4 intrepid Goodgymers spent an hour at Baltic Quay clearing away dead foliage and spreading new soil on the beds ahead of the garden open day for Bexley Hospice in June. As ever our work was supervised by Tom, the friendly Labrador! A great way to spend a sunny afternoon.

It was another cold and sunny morning that we joined forces to run and volunteer at Charlton parkrun. Well done to everyone who ran and particularly to Linda for her excellent Directing!

After a much needed coffee we headed off in groups with our pickers and bags to scour the park for rubbish, joined by the lovely Jill all the way from the Isle of Dogs. It’s always a challenge when it’s windy and extra good deeding points go to Linda who had to repick all her rubbish when it blew out of the bag!

Lots of chatting and picking later (and learning too - Matt told me and Jill about the Greenwich Comedy Club unbeknown to us), we enjoyed some chocolates courtesy of the Old Cottage Coffee shop. By the way, did you know recently an Ancient Egyptian mummy was found last year buried with some chocolate? Apparently he was known as Pharoah Rocher.

#oneforthecomedyclub?

Next week, there's a planting day with the Friends of Charlton Park which some of you are signed up to - wood you believe it looks like lots of fun!

Until next time!

On a chilly and grey January morning, myself and Jill from GoodGym Greenwich met up with the Friends of Westcombe Woodlands to help them out with their volunteer morning. We managed to find the tucked away entrance to the Woodlands thanks to a handwritten sign that they'd kindly put out for us! Once we'd both signed in and introduced ourselves we got started.

Westcombe Woodlands has three beehives on site, and they managed to secure some funding to plant a wildflower garden to continue to attract bees into the area. Previous GoodGym community missions have helped with moving three tons of soil, 350 yards from the entrance gate up to the glade. Following on from that, today's task was to move 30 square metres of meadow turf which had just been delivered and carefully lay it on the top.

The seven volunteers from Friends of Westcombe Woodlands divided up the tasks and showed us what to do. Jill did a great job helping to pile up the squares of turf at the bottom of the hill, while I helped with shuttling wheelbarrows of turf up to the glade, two squares at a time. Unfortunately for us wet turf is very heavy, and the Woodlands is on an extremely steep slope, so it was hard work indeed!

After an hour or so of heavy lifting, every single square of turf had been moved to the top and laid out, and the area was really starting to take shape! After taking a few photos we said our goodbyes to the other volunteers and headed home, taking the opportunity to walk through the lovely Greenwich Park.

Well done on another successful community mission - we hope to visit again soon when the weather's a bit warmer and see the meadow in full bloom!

The day had started off very grey and misty, but the skies were clearing out by the time 7 Goodgymers arrived at Ballast Quay Garden for a Saturday morning workout.

The task this time was to carry some bags of soil to the top part of the garden, open them and spread the soil very thinly across the lawn. Armed with rakes and brooms, we set about doing the job, chatting away at the same time. But not before carefully relocating a community of snails that had taken hold of one of the bags, with youngsters and elders alike moved to the riverside wall.

Thirty minutes later and all the soil as thin as marmite on toast, it was time for a quick cuppa and some biscuits, generously brought by Diane. Tom the dog was eager to get some biscuits too, but as he hadn't helped with the soil, he didn't get any (sorry, Tom).

Fully refreshed, we tackled the rest of the tasks - sweeping and picking up fallen leaves, and throwing them into the river, a firm favourite among the group!

With the garden looking much neater, we said our goodbyes and went on to enjoy the rest of our Saturdays!