On a crisp January evening, a record-breaking 37 outstanding athletes ran 5km and helped at Crofton Books.

Happy birthday to us! THREE YEARS of doing good in Lewisham! Just to help us get our heads around this fact, here are some statistics that illustrate the extent of our efforts since we started back in January 2016.

• Total good deeds - 5,691
• Total missions - 229
• Total coach visits - 941
• Total group runs - 193
• Total KMs - 72,043
• Total cheers given - 100,024
• Total cheers received -77,348

Just look at those figures, all done by 993 different runners! In coming weeks we will have completed 6,000 good deeds between us! It's especially heartening to note that we will soon have paid 1000 visits to an older person for a chat, reducing isolation with every visit. Well done to every single person who has been along over the past three years and who has gone on to volunteer outside of our activities, who has stepped up to a race start line (and finish!) and who has made a friend through what we do - this is a pretty special community that we've built here, in our little corner of South East London.

January Challenge

We are currently first in our division for good deeds (144) and utterly smashing it on KMs (1955)! Well done everyone, especially those who went the extra mile this weekend, by attending starter sessions, missions and community missions! If you haven't connected Strava or Run Keeper to your profile, now's the time! A special mention has to go to Emma, who 'did the treble' over the weekend, by completing a mission on Friday, another on Saturday morning, then a community mission shortly after!

A big welcome and all our Lewisham Love go this week to Suzi. We hope you enjoyed the evening, you certainly chose a special week to join us!

In this colder weather, it's even more important to warm up, but more important than anything ever is to have some fun. Handshakes, stuck-in-the-mud and a few hi-fives and we were ready to run. Thank you to Marta for being a tip-top back-marker tonight, keeping us together on the run.

3’s a crowd, 37 is a record!

As we arrived at Crofton Books, I realised that we might just beat our attendance record and, with a couple of people trailing in after us...we did! 37 runners, all ready to get stuck in! Jason had a lot for us to do this week. He had been over to Brixton to collect some HUGE bookshelves for the shop and these needed bringing in from the van (they really were very tall). The shelves they were to replace needed clearing (human chain!) and there was a lot of jiggling to be done to accommodate the new storage.

One for the record books

Meanwhile, in the children's section, Silvana had some more shelf action. These shelves had been dismantled and are quite complex in design so, in addition to wiping down and dusting, they needed reassembling with an allen key. This was a task that required thought and consideration, so there was much chin rubbing and head tilting! It was amazing to see the progress that was made, with a wall now being ready to take more books, giving a wide open space for children to enjoy the many activities on offer.

Outside we had a team of litter-pickers. There has been some great planting along the wall of the building, but sadly some people throw their litter over the fence. This was no problem for our crack team of pickers, flying around and getting it done.

With time flying, we had to clear the floor of books, so the library will be usable, so back to the human chain (though it's difficult not to get distracted as interesting books pass through your hands!). Jason had set the turntable going and the music set the pace, with 'Two minutes!' then 'One!' being called. We really could have stayed all night, but sadly had to leave so, gathering for a group photo, we said our goodbyes and ran the downhill route back to Glass Mill.

Many hands make light work... of 25 pizzas

As if all that running and lifting. shifting and building wasn't enough, we just about had time for a plank relay (cue a bit of moaning and groaning!). Those of us who were able, then headed over to Mamma Dough in Ladywell for some post-run pizza. We also enjoyed some birthday cake and the light and fluffy pannettone that Silvana had kindly given to us - thank you! At the social, I presented a few medals, marking some notable contributions. Well done to Bradley, who has been very nearly every week since he joined us a year ago (he also goes to GoodGym Bromley on a Tuesday, so is about to get his wings!), thank you to Oli, for making my life that little bit easier with his beautiful puns (see his work throughout this report) and a very special award for Jacqueline, our longest standing coach runner, who has visited her coach now for three years, sharing a cup of tea and making someone feel special. To finish, here are some words from our punmeister...

'Thank you for...

• Painting walls and passing balls
• From Glass Mills
• To Moby drills
• For group runs and humorous puns
• For feel-good missions
• And even hill repetitions!
• With high-knees
• Past abandoned WCs
• For making friends
• To sprinting ends
• Through injury woes
• Wielding garden hoes
• Bringing sore feet
• For home-baked treats
• For planting flowers
• In passing showers
• For evening trots
• Despite dreaded squats!
• Up to Hilly Fields
• Down for social meals
• Helpful training tips
• Whilst filling skips
• For friendly faces
• At local races
• Wearing head torches
• Flyering through porches
• Helping at Wildcats
• Wearing Christmas hats
• Surviving aching thighs
• To share free mince pies
• From tree collection
• Earning award selection
• For feeling fine
• Come rain or shine!'

On a brisk Saturday morning, 13 fantastic runners covered around 2km of running and collected 6+ bags of litter.

Thanks again to Oli, our resident punner, for today's rather special title pun and others throughout this report.

Phewee, what a morning! First up, we had Hilly Fields parkrun (or Danson parkrun for Darryl), some running, some volunteering then, once everything had been processed and put away, it was time to switch t-shirts and gear up for some wholesome weekend goodness. We were very pleased to welcome an absolute first-timer, Anna, today and also our first ever GoodGym Lewisham four-legged friend, our mascot, Molly (check out her gorgeous bandana!) Lewisham Love to you both!

The hills are alive with the sound of plogging

Before we got going, we had to warm up, after sitting in the cafe drinking coffee and comparing finish times, with a few fun games (thanks Kim for capturing these on camera!) and a bit of running around. Feeling nimble, we each grabbed a litter-picker (thank you to Jordan at Lewisham Council for lending us this top class Plogging equipment), a few rings and bags and jogged down towards the little nature area, home to the Forest School. This turned out to be quite tidy, but we did manage to engage some very cute and helpful toddlers while we were there.

What a rubbish time

As we worked our way around the edge of the park, we discovered spaces we hadn't previously ventured into, chatted about everything under the sun, compared skills in picking (top marks to Bradley, who seems to be a bit of a pro) and uncovered all sorts of treasures:

• Jacqueline picked up a crystal and a baby's dummy

• Jo found a little skull (maybe a fox cub?)

• Bradley was sorted, with a bottle of red

• Marta made my day by recovering one of our parkrun cones

• Clare was delighted with her roll of good quality tin foil

• Oli got down on one knee to show me his empty engagement ring box (er, thanks)

• Vic. Well, Vic found an intact and fully usable pitch-fork, then revealed her previously unseen puritanical ways

Keep plogging away

Once we had covered a large area of the park and filled at least six big bin bags, we ran down the hill for a Hilly Fields style fitness session. Our drills worked to build muscle memory, encouraging great form and strong arm-drive. We played a couple of games in pairs, working on that powerful arm swing and awesome knee lift. When we knew this was embedded in our minds and bodies, we took it in turns to run hard up the hill.

Great work everyone, I really had fun and the feedback we had from other park-users was so good to hear! Hope to see you on Monday for our third birthday special x