On a wet Monday night in Wandsworth we bought the festive cheer, beginning with a warm up and a survey about Christmas films - do they make you ho ho ho or are they just about as fun as an over boiled brussel sprout? The grinches just lost out in the votes, and the verdict is in - Christmas movies are here to stay!

It was great to see some new faces along to our run - a huge welcome to Emma and Giulio who came along to their very first session. Give them a big festive cheer!

Our job for the evenings was at Larkhall park, a regular location for GoodGym visits. Every time we come we work hard on various spots throughout the park alongside the regular volunteers who help keep it a safe and welcoming green space for local people.

Last night we divided into two groups. The first team was to tackle the big bed at the entrance of the park, the second went off to help shift a massive pile of soil and to clear an area of leaves.

Before long it was action stations and everybody was hard at work. Jordan and Felix took on the massive soil shifting challenge, while Jason debuted his fabulous new invention - the spade light. Quick, somebody get it patented. It only took 40 minutes for us to make a big difference and the Friends of Larkhall Park group appreciated how much got done. Well done team!

The fun didn't stop there though - there was just enough time to squeeze in a circuits based fitness station in the playground. It featured squats, ladder runs, curtsy lunges and plenty of laughs.

Next week it's our final group run of 2026. I'm just finalising the task, so keep an eye out for the sign up page. We'll follow this with a social at a local pub - time to get those vocal chords warmed up!

There are plenty of opportunities to spread the Christmas joy this week, including:

• Helping collect donations and other jobs at Battersea's oldest church tonight. We really need a couple more volunteers for this - and you will be rewarded by celebrity speakers and mulled wine!

• Supporting a carol concert for the elderly on Thursday

• Putting up Christmas decorations at a church in Battersea on Saturday morning

We had one of our biggest challenges to date in Wandsworth last night, and what's more it was a time crunch situation!

The task: to move ten huge metal orange planters filled with wet clay and stones to their permanent new homes around the Doddington estate. Within 40 minutes. Using only one manual hydraulic lifter.

Did we manage it? Read on to find out more...

What was meant to be a quick Saturday morning task soon emerged as something a lot more complicated! We hadn't realised that the planters, which are bright, cheerful and massive would also be full! They were also a lot heavier and unwieldy then we had expected. We discovered it had taken a crane to get them there in the first place. On top of that, it turned out the dolly we had been given to use had two flat tyres! Things were not looking in our favour.

So, we drafted in the big guns. We shifted our scheduled task for the evening to another night, and arranged to come down with a bigger group last night. Elizabeth, who runs the hub, had also managed to get her hands on a bigger duty lifter from the council - so this time we had a fighting chance!

We divided up into groups and began the job - knowing we had a limited amount of time with the borrowed lifter. If they weren't put in the right place last night, it was never going to happen.

So with Ali taking the helm of the power lifter, half the team began the massive job of moving the smaller planters around the square. Meanwhile the rest got on with shoveling out the soil in what affectionately became known as 'the beast' - the biggest planter of them all.

Time was ticking on, and we decided to forego our usual fitness session in the hope of finishing the task. Besides which, the job was a pretty hardcore workout in itself!

With just minutes to spare the last planter was ceremoniously lowered into position, and I'm happy to report that all ten of them found beautiful new homes where they will cheer up the square and increase bodiversity - and all GG toes and fingers remained intact!

Fantastic job in tricky conditions - well done everybody.

Dates for your diary!

• This weekend we have a lovely community mission in a local nature reserve
• Our upcoming Christmas party on the 15th December
• Next week's session to help deliver flyers for a local nursery