Another warm morning dawned but 6 Goodgymers and a local volunteer joined 'Clean Up Charlton' for the monthly litter pick in the streets of SE7. Fresh from the World Cup quarter final victory of England over Norway (commiserations to the lovely and fun Norwegians - we have our own tame Viking at Goodgym Greenwich!), and as one of today's work team was Mexican, we talked football and had an impromtu game of 'get the beer can into the litter hoop'. Zero goals! Let's stick to running, walking and doing good deeds maybe guys?

Of course what you really want to hear when litter picking is one of the team saying "I have found a bag with something dead in it and don't know what to do"... !!! Pretending to be brave we investigated and found slowly fermenting chicken drumsticks - now safely bagged with our other 6 general waste bags and 3 bags of dry recycling ready for Greenwich Council to collect. We left the waste collection team a little thank you message - can't be fun collecting rubbish all day in this heat! Thanks to everyone who turned out to clean the not-so-mean streets of SE7 - iced lattes all round at M&S to cool off afterwards...

The good people of SE7 had been out partying as usual - loads of beer cans and cigarette ends littering the streets! Six of us and another lovely local volunteer (we're encouraging her to join Goodgym!) tackled our usual areas of the Woolwich Road, Anchor & (no) Hope Lane and Bugsby's Way.

We filled 10 bags of rubbish including three of aforementioned bottles, cans and those annoying BuzzBall cocktail containers as well as a few bottles of spirits. Enough to create the bar you really don't want to drink at... There were the usual piles of bits of plastic, takeaway containers, cigarette packs and a trowel!

As usual we adjourned at the end for the kind of drink we could enjoy - M&S coffee. Thanks to everyone who turned out as the litter was quite bad in places.

How many Goodgymers does it take to pick litter in Charlton on a Sunday morning? Eight, apparently.

Armed with our litter pickers we tackled both sides of Anchor and Hope Lane, rescuing rubbish from bushes, hedges and pavements alike. By the end, bus stops along the route were proudly displaying a collection of bulging bin bags of our catch.

This week we were joined by Heather, a seasoned Goodgymer but a first-timer with Goodgym Greenwich. Welcome, Heather! Now that we’ve shown you the glamorous side of Sunday mornings in Charlton we hope to see you again soon.

And of course, no litter licking session is complete without post-task refreshments. This week we had even more reason to celebrate, as JC arrived fresh from completing his 200th task. A great milestone. Big congratulations, JC!

It was another glorious evening to spend in Tower Hamlets, catching up with one another and enjoying some serious hedge pruning.

Our task tonight...

This evening, Janet and Eileen from the Cranbrook Community Centre had been in touch to see if we could spare an hour or so helping to get the plants trimmed back from the fencing around the Centre.

This busy community centre runs bundles of events for local residents, in-and-around the Roman Road area.

Events are advertised on the fences outside, so when the area is overgrown, it obscures the signs. (Long branches also end up extending over adjacent pavements, which can prove a safety hazard for anyone using the surrounding paths and pavements - particularly when located at eye level).

A can-do attitude

The GoodGymers, having met earlier to run through a short workout in front of the garden, proceeded to grab tools and bin liners, heading to all three areas of the garden with their usual can-do attitude.

Armed with secateurs and loppers, the team strategically positioned themselves around both inside and outside of the garden cutting back bushes, trees, shrubs and weeds to make pavements accessible and fences visible. There was a lot of upper body work involved, and for those tending to the borders, a good amount of squatting too.

Not so fast...

We were about to start the clear-up effort when Janet said, “Great work, let’s make a start on this side now.” And so the whole team headed to the inside area, blitzing dead branches, overhanging hazelnuts – and collecting litter as they went.

The pace quickened and the job completed, with a splendid finale thanks to Emma appearing with an electric fan enquiring (with a totally straight face) what she should do with “…this electric fan I found hanging in a tree?”. Right.

We collected kit, disposed of the last stem and branch, and as usual the team posed patiently for one final pic.

Amazing work!

The shout-outs

As always, shout-outs to the whole team tonight (especially for not leaving until the job was done).

...And a great big GoodGym welcome to Hari, who joined us for a tremendous GoodGym debut! (Great work, Hari - hope to see you again soon).

Next week...

...we’re back to St Leonard’s Priory Park, for some more big gardening activity, complete with pre-task workout.

Until then.