It was an evening of celebrations in Lewisham last night, we had:

• Maria’s 50th Good Deed – well done on all those good deeds!
• Nykolette had a wonderful Sunday of running the Asics 10k and then as if that wasn’t enough, fitting in a mission afterwards
• Community missions at Hilly Fields, litter picking and removing the weeds around saplings that were planted by Friends of Hilly Fields
• Volunteering at Asics 10k – Louise was handing out finishers t-shirts and got to model one herself! Not to forget the GoodGym manned water station as well

Not only that, we also had 6 new people join us in Lewisham last night! I’m sure that’s a record number of new people in one night! I hope you all enjoyed your first GoodGym Lewisham experience and we’d love to see you again at future tasks.

Tarpaulin' behaviour

Tonight’s task was at one of our favourite places, Wildcat Wilderness, it’s a bit of a longer run than usual and one that felt even longer in the heat but everyone did great and we arrived together ready to start whatever tasks Maria had lined up for us (there’s always a variety of tasks at Wildcat).

• Team unfold the giant tarpaulin and fold back neatly – pretty self explanatory except the tarpaulin was huge and took a bit of manoeuvring to get it laid out flat and then a lot of teamwork to get it back folded neatly and carried to the spot we’d just brought it from. It now takes up half the space and looks neat and tidy – hopefully that’ll make it easier to access when it’s next needed
• Team cut back the weeds on the path – the weeds/plants along the path to Widcat Wilderness can get a little overgrown and it’s a long path, the group spread out along the path and chopped/weed bashed/cut the plants back. I couldn’t believe the transformation!
• Team watering plants – a couple of people watered the plants as it’s going to be hot over the next couple of days so they needed to be hydrated like us runners do too!

We then split into 2 groups with half staying to finish off the path and half beginning to make their way back to our start point, we all grouped back together around three quarters of the way back. It was then time for a quick stretch and chat about next weeks task which is at Luxmore Gardens – another outdoor gardening task so don’t forget the bug spray.

I enjoyed my first mission, found a lot of rubbish in the covered area down the hill from the stone circle so that's a good place to look if there isn't much rubbish in the main park area. Couldn't see anyone when I arrived at the park run finish area but soon found someone near the cafe, then came across some others later when I emerged from the wooded area.

On a fine July evening, 25 runners took a 5km round-trip to help out at GRACE in Lee.

Thank you Oli for our marvellous title pun and others throughout this report.

Were you up at Hilly Fields on Saturday morning? Did you see a group of people picking up litter? That was us! The park is particularly messy at this time of year, with people having picnics, but not taking their rubbish home. We're having a regular litter-pick before parkrun, details for this Saturday here. The parkrun was a place of great jollity this week, with Jacqueline hitting her 250th run (wow!) and Vic celebrating her birthday. It was also pacer week and it was great to see some familiar faces helping others reach a goal.

NEWS

• Many of you took on the Big Half earlier this year and I know some of you felt inspired to give it a go next year. Well, now's your chance to grab a place! We have a few community places for £10 each so, if you are committed to taking part, email me with the subject heading 'Big Half'.

• We had Simone from the Lewisham Local Card with us this week, hearing all about what we do, why we do it and how it makes a difference to us and the people that we visit. To find out more about the card and to register for one yourself, have a look here.

• This week Louise hit her 50th good deed milestone! This is quite speedy work, with her goal being to reach this point within a year. She totally smashed it, with a fair bit of GoodGym tourism and a few weekend missions. Well done Louise, here's to the next 50!

It's always lovely to welcome new faces to GoodGym Lewisham and all our Lewisham Love this week goes to Daniel and Jez, who were joining us for their first ever GoodGym group run (it was great also to see Charlotte and Sophie, who joined us after a break).

A very big thank you this week to Emma, for leading up front and to Amber for back-marking. We had a little warm-up to get the heart racing, before heading out along Lee High Road to help out at GRACE. At the task, Louise split us into four teams, with each group heading to a different part of the space. We had:

• TEAM PAIRLESS WHISPER - sorting through shoes, pairing them up, then putting them in the appropriate place (there might have been a fair few odd shoes left over!)
• TEAM BAGG(SY)ING - sorting clothing into various categories, bagging it up and moving it into the storage space
• TEAM IT'S COT TO BE-BE-BE-BE-BE-BEE PERFECT - reuniting various bed and cot parts that had been mixed up and sorting out the screws,dowels and instructions
• TEAM BUGGY - checking over and reassembling some buggies that had been mis-matched

Each team worked with great commitment, as time rushed by. There were moments where it looked like the clothes might not make it into the bags, or the screws, which had been ordered and laid out so meticulously, might not be matched with their bed or cot. We shouldn't have worried though because, in true GoodGym Lewisham style, we wrapped everything up in the last few minutes, ready to run back to base for a very quick 'plankerpillar' - good work!

Next week we will be visiting our good friends at Seniors, this is a longer run, of around 7km (with views!) and will be led by Conroy, sign up here. In the meantime, I would like to wish strength and determination to Kim, who will be taking on her first ever ultra distance event at the weekend, at the amazing Race to the Stones. With the support of Tom, who has tackled the longer distances before. They will be covering 100km over two days and camping en route. I'm sure you'll agree that Kim has been on an incredible and inspiring running journey and we will be behind them all the way, willing them to push on to the finish.

Go Kim! Go Tom! You can do it!