7 GoodGym-ers met Liz and the team today at a new Community Mission venue, The Pet Cemetery on Shooters Hill, by the Charlton Lido & Hornfair Park. Our mission was a very long way from a Stephen King movie though, with a lovely spring sun shining down on us.

The venue has lots of history, part of Charlton Village Conservation Area. Originally the Blue Cross Quarantine Kennels at Shooters Hill, the site was acquired to house the dogs being brought back home by returning soldiers and families after the first world war. Nowadays, it's looked after by the Friends of the Pet Cemetery,  who work to maintain this as a tranquil space and respectful memorial to the 4-pawed friends buried there.

Lots of volunteers meant we got plenty of tasks completed, including removal of a huge number of Sycamore seedlings, which we were assured would have turned the area into a Sycamore forest if given the chance. Along with this was weeding the beds around the edges to give the flowers more space to thrive, cleaning the wall plaques, sweeping away debris from the tall trees around, and clearing tiny plant growth from between the paving slabs. 

Helped along by a 4 pawed friend, Otis the cockapoo, we were soon out of time but could see we'd made an impact. Thanks all & Have a great weekend ☀️

Last night we met at Charlton house for a warm up and the heady prospect of finishing our task in the light! 🎉

The ice breaker involved sharing our phobias which ranged from belly buttons, to snakes, flying and fingers near eyeballs (eugh). Luckily none of the phobias were encountered on our run through Charlton Park down to the lovely Charlton Manor Primary School.

Here we were reunited with GoodGymers who met at the task and with Michael who was armed with brushes galore, paint, wet wipes and gardening tools. The task was to paint the kitchen and fences in the nursery area and get rid of all the pesky alkanet. We got to it, and many hands make for light painting so after fourty minutes we had a large section complete and lots of weeds in the bin. Excellent job team!

After a quick intervals session in a triangle round the school we stretched and headed home. A lovely evening with a lovely bunch, thank you all 😊

On Saturday we're helping at the Pet Cemetery in Hornfair Park and next Wednesday we're sorting at the Bridge Community centre.

Until next time 👋🏼

Rachel