Despite a drizzly start, we had a fantastic turnout to yesterday's litter pick and that's proof that the January Challenge is providing some proper motivation! AND six members of the group had volunteered earlier at Hornfair Junior Parkrun so with this session we’ve now officially hit our target of 140 good deeds in January, which is a massive achievement.

Afer an ice breaker discussing our favourite breakfasts, yum, the walking team set off first and arrived ahead of the runners, who in typical GoodGym generosity took it in turns pushing the running buggy. Not an easy task with a whopping four-year-old on board, especially up those hills, but plenty of encouragement and shared effort got us all through it together.

Once everyone arrived, we split into groups and spread out across the Common to tackle the litter. By the end of the session, we’d collected an impressive 26 bags of litter in total. Great work everyone and well done on smashing our good deeds target.

Coming up...

On Wednesday we'll be weeding and doing other odd jobs at St Richard's

On Saturday, as well as our usual Parkruns we've got more litter picking around Sutcliffe Park for our last push on those good deeds!

Until next time, wonderful people!

Rachel

We visit the Community Hospice once a month to support their head gardener, Jason, with gardening and general maintenance in the beautiful grounds. Today we were also joined by Denise, one of Jason’s dedicated midweek gardening volunteers.

After collecting tools from the shed, we got to work digging, planting and watering to settle five peony plants into their new home. With luck they'll bloom later in the year so we can enjoy the results of our work.

We moved on to some weeding, gently picking out the unloved plants without disturbing the soil too much.

Then we grabbed saws, loppers and secateurs to take out rampant lilac bushes and brambles in an area being prepared for future planting.

Before we knew it, our time was up. We returned the tools to the shed with the feeling of a great workout and an even better sense of achievement.

If you can spare a couple of hours on the fourth Saturday of the month, come and join us for an active session in great company. You’ll be helping to make a real difference while supporting a fantastic local charity.

A star-studded cast to celebrate GoodGym Greenwich's 10th Birthday!

An unseasonably mild Sunday morning greeted 18 goodgymers as we made our way to Brooklands school in Kidbrooke. Whilst the school is a little tucked away, the huge grounds provide plenty of outdoor space for the children and their families.

We joined a group of existing volunteers from the school, and were soon wheelbarrowing soil to the growing beds as well as clearing weeds. One of our target areas was an enclosure containing a pond; again involving clearing weeds, bracken and planks to free up the pond area for its proper use. Discovering a few baby dragons* added to the magic of the event, along with a confused toad and lots of ladybirds.

(* thankfully these turned out to be the non-fire breathing variety, which are Newts to us (!) They were carefully looked after by a member of the team to be returned to a safe habitat).

A busy hour soon runs out, so a final group photo provided the icing on the rake for GGG's birthday mission. Special welcome to Iyabo for your first good deed with us - and lovely that you could join us for our lunch to celebrate our birthday!

Coming up...

On Wednesday we're continuing our painting of the hall at Charlton Manor Primary School.

On Sunday we've got our (optional) group run and litter pick on Woolwich Common.

And the following Wednesday we're helping at St Richard's.

Thanks all & see you at the next task! ⭐

On Sunday, a cheerful crew of GoodGymers headed to a very trashed corner of Blackfen, near the A2 and the Co-op car park, ready to take on… well, far too much rubbish. What followed was part clean-up, part treasure hunt, and part therapy session.

By the end of the mission, we’d collected 12 bags of general rubbish, 3 bags of glass bottles (safely popped into recycling), and—because why not—one sewing machine. Yes. A sewing machine. Sadly, it did not come with instructions or a matching table.

To keep spirits high, we played Litter Picking Bingo, and can proudly say we found everything on the card—and then some. Full house, anyone?

While it’s always a bit heartbreaking to see how careless people can be, every GoodGym session restores our faith in humanity. Because for every fly-tipped sewing machine, there’s a group of volunteers willing to show up, muck in, and make things better—one bag at a time 💛♻️

Blackfen is cleaner, our bingo cards are complete, and humanity is back on the “mostly decent” list. Another good job done! 💪✨

It was all about collaboration as 4 GoodGymers joined Clean Up Charlton and the RA 5K Litterpickers for a group walk and litterpick along the Thames Path from Charlton to Woolwich. We got our steps in AND filled 18 bags of litter!

Starting at the Anchor & Hope and doing a bit of a clean up around the front of the pub, we went past the Thames Barrier and through the old industrial estate. It's amazing what you find when you dig around in the back of the bushes - watch out for those flying cans as Ashton goes into the undergrowth to wrestle them out! SO many cans and bottles as we reached Woolwich. We could have filled several more bags but decided to call it a day and warm up with a coffee at Woolwich Works after a good 2 hours work.