Well what a night, and what a pun! All credit to Ivar of course, who struck GOLD with that one and set off a tirade of puns in the whatsapp group.

Some walked and some ran to the task - with two simultaneous ice breakers, the best of which being "what's one thing you hated as a child that you now love?"

On arrival we split into teams - an indoor and an outdoor group. The innies were putting back up some gilded ceiling panels, the golden evidence of which is still on Mark's face apparently - what a great way to evidence who did the real work in that group 🤓

Meanwhile the outies pottered around the community garden, watering the beds, weeding and chatting. And Rubaina gallantly rescued me from a spider - especially glad you came back Rubaina and you can be paired with me for all future bug related tasks, thanks very much 🙋‍♀️

But last night was more tour that task and hey what a great way to spend a Wednesday evening than looking through the stores at the Prince Philip Maritime Museum. We checked out lots of paintings of shipwrecks and battles and portraits of lots of middle aged white men, and one woman who looked a bit taken aback to still be there. It was cool to get a peak inside and hear about some of the paintings - it's been a while since we've been in and we've had lots of new friends join us since then!

Time came to head off and then Aidyn caused some drama almost getting himself locked in (we almost did but we wouldn't have actually forgotten you, Aidyn.)

Great to see you all as always!

Coming up

There's loads going on this weekend in addition to the parkruns so come and join a session if you have some time!

Saturday:

• https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/spring-bulb-planting-and-mulching

• https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/gardening-at-hervey-road-community-garden-1ed22d2f-d7a0-489e-8a74-da9f3d7430db

• https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/remove-fence-in-sutcliffe-park

Sunday:

• https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/helping-at-the-cabahs-plant-sale-e89cf473-6588-423d-85cf-691658b18405

• https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/clean-up-charlton-10ce0687-9b2d-408e-b009-96e6222da227

Next Wednesday we've got a Charlton House start and a run to Charlton Manor Primary School: https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/gardening-at-charlton-manor-primary-school-e46f1ec7-a47c-4ac6-bf6f-fb36414e9c9c

Until next time!

Rachel

Last night, 9 of us headed out for what turned out to be quite the ponding experience.

Our mission was to give the pond some much-needed TLC. There was plenty of hard work involved, including clearing out the weeds and digging out the stubborn ones, trimming back the ivy, and giving the area around the tomato plants a good weed.

Mark had been endeavored to take it easy on those shoulders, but of course, he couldn't help getting stuck in and digging deep to get to the root of the issue. As he reported today: "digging up those plants definitely took its Pond of Flesh from me.”

There was plenty of newt-ural territory covered in the comments, with everyone getting involved and coming up with increasingly terrible (and therefore brilliant) pond puns. 🐸🤓

The only downside was that it got dark within a few minutes, making it rather difficult to see what we were doing, but we managed to keep the pondemonium under control and no one fell in so that's a success in my book!

A really great difference made last night - thank you everyone - let's not let all these puns water down the achievement… 😉

On Saturday as well as the Parkruns, we've got Clearing up at the Pet Cemetery and weeding at Hervey Road

On sunday we've got Clean up Charlton.

Until next time!

Rachel

An undecided sky looked down on 7 goodgym-ers, meeting outside Charlton House for this evening's task. Said sky decided to bless us with a dry evening which was handy for this outdoor group run!

A brisk walk through Charlton Park with a literal ice-breaker (discussing relevant injuries...) brought us to the streets between Charlton & Woolwich, and a literary themed task, delivering flyers for The Library of Things in Woolwich. This is an excellent scheme where items can be borrowed, from carpet steamers to karaoke machines, helping save money and the planet.

Lots of steps, hills & letterboxes later, we were working our way through the Library of GoodGym, from A Beginners Guide to Motoring (helping push a broken down car to a safer position off the main road) through Running Scared (of the numerous doggies eager to see what we were delivering...!) And then back to see how The Charlton Men ('s football team got on in their game tonight).

Proving both libraries & Goodgym are great for one's circulation, we turned to the next chapter of our respective weeks. Thanks all & catch up soon! 📚

Nine GoodGym Greenwichers joined the Friends of Plumstead Common Allotments last night for a satisfying session of clearing an abandoned allotment.

After a hilly-er than expected run we met Dan who had lots of tools at the ready and armed with with strimmers, loppers and sheers, we spent 40 minutes tackling the overgrowth. We lopped off as many brambles as we could and strimmed the long grass (#thinktick 😉) and gradually the pile of cuttings grew and the space felt clearer.

Well done team - the plot is now one step closer to being brought back into use and we got a decent workout while doing it!

A big thank you to the Friends of Plumstead Common Allotments for having us along. We’ll likely be back to continue the job!

Coming up...

• On saturday we have helping at Maryon Wilson Community Garden

• On sunday we have maintenance at Westcombe Woodlands

• Next Wednesday we're leafleting for the Library of Things in Woolwich.

Until next time! ☺️

Rachel