Mark Buckley

Nine fabulous runners headed up to the equally fabulous Upper Norwood Library hub, a wonderful community space.

A big Bromley welcome back to Chris and Darryl, who had dressed for spring in shorts and short sleeves, very brave!

Alys also joined us for her third good deed, which was a return to her workplace, now that's dedication! The library hub houses the Library of Things, a brilliant idea that will hopefully spread far and wide.

The rain had started to fall as we headed out for our warm-up, a trip to the park with the trusty stress pig. Thanks to Ian for back marking. After a round of lunges, squats, jumping jacks, high knees, hip openers and planks (thanks Tim!, we made our way up through the park, up the many stairs to reach Crystal Palace triangle and the library. The super-speedyBradley was waiting for us, having completed the Big Half in a mightily impressive 1 hour 12 minutes 22 seconds. Once I had figured out how to get in (push the door..), we were warmly welcomed by Daniel, who very kindly provided water and granola bars for us before explaining our task for the night. We originally thought that we going to be cleaning the kitchen, but Alys had told us that this was already spotless. Daniel showed us the staff office where there was a large desk to be dismantled and moved downstairs to the storage areas. He had also provided plenty of cleaning materials for us to give all of the surfaces a good clean.

Mark and Chris set to work on the desk, with the top being removed in only a few minutes, there was no holding them back. The copious number of screws holding the sturdy legs together were no match for this pair, with the desk soon in its component parts. Rather helpfully, there was a large lift for them to safely move the parts downstairs, stacking them neatly against the wall.

The rest of the team had armed themselves with bottles of Flash cleaning sprays and miracle sponges, tackling the desks, book hire machines and shelves. We always love a library task, with many fascinating books to explore ('All birds have anxiety' being one that particularly caught my attention). Hannah found the romance section which had some rather suspect titles ('The Spaniard's Pregnant Bride' anyone?). As we started to finish up, Chris came up with the fantastic pun, thanks Chris!

Daniel had cooked up a delicious smelling vegan chilli for a group at the library, and offered to cook for us when we next visit. We will happily accept such a lovely offer, thanks Daniel! (Lots of thanks all round tonight!)

We had hoped that the rain would ease for the run back down the hill, but it had not read the script and had got a lot more persistent. We democratically decided that a fitness session involving more hills would not be fun and headed straight back to our start point. Tim took a tumble on a kerb but was thankfully OK. We stopped under the railway bridge, taking advantage of the shelter and walls to aid our stretching, before heading back to the warmth of the Bridge House to collect our things. I think a social is well overdue, watch this space..

The task for next week hasn't been confirmed, keep an eye out here for the details.

Tim has arranged a community mission at the Crystal Palace Museum garden, where there are plenty of jobs to do, on Sunday 29th March. Keep an eye out for details and to sign up.

A fabulous five delivered flyers for the wonderful Ignition Brewery in Sydenham, a great task made even better being rounded off with a well-earned beer or two.

It was a brand new task this week, with the wonderful Ignition Brewery needing a bit of GoodGym magic to help spread the word about their upcoming karaoke fundraiser. The brewery is unique in that it was set up 3 years ago with the specific aim to provide work for local adults with learning disabilities, both in the brewing and selling of the beer.

We were a small group but we split into 2 groups to cover as much ground as we could, with the pile of leaflets looking dauntingly large... After a very quick warm-up, we headed off, maps and flyers in hand. Mark, Alys (wearing her splendid meditating sloth running leggings as promised on her last task) and I headed towards Penge East station, whilst David and Jacqui headed down Lawrie Park Road, to tackle the magnificent houses and flats that Sydenham has to offer.

The initially dauntingly large pile of flyers soon disappeared as we braved dogs and snappy letterboxes. We were soon empty handed so we headed to the brewery where a thirst-quenching beer was waiting for us. When we arrived at the taproom, there was a salsa class going on, could this be an impromptu fitness session?! Alas/thankfully (delete as appropriate) not. The inspirational and hilarious Nick was waiting for us and showed us to the brewery, where he had bottles of their Jump Start and South of the River beers ready. He told us about the brewing process in lay-mans terms, and made us chuckle with some of the brewery's 'nearly' names - Brewersham and Special Brew amongst them. He employs 12 local adults with a variety of learning disabilities who would likely otherwise be frequenting local day centres, with a shocking 93% unable to find work. Whilst it was tempting to stay to chat over a delicious bottle of beer, we called last orders, not before Nick very kindly plied us with beer to take away. We hadn't spotted the welcoming blackboard on our way in, what a lovely touch. Nick suggested a summer social-come- task, maybe planting up some oil drums to go on the pavements, count us in.

Jacqui lived only a hop, skip and a jump away so headed off home, whilst David went for the train as he was nursing a football injury. Mark, Alys and I raised a few eyebrows and caused a few chuckles running through the streets with bottles of beer in hand. What a great task, thanks to Nick for his hospitality, and I hope that our efforts result in a big turn-out at the fundraiser on 14th February.

Next week we're returning to Melvin Hall to paint some gates and help weed and tidy the outdoor areas. If the weather is bad, we can head indoors where they will find some tasks for us to do. Sign up here.

A terrific twelve sorted, cleaned, steamed and tagged to make a real difference to Crystal Palace St Christopher's charity shop.

A big Bromley welcome to Jacqui and Michelle who joined us for the first time, Michelle having been persuaded by David, who just so happens to be her fiance.

Thankfully the weather was kinder to us this evening so we headed to the park, safe in the knowledge that the branches should stay attached to their trees. We did our winter stress pig warm-up, with the cold evidently affecting the groups imagination, with multiple star jumps and lunges completed before we democratically decided to run through the centre of the park, to avoid the stonking hill. Thanks to Ian for back-marking.

Mark joined us at the shop, where we were greeted by manager Teresa. She had plenty of jobs for us to tackle, so we split off into groups to clean the shoe shelves (with a pair of boxer shorts!), sort bags of donations and hunt for clothes with J1 labels as their time in the shop had come to an end. We learnt that they would be sent to another shop, as would the donated clothes deemed to be poorer quality. There were some lovely items in the shop, along with plenty of striking footwear.

We soon had piles of clothes ready for the rails, which we hung (rose gold hangers for the women, wooden for the men, fact fans) and tagged, after a quick lesson on the tagging gun from Teresa. Check out the looks of concentration on David and Bradley's faces for evidence that it wasn't quite as easy as first thought..

Fiona armed herself with the steamer and set to work steaming the clothes ready to be returned to the rails. It was a very satisfying job and we almost had to prise the steamer from her hands when time was up. A few us were tempted to smuggle it out of the shop and bin our irons at home!

It was soon time to go and Teresa was mightily grateful for our help, having made her Wednesday morning far easier. She had kindly bought drinks, Jaffa Cakes and Maltesers for us, which tempted some of us, energy for the run back to base. It was thankfully downhill on the way back, but I had craftily planned some hills runs for the fitness session. We were slightly scuppered by the lack of light and a wet surface, but we managed three before carefully making our way back through the park to stretch.

Next week takes us back to Upper Norwood Methodist Church to continue clearing the outside space, sign up here. I will bring lights but please bring a head torch if you have one, and gardening gloves. Here's hoping the weather will be kind to us..

Ten Santa-stic runners decked Melvin Halls with tinsel and snowmen, ready for the festive fun ahead.

A big Bromley welcome to Marta who joined us from Greenwich, and a welcome back to Louise. I must admit to having been a little worried when only 3 were signed up as of this morning, but my worries were unfounded, the lure of Christmas decorations proving too strong.

After a warm-up in the park, with the assistance of the trusty stress-pig, we headed off on a short run to Melvin Hall, back-marked by Clare.

We were met by Kathy who had laid out boxes and bags of decorations on the stage in the main hall for us. We initially thought we'd have a 'lick and stick' team to put together the wonderfully retro paper chains, but they strangely didn't have a sticky end, with sellotape or glue required to do the job. Bradley demonstrated his youth by not remembering paper chains the first time around! We had plenty of other decorations to put up, so we decided to leave them. The height of the ceilings could have proved a challenge but thankfully we had a trio of ladders, including a rather tall set that would have given an acrophobic nightmares. Mark demonstrated fearlessness as he scaled the heights to string two garlands from the high beam, then ingeniously hung baubles from the curtain hooks on the underside, ably assisted by Helena.

Sam set to work assembling ten snowman lanterns, having had the great idea to string them across the room to fill the rather large, empty space. The team decided to split them into 2 strings of 5 lanterns at either end of the room. Sam, Clare and Darryl strung up the first ribbon then hung the lanterns, spreading them out as they went. Tim decided on a different method for the other end and paced out the room to get the lantern spacing just so. He also eschewed the ribbon for twine, for its 'better tensile strength', and set to work tying the lanterns on. We were fast running out of time, so Tim ended with an audience as we hurried him to scale the ladder and hang the string of lanterns.

There was just time to raid the decoration boxes for some snowman and penguin deely-boppers (another blast from the past), reindeer antlers and santa hats for a group photo, before admiring our work on the way out.

Next week is another Christmas decoration task, this time at St Christopher's Hospice. It is our first visit to the hospice and we will putting up the decorations for the patients and families to enjoy, sign up here for some more festive fun. And if that wasn't enough to get you in the Santa spirit, don't forget our fabulous Christmas do next Thursday at the Bridge House. Sign up here for some food, drink and quizzing fun.

Nine hardy runners braved the cold to finish the job we started last week.

A big Bromley welcome to Jess who joined us for her first good deed, and to Jenny who joined us from Greenwich for a short hop to Anerley Town Hall.

We headed to our usual spot in Crystal Palace park for a warm-up, most definitely needed on such a chilly night. The stress pig found on a previous visit to Anerley Town Hall made another appearance, being thrown around the group with the recipient choosing the warm-up exercise. After a round of jumping jacks, squats, high knees and heel kicks, we were ready to set off, head torches lighting the way through the dark park. Thanks to Fiona for back marking.

We soon arrived at Anerley Town Hall, where Robert had a short list of jobs for us to do. As well as finishing the clear-out of the container, there was a table to be moved from a room upstairs. We had done such a good job last week that the container was almost clear, but there was a selection of noticeboards, tables, desk fittings and brackets to be moved to a store room in the basement. Our speedy team formed a human chain of sorts, with the noticeboards soon neatly stacked against the wall, followed swiftly by the other items. We had soon finished and bid farewell to Robert.

There was plenty of time for a fitness session, so we took a slightly longer route back to Crystal Palace park before lining up to do some sprint intervals. There was some impressive speed on show, with the air filling with cloudy breath on the jogs back. After three sprints, we did a round of triceps dips and press ups, making good use of the benches. The final 'treat' was everyone's favourite Moby song, which we agreed was a pretty rubbish song as songs go, but which certainly has its place in the world of exercise.

Next week's task marks the start of the Christmas celebrations as we put up the decorations at Melvin Hall. Sign up here for some festive fun. For even more festive fun, don't forget our Christmas knees-up at the Bridge House on Thursday 5th December, sign up here.