A happy return to Petersham & Ham Sea Scouts last night where scout leader Russell, surely one of the hardest-working scouts ever, had tasks ready and raring to go for us!

The group started with an intro and marathon congratulations for Steph Ducat and Adam, as well as Susan and Sarah who were getting some well-deserved rest in! It wasn't a sunny evening but the Richmond riverside has its own charm for a 2.5km run to the scout base.

Russell introduced us to the cycle of driftwood that comes in on the high tide and rips up the plants and growth in the wooded area. One group collected large pieces to add to the bug houses and get them out of the tide line while the other group emptied the woodshed of last year's dried out driftwood to be used for kindling at campfires. Next time we will be collecting the smaller piece from the grounds to go into the woodshed to dry out for next year!

Bugs aplenty and lots of heavy-lifting action made this a lively workout before a run back into Richmond town centre. Join us on Sunday back at the Scout base to help with the next stage.

This evening started at Tap Tavern, as always, but with an added flourish as Area Activator Liz donned the wings to celebrate 100 GoodGym tasks! A blustery run along the riverside threatened to get the wings actually flying but the group arrived intact at Russell School, ready for action!

Following a very productive Sunday Community Mission at Russell School to carry out the first part of the task, tonight we laid the woodchip down and trampled it into position. With so many hands on deck, and leftover chippings, we were able to re-chip the nursery play area, tidy up the toys, remove some troublesome rubble and STILL find a little time to play on the climbing frames!

A last run back to the Tap completed the task, followed by celebratory drinks in the pub and a little look at the lovely team card made for Liz 😍😍😍

We were back at AFC Heatham House on Monday night. One of our regular group tasks, we would often visit to help do all sorts for the local youth club, which supports children and young people in the Twickenham area. Danielle the youth leader often gets us doing all sorts, from attacking bindweed to clearing cupboards and tonight we waited to see what mystery mission we had in store!

The kitchen had been donated a load of food, including lots of fresh fruit and veg. Sadly, fresh fruit goes off quickly and our job for the night was to prepare the pickings so they could be frozen and then easily used for meals in the future - tasty curries, apple crumbles, banana cake…

We set up a production line, with T, Kate and Rebecca doing a peely great job at taking the skins off the orchard fruits; followed by a right pair with the pears of Sam and Liz, who were on chopping and bagging duties. Elsewhere, Adam and Pippa had a ketchup as they sliced juicy tomatoes. All of this was pear-fully overseen by Lucy, who as always had gone a bit bananas with the puns and then punny with the bananas.

Meanwhile, Steph, Chris and Suze were helping clean a serving station which had been living in a cupboard downstairs for some time. They apple-y got their hands dirty scrubbing down the metal and glasswork, til it was almost good as new.

Another grape job done by GoodGym Richmond at Heatham House, and doesn’t it peel good! Danielle thanked us for our ripe food work, and we left down the apple and pears to head off back home!

As it was the second Monday of the month, tonight’s GoodGym Richmond Group Run headed out from the Tap Tavern to Buccleuch Gardens on the Thames Path where we have been planting and maintaining The Three Pigeons Plot, and The Arcade Rockery.

Foxglove Angel lady Rosie was the star of tonight's group run, winning her GoodGym wings, celebrating her 100th Good Deed.

Rosie showed us how GoodDeeds should be done by planting out foxgloves that we had grown from seed last year, exhibiting dock-banishing superpowers and demonstrating stellar star-jumps. But it was a team effort and the positive attitude was infectious. Have a look at the 'before and after’ photographs.

A big turn out and a lot of hard work from everyone saw amazing results in a short time: white foxgloves planted that should flower in early summer; docks banished from the lawn next to The Three Pigeons; the steps and hardstanding at The Arcade swept and de-mossed; the monstrous pampas' at The Three Pigeons cowed; the planters in front of The Arcade weeded; Lavender and Stachys pruned at the Arcade rockery; and a self seeded Verbena at the edge of The Three pigeons relocated to somewhere more suitable.

A fantastic Richmond GoodGym Group run and a great GG Richmond social in the Tap Tavern afterwards, celebrating Rosie’s centenary. Thank you everyone.

Big congratulations for member Susan who hit 100 tasks, a 4km run, a gardening task AND cake, it was a busy Monday evening for GoodGym Richmond!

Starting at the Tap where Susan was adorned with the celebratory wings and presented with the group card, the group went through a warm-up before heading down to the riverside to cross the bridge and head to St Christopher's.

At the home, the task was to give the front area of the large building a cleanup, something we are very familiar with! The group set about trimming hedges, weeding and sweeping leaves, as well as discovering a very dead Christmas tree that was chopped up to fit into the garden recycling bin and give space for Spring growth in the beds.

The task was completed with a lovely range of cakes that Susan kindly brought along to share, so many that we left some for the young people at the home to enjoy too!

A final run back to the Tap finished off the evening well. Congratulations Susan, 100 complete!

Join us next week for our monthly trip to our sponsored riverside plot, as well as more celebrations, this time for Rosie's 100th!