Southwark News

• This weekend - run long with us on Sunday morning, 15km starting at Brixton station, one group led by Dom, one by me find out more and sign up here.

• Sunday afternoon - Back by popular demand! Meet up with the smashing Lambeth lot at Tooting Bec track for a track session. Intervals aimed at improving your running technique with pub after. Find out more and sign up here.

• Tuesday 26th Feb Emily is hosting a fundraising pub quiz night in Westminster - help them in their amazing aim to raise £2500 for three fantastic charities. Find out more here.

• Thursday 28th Feb Matt Guy is holding a fundraiser for Westminster House at Batch. It's an evening of short films on running (called 'Running Shorts' oh the pun joy!) - tickets come with a free drink get them here.

• Next week we need ALL HANDS ON DECK for moving a large amount of mulch for Barnaby at Bee Urban. It's an 8k roundtrip and we'll be leaving at 7pm promptly. Sign up for the run here.

That's enough of the business

Last night 17 runners gathered at Batch (Old Spike is having some works done) and immediately were put to work folding leaflets. We had over 200 leaflets to post through letter boxes and stick on lampost/bus stops for Food2You an amazing new service addressing malnutrition and risk of malnutrition amongst older people. Completely volunteer run, it provides a shopping and delivery service for older people and we're helping spread the word!

Last night was special for a few reasons. 1st: Dee, a stalwart Southwark member, left us back in Spring to move (very far) away and came to visit us! 2nd: My first run leading Southwark was 1 whole year ago! The pun was 'Hello, is it me you're leafletting for?' (yep still happy with that). I was blown away by receiving presents and a round of applause. Yes, there was at least one tear.

The runners are GoodGym, without you we are nothing, you are magic

The group split into four groups with different running routes: two 7ish kms, a 3km and a 5km. We all met on Peckham Rye on our favourite corner of Peckham Rye to play games!

Play can add joy to life, relieve stress, supercharge learning, and connect you to others and the world around you.

We played several rounds of Shark Attack, a big game of What's The Time Mr Wolf (once we'd worked out the rules....) and a slippy-slidey round of Squat Squat Goose. You're never too old to play!

We then headed back to Batch where we enjoyed pizza and drinks and I opened my wonderful presents.

What a wonderful evening, you lot are magic.

Lucy J

Southwark News

• This Saturday at 13.30 we need help! Rainbow Trust Children's Charity are raising funds and awareness at Crystal Palace Sainsburys, and we need you - sign up here.

• Saturday 9th Feb is the last cross country fixture of the year. If you're part of the race team, come run in the mud and drink with us! Sign up here.

• Next week Grove Park needs us to help them cut back trees. It's outdoors so if you have a headtorch bring it, and wrap up warm! Sign up here.

• Thursday February 28th is a date for your diary! Southwark's own Matt Guy is hosting a fundraising evening with our friends at Batch bar for Westminster House, a youth charity in Nunhead. It'll be an evening of running short films, tickets are £9 and include a running-themed drink. Support Matt, Westminster House and Batch all in one go - get your tickets here!

• We only went a bloody did it! 6000 good deeds absolutely smashed by GoodGym across the country in January.

That's enough of the business

Last night 17 runners ran 6km to clean the toddler toys at the Salvation Army in Camberwell. It was lovely to see Janet, the task owner again, who we last visited to help put together food parcels for Christmas.

'New Year same old toddler toys' - Janet

We've done this task several times before - we efficiently split up to take the toys out of the cupboard, line them up for cleaning and get to work. The clean toys were then reorganised as they went back into the cupboard and tables were put down and away. In 30 minutes we had cleaned every single item in the cupboard and put it back. Janet was thrilled!

Havin' a duck-duck-goos-in good time

Before leaving, we played a round of duck duck goose. We started off doing this from sitting down and then realised that we're not quite as springy as we once were and instead we held a squat in a circle whilst 'It' went around. It turns out duck duck goose is quite a tense game! The game was won to much cheering and applause, and we went to get water and biscuits from Janet (well earned).

Hello and welcome to Sasha and Amy who joined us for the first time last night!

Off we went back to Old Spike looking out for ice on our way - if you're out cycling today, be careful!

Great work team, see you next week.

Lucy J

Southwark News

• This Saturday come on down to South Norwood parkrun to help GoodGym Croydon provide pacing and then head on down to Beecroft Primary School in Lewisham to help build the sensory garden.

• We're doing a super job in the January Challenge - 127 good deeds done and 991kms run. Blimey!

• A big cheer for David Drury who is about to turn 100 (good deeds). That's a serious amount of good done in his local community. Well done David!

• Next week we're sorting and cleaning the toddler toys at Salvation Army in Camberwell. It's a a 6km run overall - sign up here.

That's enough of the business

Last night was outrageously chilly, but at least we missed the snow! 12 of us gathered at Old Spike Roastery to run the 3km round trip to Grove Park Allotments. Huge kudos to you all, it was blooming freezing!

The run there is very steep uphill, but it certainly warmed us up! We were greeted at the gates to the allotment by Liv who showed us what needed doing:

• Sorting tools in the shed

• Strimming

• Weeding the allotment paths

It was a chilly 30 minutes but we got loads done - the shed tools were beautifully organised, the smell of cut grass filled the air and two recyclable bags were filled with weeds.

'Who left that hoe on the ground?' - David Strimmer

We worked quickly and had time for a 4 minute intense circuit before we left. The stations were: squat jumps, star jumps, shuttle runs, burpees. We got a minute on each station which certainly got the blood going!

Hello and welcome to Civ who joined us for the first time last night!

We thanked Liz and headed off down the hill back to base. Great work team!

10 points for identifying the pun reference this week

See you next week.

Southwark News

• I still have some community places (£10 bargain!) for the Big Half. Send me an email to get the discount code lucyj@goodgym.org

• This weekend is Super Saturday! Come join us at Southwark parkrun for a 9am start and then come to a starter session to Surrey Docks Farm, leaving from Southwark park cafe at 10.20am. Not only all of this but we'll be celebrating Southwark's third birthday!

• Victoria turned 50 at the beginning of January and is now on 52 good deeds. That's a lot of good! Give her a cheer.

• Next week we're filling a skip at Southwark Tigers. It's a 6km run overall.

That's enough of the business

Last night 19 runners ran 5.5km overall to visit our friends at Crisis charity shop on Denmark Hill. We arrived at half seven on the dot. Anca was amazed at how many of us there were (great job!) and set up to work.

A big hello and welcome to Sharon, Frances, Aurelia and Sharon who joined us for the first time last night!

We split into two main groups:

• Visual merchandising - colour coding the display wall, arranging the jewellry displays, dressing a manequin

• Sorting donations - over the festive period Crisis were inundated with an amazing amount of donations. We sorted sellable form non-sellable and set out for recycling any toys or electrical items. There was also a team pricing books.

So many tasks to get done!

Team Donations sorted 64.4 lbs of non-sellable items for recycling. Solid work!

We got to work, finding all kinds of great items as we went, including a 'Wodent Wheel' which Dom commented

"Looks wheely valuable"

There was no way we'd get through all the fresh donations but we made a serious dent, Helena and Matt dressed a manequin as... of course... a runner! Great to have a GoodGym representative at the shop long-term!

Last but not least - places for Brighton Half and London Landmarks Half with the amazing Terence Higgins Trust at a special rate for GoodGymers

Terrence Higgins Trust is the leading and largest HIV and sexual health charity in the UK. We offer a range of services, from testing to counselling, fund life-changing research, and campaign for a world where people with HIV live healthy lives free from prejudice and discrimination, and good sexual health is a right and reality for all.

• Brighton Half: Sunday 24th February - Discount reg fee £10 (from £25) - Minimum sponsorship £200 • London Landmarks Half: Sunday 24th March - Discount reg fee £10 (from £30) - Minimum sponsorship £350

We'll be there to support you every step of the way! Here's what to expect: a welcome pack, THT t-shirt, a personalised THT running vest, regular email updates with training and fundraising tips, on the day support to cheer you to the finish line, and an invite to our “#TeamTHT Thank You Party" later in the year.

If this is the perfect challenge for you, get in touch with Laura laura.stock@tht.org.uk

Great work team, see you next week!