It was our last group run of the year yesterday and what a Christmas cracker it turned out to be!

It had all the hallmarks of a brilliant evening. Lots of lovely new people to welcome, a really impactful task, and not forgetting some incredible cake!

It was fantastic to have Eavan, Xena, Gabriella and Mary join us for their first GG experience, please give them a big festive cheer!

With cake in tow, Catherine set off leading the walking group while the rest of us did a little warm up. We also discussed what we'd most like to find under the Christmas tree on the big day itself, with answers ranging from a set of travel cutlery to a mansion in Wandsworth!

With both groups arriving simultaneously at the Hebe foundation (and a bit of confusion where the actual door was), we were welcomed by Amie who explained the mission of the Hebe foundation. The charity was set up to support and nurture young people in the area, and at Christmas they put together boxes to donate to the most financially challenged families. With the cost of living crisis hitting hard this year, the number needed has gone up.

So we got cracking straight away. While two groups ran off to local supermarkets to pick up spare cardboard boxes, the teams at the hall began assembling, packing and writing labels. After just under an hour we counted over 50 boxes ready to go, but there is still more to do so if you're around next Monday please join us directly at the hall to finish the job.

All that was left to do was a short jog back to base and then to the pub for our Christmas social, where to the delight of the group there was a fabulous sparkly wall to pose in front of! There was also a Wandsworth based quiz, Catherine's absolutely incredible cake, and plenty of laughs. What a way to see off a year of doing good!

Hope to see as many of you as possible over the festive season, be it at next week's mission, parkrun, another social or running/walking/cycling the streets of Wandsworth! Until then, wishing every single one of you a happy, healthy and safe festive season.

It was a wet morning in Wandsworth on Saturday but that didn’t stop a big crew of us getting together to help create a new garden at a local school. a huge welcome to Nicole who came for her first session! Some brave GGers even came directly from parkrun- and if we weren’t already muddy it wasn’t long before we were all covered from head to foot! It turned out to be quite the challenge- from huge paving slabs to heavy wet compost bags to tree stumps that would simply not budge! However we persevered and after an hour and a half the garden was looking dramatically different. No snails were harmed in the making of the this garden! Pat and Viv were really pleased with all we got done, and had this to say today:

"Thank you so so much for your hard work on Saturday at Graveney. After Viv and I had brushed and tidied the area we could see that so much had been achieved. Over half the paving slabs dug up and moved; the whole pile of wood and rocks moved to behind the greenhouse; masses and masses of huge compost bags lugged up to the garden where they're needed; roots slashed and rubbish picked up. You guys truly are amazing!

I am sorry it was such heavy work, we truly hadn't realised how massive the slabs are, but you were all just so strong and determined and didn't give up. The rain and slippery mud didn't help either!

Thank you so much - when we show what has been achieved this morning to our colleagues at Graveney, they will be so impressed. You have helped us make a great start to our orchard and outdoor classroom."

This cold, frosty morning was a takeover event by the Battersea junior parkrun team down in Wimbledon Park (the same location that the Queue is held for the Wimbledon Tennis Championships). The 2km out-and-back course is all on grass and therefore can get very muddy in winter!

60 under 14s took part and were supported by over 20 volunteers, a couple of which were members of Wandsworth goodgym. The purpose of the takeover event was to prove that the Battersea team is well-equipped to run a junior parkrun of their own - and this was clearly demonstrated!

The cold conditions and lack of recent rain did mean a lot of mud hadn't fully defrosted, so running conditions were better than normal. But no doubt the team would have been able to handle worse conditions, because the Battersea junior parkrun team is very strong with their sights on opening in 2024 (although no date announced yet). This event followed the recent news on Friday 24th November that Wandsworth councillors have backed plans for a Saturday 5k parkrun to be established at Battersea in 2024.

Following the very successful running of this junior parkrun, the team headed to a local cafe to debrief the event and agree on the next steps to making Battersea junior parkrun a permanent Sunday fixture in the diaries of many families in and around Battersea.

Yesterday saw the very first GoodGym Women's Night Run, and what a run it was!

Ten of us met up underneath the bright lights of the iconic London eye, and not even the increasing rain could dampen our enthusiasm.

The idea of the run was to break down any barriers to women running, primarily safety issues. So after a brief welcome, we each met our buddy for the evening - someone would be would be looking out for on the run so that nobody would be left behind at any point. We then did a warm up and went round the group introducing ourselves. Lucy also had the great idea of adding in a little fact as well, so we learned who had recently entered a big mountain race, who couldn't wait to run along the riverside, and who had a weekend of missions ahead of them. A huge congratulations goes to Helen who recently qualified for the tri ironman champs - absolutely incredible!

Soon it was time to set off, and we began our planned route along the Thames. We hit a good steady pace, swapping round backmarkers so everybody got a chance to chat, and taking in the sights. We passed Big Ben reflected in the water, paused for a picture by the Battersea Power Station Christmas Tree and sailed past Westminster under the cover of darkness.

It was a real joy to be running at night as a group, chatting all the way, pushing the pace when we felt like it, and hearing about everybody's goals and achievements. Hopefully this will be the first of more sessions like these. Please spread the word, let me know if you'd like to put on a run together, and most of all, keep running.