33 marvellous GoodGymers hit the pavements last night to run to Jubilee Primary School for a mystery task...

WOODEN you like to know!?

First we welcomed first timers Jen, Emma and Oscar to the gang and had a speedy warm up.

Steve lead a 4k route and the rest of us took the direct route to Jubilee where we were greeted by Juan. He had a big pile of wooden sticks/rods/planks hidden under a staircase which we awkwardly removed and took round to a shed - the kind of job we do so well!

So well that unfortunately by the time the splinter group had arrived, pretty much all the wood had been moved.

All that was left to do then was a serious HIIT sesh in the school hall. It was a hot one and everyone smashed it.

We then headed back for a well needed stretch.

Top work everyone!

Wooden it be nice...

...if you came along next week for some furniture removal at Brixton Road Youth Centre? You can sign up here.

32 brilliant GoodGymmers arrived for our final GoodGym Lambeth group run of the decade!

We started by welcoming some lovely new runners - Lois, Katy, Jack, Sukhi and Ash.

We heard about what's coming up in the world of GoodGym (and beyond):

• Lots of community missions, including the chance to win a GoodGym jumper and a virtual badge (ooooh!).

• Dulwich parkrun and breakfast on Saturday 18th January 2020, as part of our monthly GoodGym Lambeth parkrun socials.

• Cross-country on Saturday 11th January 2020 at Wormwood Scrubs. Always fun, sometimes (aka mostly) muddy.

• Christmas and New Year parkruns - Many areas have extra parkruns on Christmas Day and New Year's Day. Just make sure you check the start time for your area.

After a quick warm-up led by George, we split into two groups:

George and Alfie led a group to Jubilee Primary School to help them with a project to connect the children with nature. Here's what leader George had to say:

"Well, we moved quite a few bags of garden waste from the garden to the car park, and a significant quantity of stone from the car park into a wooded glade (and build the worst dry stone wall). There was lots of wheelbarrow action, and a fair amount of standing around contemplating how to move a massive boulder."

GOOD WORK TEAM.

The rest of us went to Charleston House, a supported accommodation complex in Clapham. We'd been warned that a lot of the residents had gone out for the evening but fortunately, there were still four lovely gentlemen there who were very up for board games and chat. We split again so that half the group did some (actually quite intense, sorry/not sorry everyone...) festive fitness (aka The 12 squats of Christmas) while the other half chatted to the residents. Popular subjects included favourite types of champagne and what's on TV. And then we swapped so everyone got some good and some gym.

Before we knew it, it was time to head back to the base for some final stretches and then to the pub for the GoodGym Lambeth Christmas Social. We enjoyed an epic quiz courtesy of Steve and George, complete with a tad of controversy (what actually is the most common tree in London?!). We were then graced with a poem by our gracious leader Mark, with an added impersonation by Steve that was just sadly missing the hat.

No GG Lambeth Christmas Party would be complete without SPOTY (S*** Prize of the Year). This year, four excellent GoodGymmers were rewarded for their efforts to both the good and the gym:

• Sam has run a brilliant 1427.90km this year (over 100k every single month), as well as doing 60 good deeds this year and maintaining a 33-month group run streak.
• Michael has run an incredible 2434.64km this year (over 200k each month!), including running his first marathon in Liverpool in May and also racking up a 33-month group run streak (coincidence?!), bringing his total number of good deeds to 113!
• Charlotte has done a fantastic 69 good deeds this year, keeping her streaks at 13 months for both group runs and missions. She's also started coach running this year and is already on an 8-month coach running streak.
• Tim has done an epic 74 good deeds in 2019, maintaining a 15-month mission streak and a 30-month group run streak. He also draws the most incredible cartoons that are greatly enjoyed across the GoodGym community. What a talented chap.

SUPERB STUFF TEAM LAMBETH. What a year it's been - from being crowned GoodGym Olympic champions to welcoming a new trainer and many new additions to task force and GoodGym Lambeth to the huge amount of good we all do across Lambeth every week. I'll leave you with Mark's poem to summarise, and to say

See you next decade. Oh, and Merry Christmas!!!

As we come to the end of 2019,

Feel the bond we've shared as a unified team,

So many new faces and people of old,

Coming together within a shared goal.

From Liverpool and racing some bloody big horses,

To Katie departing and tasty kebab courses,

For every deed done and Olympics won,

Lambeth, I love you. Merry Christmas, have fun.

(Gilyead, 2019)

A WHOPPING 39 RUNNERS braced the 3-degree chillz 🥶 to help not one but TWO organisations on Tuesday night.

One group turned into a postie 📫 squad for the evening and delivered almost 1,000 flyers ✈️ for a local primary school around the Brixton area, whilst the other group headed up to Stockwell to shift a lot of earth 🌍 for a community garden.

We warmly (once we were inside) welcome some fantastic new runners this evening, so head over and give a cheer to Anna, Jon, Ranulph, Sarah, Shauna and Becca! 👋🏽👋🏻👋🏼👋🏿

INTERMISSION: Please find below the mathematical equation that validates this report's pun:

DOUBLE TROUBLE: we split into TWO groups, doing TWO tasks and thus helping TWO organisations

TOIL: the Spurgeon Estate group was subjected to some gruelling lifting on-task and some pumping bodyweight drills afterwards. The Richard Atkins group had to shift over 900 flyers in 30 minutes.

AND: a truth-functional operator of logical conjunction

RUBBLE: we had to move a shit tonne of rubble

Please send pun of the month award and / or prize money to: Goodgym Lambeth, Papa's Park, Brixton

Ok, onto the actual run reports. First, Tom Benson and the Richard Atkins Primary flyering squad:

So me and a merry band of 16 Goodgymers hopped on the good foot and jogged up Brixton hill to Richard Atkins Primary School. Where we met Owen who gave us our mission, which was he had 1,000 leaflets promoting their early years centre which had spaces available in January and they wanted us to spread the word around the area.

As every single person in Tom's group said,

I believe I can fly(er)

So getting into teams of 2, folks splits up and got leafleting. Within 20 minutes we had covered the surrounding area all that was left was the long road home. So split into two teams we efficiently worked like a goodgym caterpilla and made our way down the 1 km road making sure we posted to every door. All in all we delivered around 900 leaflets. All that was left was to jog back and stretch it off. Nice one team, you were all great posties.

And then, the Spurgeon Estate team:

23 of us headed 1.8k up to Stockwell to meet Fred, an organiser of the Spurgeon Estate community gardens. The gardens have recently expanded, turning an area called 'The Secret Garden' from a locked-up wasteland into a productive and beautiful garden with raised beds (which we helped build back in July) and lots of edible nature that goes straight onto the plates of those on the Estate. Fred needed a huge team to shift some displaced earth and rubble, which had been bagged up in the garden and was soon to be taken away - but guess what IT NEEDED TO BE OUT ON THE STREET FOR COLLECTION. Not a problem for these guys.

As Fred said when she saw us arrive,

I knew you moved rubble when you came in

There's only so much you can say about moving sacks of dirt but the highlight was one of the most highly-functioning (and sassy) GOODGYM LAMBETH HUMAN CHAINS ever seen. A lot of people had a go at thinking of chain puns because we were so proud of the chain. Here are but a few:

1. A chain of scenery will do your good
2. No chain, no gain
3. A chain is as good as a rest

And then we ran back to Papa's for the classic 3-team competitive bodyweight drills. Everybody won. The end.