rare toasty task!

Lillinton Garden estate was one of the last of the high-density public housing schemes built in London during the postwar period and is considered one of the most distinguished. However visitors to the conservation area could find themselves wondering through the labyrinth of paths and covered walkways, past the 19th century church hidden in the middle of the estate and still not spot the sunken garden that is in the process of being turned into a thriving community space.

Luckily GoodGymers have a keen nose for doing good and all met at the green area on a drizzly Tuesday night to help get it prepped for planting. There were plenty of weeds to take up, raking to be done, soil to turn and ivy to trim so we all got cracking with the tasks.

Chat turned to using AI to get a 5km pb training plan, a potential royal visit to GoodGym, future races and, of course, parkrun news. We couldn't believe it when we looked at our watches and saw our session was up. Time flies when you're helping transform a space into something local people can use to promote biodiversity and grow fruit and veg!

Next week we're going to the Abbey Centre to help with various jobs - check out the future sessions as there is always something impactful happening on a Tuesday night in Westminster!

Of course! Here’s the same report with all asterisks removed: Yesterday was meant to be 'Blue Monday', but there was absolutely nothing blue about GoodGym Wandsworth this week. Any gloom was swiftly chased away during the warm-up, where we shared the things that cheer us up most. The answers were a happily mixed bag; animal videos, GoodGym itself, hill sprints , sugar, peanut butter, singing, and—the evening's winner—chocolate. That's your January wellbeing toolkit right there!

**A huge welcome to Evie, who joined us for her very first GoodGym session—lovely to have you join us!.

We set off for Larkhall Park, where we regularly support the brilliant volunteers who care for this thriving green space. These sessions help keep the park well-maintained, improve biodiversity , makes the space safer and more welcoming for the community, and ensures it stays somewhere people want to spend time. Plus, the work couple with the good GG vibes is an instant mood boost for us!

There was plenty to do and everyone got stuck in. Tasks included litter picking, bed maintenance, leaf clearing, and shifting two enormous ton bags of soil. This involved a carefully choreographed shovelling method, which turned out to be quite the workout.

We attracted a fair bit of attention while we worked—some curious passers-by, one particularly questioning lady from the pub and a very welcome visit from a bouncing curious golden retriever, which instantly boosted morale by approximately 300%.

By the end, the jobs were done and the task owners were really pleased with what we’d achieved—always a nice finish to a task. On the way back we broke up the run with several fitness stations along the way: squats, single-leg holds, toe taps, and finally a well-earned set of stretches .

• Coming up soon: a Saturday mission at Doddington, followed by a coffee social.
• Next week, we’re back to Age UK Wandsworth to sort out the garden.