After a super session on Wednesday night with the GoodGym Southwark group run crew, Simon was pleased to see the results in the broad day of light. Yet, there's still plenty to do as the Thorlands Garden project continues!

Six GoodGymers, including Leila's first ever good deed, came together to tackle two vital objectives of the afternoon - the never-ending buddleia trees and more roots.

Nathan has a soft spot for the mattock, so we gave him the right to use it to dig out the roots. However, this time, he did show Ema how to use the tool and was happy to share as they dug out more bramble roots.

The rest of us were on the buddleia bashing and chopping team. Michael proved handy with the loppers as he shaped the buddleia tree to look similar to the tree near the "Kitchen" garden whilst Leila, Tilly and Sam used a technique of secateurs and brute force by hand to chop the big branches into smaller and more managable stems for the compost heap.

Even though we only had two simple tasks, the hour and a half went by in a flash as we got to know Leila and find out about our New's Year resolutions. We're back again next Saturday for more root digging, sawing and we will be transferring six trees to be saved whilst we overhaul the "Forest" garden.

Bang, bang in the middle of January and we were back for GG Southwark's first group run of the year!

After a great end to 2021, it was brilliant to see 11 GoodGymers join in tonight's group run! We even had a GoodGym newbie come along. Welcome to GoodGym, Beth!

Ten GoodGymers met in the aromatic Old Spike Roastery to keep warm and to hear about GoodGym, the latest news and updates (January Challenge) and personal milestones like Beth, Ema and Jack's first group run with Southwark and technically, Claire and Lucy's first group run "run" as the first one they walked (which is possibly for some Group Runs, but not all). After my mini warm-up session, we were ready to go! Yet, not before our ice-breaker question: What are your New Year's Resolutions this year?

We had the likes of learning to drive, doing more GoodGym (which I loved), running a half marathon (loved that too), reading a book a month (less so 😂), learning how to tap dance 👀 and Claire embraced the spirit to say she doesn't have any 😜

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Jack & the beanstalk

There were two choices upon planning the run route - go the longer flatter route OR take the more direct, but slightly uphill route. Of course, we went for the latter, climbing up the long Chadwick Road, but we had Katy back-marking to ensure no one was left behind. Once we reached the summit, it was all downhill pass Denmark Hill station, King's and we were finally there. The lovely Lindy was already present (as she lives closeby) helping Simon polish the lopper and secateurs.

After a quick intro to Thorlands Garden by Simon, we split the team into three's:

• Planting
• Chopping
• Moving

The "Planting" team consisted of Katy as team captain, Beth, Lindy and Lucy. They were given a bag of red tulips to plant as they were already sprouting. These bulbs needed to be planted 4 inches deep around the entrance of the "Kitchen Garden" (near the Clubhouse) and where the Jerusalem artichokes were planted and harvested late last year. I have to believe the girls that they planted over 100 bulbs, but let's just round it up to 200....😝 within 35 minutes.

Clearing the edge of the tarmac terrace was the "Chopping" team. Jack and Emma flung themselves to the task whilst Claire and Hannah joined them with the secateurs. The system was as Jack lopped the big buddleia branches, the girls would chop and shape the more woody stems as this could be used in the planters to assist with bean or tomato growing. The more greeny stems, leaves and seeds needed to be chopped them further and feed into the massive compost mound growing by the fence between the "Kitchen" and "Forest" gardens. The team cleared the terrace area and Jack started to work into the bigger buddleia tree! He was in the zone!

Finally, the "Moving" duo, Adam and Ema took on the pile of leaves dumped on the original compost area, but it was not breaking down fast enough and Simon said mixing the green leaves/stems/shrubs with brown leaves helps produce more fertile soil (and also breaks down faster). The duo went back and forth, wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow and we all lost count of how many trips they did in those 35 minutes.

After our customary group photo, the very last task was to oil the tools to ensure they were clean and would not rust. Simon uses just normal vegetable oil, but prefers extra virgin olive oil. We all thought it, but Lindy said it:

Someone's fancy - Lindy

Most of us ran home from Thorlands, but Adam, Beth, Emma and Sam ran all the way back to Old Spike and Ema and Jack came along for the first kilometre or so. It was quite an eventful run back as we witness not one, but two falls. Firstly, soon after we started running back, a motorcyclist came off his motorbike....but after being attended to by multiple members of the public including us, he got on his bike and was ready to leave. Further up towards Grove Hill, we witnessed a man cycling up a hill and then just collapsed to one side. Emma and Beth were first to the scene whilst Adam and I assisted with carrying him up. He was a bit distressed and maybe a bit embarrassed as he didn't want our help after helping him up. So, off we went again...this time, no more incidents. Due to these falls, we arrived at Old Spike for a cool down and stretch at 20:30, so apologies again for finishing late. However, we did what humans do and help those in need.

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out and tackled a tough first uphill run (I kept that quiet) and for braving the cold weather (as it did get chilly).

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Thank You Simon

GoodGym is all about getting fit and doing good! We praise the runners/cyclists/walkers who come to get fit and help out, but we often forget about our task owner and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Simon for all that you do to keep the community going. We'll be back!