Doing things the Lewisham Way, 27 terrific athletes trotted 5km and got busy with the warm soapy water at MOSAC.

To your average commuter, heading home through Lewisham, this was a regular, slightly grey, freezing cold Monday evening, but to us it was full of warmth and LOVE. We like to celebrate the achievements of our fellow runners on Medal Monday and tonight was no exception, with shout-outs for our GoodGym Race Team members Nykolette, Conroy and Chris, who took part in Saturday's Met League cross country. This is the first time the team has taken part in a full season and the women came 6th and the men 4th - top work team! We also congratulated Milly on her parkrun PB and (in her absence) Rebecca on her first ever parkrun. Our celebrations took a turn for the extra special though, when Emma shared some happy news from her weekend...she got engaged! Congratulations Emma and Jack, you romantic pair, you gave us a spring in our step tonight :)

In the midst of all this Monday madness, we also welcomed two brand new GoodGym runners, Lewisham Love this week goes to Rachel and Juliet, welcome! We also opened our arms to Alice, who is an old hand at this group run thing, having clocked up an impressive 161 good deeds already, but was joining us here in Lewisham for the first time, lovely to see you Alice!

Squat's mud got to do with it?

Tonight's warm-up saw us shaking hands with our partner and squatting in the mud, we have all the fun. It's been a while since we ran out along the Lewisham Way, always a treat running up, up, up, giving a sideways glance to the rather delightful phone box library as we go - thank you to Clare and Conroy for keeping us together at the back. A quick sort through my group run memory bank and I can only think of one other task that has taken us to the heart of Brockley and that was when we delivered the Brockley Society Newsletter ages ago. This week we were right in there at Brockley Cross, helping out at a new task with MOSAC. MOSAC have been working to support parents and carers of abused children for over 25 years now, offering support through their telephone helpline, therapy and advocacy services. Tonight we were going to be giving their offices a good old clean.

You missed a bit!

Our first challenge was fitting everyone in! The space is big, with lots of smaller rooms leading off a long corridor, but when you try to squeeze 27 people in and organise them into groups, it can feel a little overwhelming! Taking it one group at a time, we split into the various areas, with people working on different tasks.

• washing the toys from the play therapy room (good thinking on the dishwasher!)
• cleaning and replenishing the sand trays (harder than it sounds)
• changing the light bulbs in the play therapy room
• sweeping and tidying the outside space
• cleaning the handrails, ledges, walls etc in the stairwell
• hoovering the stairwell and corridor (great work Chris!)
• cleaning the windows, lots and lots of windows, with great attention to detail (useful pointing Monica!)
• tidying and cleaning the toy shelves

I think that's everything!

After counting down and dragging people away from rubbing determinedly at a tiny smear on the glass (Malcolm, Alys, fine work there), we had to find a space big enough to take our group photo - thank you Kim for directing us at this point! As we left and made our way back to base, we also paused briefly to capture our group in front of the gorgeous 'Brockley - walk this way' mural, one that we have been waiting to add to our collection for a while now. Our run back was a little less gritty, with residential streets (and a little extra residential street, as I got distracted hearing Emma's romantic story, taking us in the wrong direction - sorry!) and skirting alongside Hilly Fields, with a sweeping downhill to home.

Thank you for sharing such delicious treats Emma and showing us some sparkle.

Next week is another new task, I know, exciting times! We are visiting VAL, Voluntary Action Lewisham, where we will be doing some painting, no snazzy kit please! If you're new to GoodGym, don't forget that you can click on any names highlighted in red here and give them a cheer. You can also keep up-to-date with any news and updates by following us on Twitter @GGLewisham.

Have a great week and see you at Hilly Fields parkrun or on Monday at Glass Mill.

FAST FOOD PART 1

14 Brave Brent bandits, ran miles, to sort through piles of food that was sent, for the community of Brent!!

Food donation sorting for the amazing Brent Food Bank.

Having spent the last few days sending out a shed load of 'don't leave me hanging' emails to my crew, I was delighted to be met at base camp by a team of 13!! This of course was an absolute miracle considering the icy weather, freezing cold snow and wintery conditions!! So thank you, thank you team of brave warriors!!! What an awesome turn out for GG Brent's last sesh of 2017!!

The tasks (plural) at hand this evening, for our last and final session of the year, were helping out the Brent Food Bank, with their enormous hoard of food donations for Christmas at not one but two locations!!

As there were a couple of sites to get to; the storage center and the base, we split into 2 and set off! I led the team heading for base camp - The vestry hall, for an evening of lifting, loading and sorting all kinds of food groups into orderly piles and racked onto the shelves. Supported by my amazing team - Pete, Mouse, Marie, Ellen, Isabelle and Beth!

Our journey of 1.4 Miles was a cold one, so to beat the icy bite of the winds, we made it rapid!! That's fast food, if ever you did see!

Looked after by Maxine and Nana on arrival we were set to work instantly! There was so much to get through, we were like a team of busy elves, beavering away in our nutritious workshop!

Halfway through, we were rewarded with mugs of hot tea, which gave us the added energy to keep up the good work, for an extended session of 60 Mins, as we didn't want to go until we'd made a hefty impact on the massive piles!!

After a full hour of Good-deeding and about 100 tins and packets of food galore stocked up onto shelves, we said our farewells and head back out into the night.

Facing the cold once more, the run was again, a swift affair, but we didn't care. Pleased with our effors, we couldn't have done better. For Brent's amazing bank of food, not a worthier cause could we choose!!

FAST FOOD PART 2 - By Tabitha Skinner

So our group had the task of running to Brent Food Bank's storage unit, where they keep the tons of donations they receive. It was a 2.4Mile route there and we were thrilled to get there in less than 30mins woop woop.

We met Michele on site, who took us to the storage unit and told us a bit about what the Brent Food Bank do for the community! But to read a bit more yourselves check out their website - https://brent.foodbank.org.uk

Amazing cause What we found out was that they have boxes of food donations ready for when people in need.... need them. They also do packs of toiletries and nappies and things for new mums when they go to hospital to have a baby, as well as feminine products for girls who can't afford them. If that wasn't enough, this amazing cause also put on and host cooking classes at their base, for the community to teach people how to eat healthily and well for less money.
Loads of good stuff!!

Weigh-hey So back to our task, which was to empty out their big yellow, storage unit and weigh EVERYTHING before putting it back! This is because they have to do a yearly audit of donations, so we were helping with that. It was a mammoth task which took longer than a usual GG amount of set time, however, as it was our last one for the tear, we were all happy to stay and do more for these amazing people.

Fast food.... literally We got to work quickly using human chains to take it all out, weigh the boxes, then put them back. Each box was easily 20kg so we definitely worked hard, and we had hundreds of them to sort, so that's easily a tonne of donations we lifted. David our very own Isabelle's hubby (she finally dragged him along!!), was at the end of the chain most the night so probably did the most work! What an intro!! Even though there was so much food, Michele said, if they didn't get any more it would only last until April so they are always looking for more donations all the time!!!

Nearly there The last few boxes were Christmas presents and decorations so they were the last ones in, ready to be taken out again this week, for creations of Christmas Cheer all over Brent homes. After our epic efforts, we all ran back to base in the cold, other than karen who ubered it - Don't blame you Kazzer!!!

Until next year!!!!! That's GG Brent over and out!