This group run was a 2 task week and we had 12 wonderful GG-ers ready to tackle the litter at The Albany and the mulch at the Tiny Forest

We gathered outside Glass Mill and as I approached it was great to see a group forming after last week's bank holiday lowering our group run numbers. We split into groups and one group headed to the Tiny Forest guided by Steve and photographer for the evening Julian and the other group to The Albany with me.

The Tiny Forest team were joined by Linda and a couple of Tree Keepers and most importantly joined by Suki - our favourite Tiny Forest dog! There was lots of mulch to be moving to the main Tiny Forest (we covered the extension last week) and involved filling buckets and pouring those over the fence.

Meanwhile at The Albany....there was barely any litter!! That's never happened in the history of group runs at The Albany, usually its a satisfying clean up of all the cans and chicken shop wrappers that have blown in from the streets.

We did still fill 3 GIANT bin bags, when I say fill I mean to about 50% as they were so big I could fit in them and they got heavy quite quickly, with the litter, not with me in them! The litter we did find was described as level 10 litter i.e. nappies etc not pleasant - bring back the cans and chicken shop wrappers (although no litter at all would be encouraged)!

At both tasks it started to rain slightly then it started to pour down!! We made the decision to pack up our litter picking at the same time as the Tiny Forest text to say the rain was too much and they were heading back to Glass Mill.

We regrouped at Glass Mill and headed off for our social at the local, Guardian recommended Turkish restaurant. After some confusion over the booking which Marta handled, we were all seated and ready for a catch up and refuel.

It's good to be back with the team after a week of skiing but more importantly it's good to have Oli back from his marathon running in Tokyo so I no longer have to think of puns (thinking of them makes my brain hurt)!

Monday's task was at Lewisham Unity which is a multifaith community based in Catford, they have a great outdoor space which is lined with some wonderful (but huge) trees and their leaves and twigs fall all over the garden area.

Our task was to clear all the leaves and twigs and either put in the garden waste bin or the leaves in the giant bags which in a couple of years will be mulch! We're still waiting on seeing this mulch after collecting the leaves last year too, maybe this time next year we will see the results of our hard work.

We also tackled a quick litter pick and by the time we were leaving the garden was looking much tidier of leaves.

Great work team!

Eight intrepid GoodGymmers returned to the familiar Group Run location of the Albany in Deptford, but with Kim away on her skiing jollydays, regular GoodGymmer Steve stepped into the less familiar role of run leader for the evening.

After a warm welcome to regulars Sarah, Darryl and Matt there was a welcome back for Victoria S and Adam! (give 'em all a cheer!)

A few quick warm up drills later and we were on our way through the streets of Lewisham. The Albany Centre is a charity, community centre and performing arts space right in the middle of Deptford's market and high street, which has been its home since 1899!

As we arrived, we were greeted by Chris who was our host at the Albany and got us signed in and equipped with litter pickers and bags to tidy up their lovely community garden. We were joined by Vic C and Vic L, who brought our Victorian tally to 3. As headtorches bobbed about in the darkness, we had quickly packed 4 bags of rubbish and had time for a couple of team photos.

It was time to say goodbye, as Team Vic headed homewards and the rest of the group ran back to our starting point of the Glass Mill Leisure Centre for a final 50m sprint followed by a chilled yoga-ish cool down and stretch.

A small but mighty team gathered at Glass Mill ready to spread the word about GG! Our mission for the evening was to make as many people as possible hear about GoodGym as more GoodGymers = more good we can be doing in the borough.

First task was to spread the word to students in the nearby student accommodation - tick

Second task was to hand out some leaflets at Lewisham station but all the commuters just wanted to get home into the warmth and also there was the minor issue of only being allowed to flyer on land that wasn't railway land - half tick

Third task was to head to the nearby streets and post the flyers through all the letterboxes that didn't have "no junk mail". Although I personally didn't class it as junk! - tick

We ended the evening with zero flyers! A successful evening doing good in the borough. Next week we have a longer run to the PNK Garden.

Happy New Year and welcome back to GoodGym Lewisham for 2024! There's going to be lots of good deeding and fun this year (not that there wasn't last year).

We started the year with one of our favourite tasks of year, collecting the abandoned Christmas trees around the borough. When I was on my long run home last night I passed 3 Christmas trees strewn across the pavement somewhere around Camberwell, I thought about how much tidier the streets of Lewisham are for our efforts!

I like to remind everyone that I'm normally the champion of this little game of who can collect the most Christmas trees but not this year!!! I have passed that title onto Oli (previous accolades include losing Miguel) and his team - well done!

We collected a total of 31 trees and a wreath.

Next week we're heading to Young Lewisham Project to hopefully continue the painting as long as it doesn't rain!