It was a cool and crisp Sunday morning as six, bright eyed and bushy-tailed GoodGymers eventually all converged on the secret-squirrel location of Westcombe Woodlands. It really is that hidden that it took some of the newcomers quite a few attempts to find it.

It truly is a gem of a place nestled deeply in-between Maze Hill Train Station and Seren Park. If you didn’t know it was there, you would never guess that a woodland lay hidden behind the station.

When we got there we were greeted by some of the regular Volunteers of Westcombe Woodland Richard, Nigel and Chris, who after asking us to sign in to their new trendy iPad app, then assigned us various tasks to do. It really was a little bit of everything from weeding, tidying up the raised beds, to pulling out the ivy, to carrying logs up to the top of the wood.

We all set to work and after not very long at all all of the ivy and wood were neatly piled up and the woodland floor was cleared. After this we continued weeding and just generally tidying up the place, clearing twigs and branches that had fallen down during the winter.

After this, Richard gave us a potted history of the woodland. The area was originally gravel pits but in the 1870’s a widow called Mary Roberts brought her family here and cultivated the land to grow fruit orchards and vegetables.

This drew to a close a lovely morning where we all felt we had had a really good work out either pulling up the ivy or carrying the logs and wheelbarrows up the hill. Either way we had all had a good gym session (geddit!!??) and were looking forward to putting our feet up when we got home!

Another busy session of digging, planting, mulching and fencing in Alexandra recreation ground today when GoodGym volunteers joined an energetic team to finish 44 metres of hedgerow, made up of 236 saplings. This was the last of a series of weekend efforts to finish an ambitious project initiated by the Friends of Cator Park and Alexandra, using grants and donations to add a green corridor of native species along an unused stretch beside the playing fields - benefitting wildlife, helping to protect our climate and improving a popular community space.

Best of all, we could see many of the young trees we planted earlier this year are already sprouting spring buds - looking happy in their new home!

6 Goodgymers met this Saturday morning to help with the final clear up from Lightopia - the Christmas light show that ended with the company going bust, leaving an almighty mess in the park!

We met Lisa from Crystal palace park trust at the bottom of the park and talked through the plan. 4 zones needed sweeping for metal spikes, pegs and the dreaded zip ties! Emma darted off towards the dinosaurs, I took the east side and the rest of the team started work on the middle. We all reconvened on the centre field where Sami led the way with his spike hunting skills, we must have cleared hundreds of the little sticks from that field alone. All in all we filled 4 bin bags, a job well done by all!

Our second session at Beckenham Green, with more firepower! Nick brought his friend Matthew from Woolwich - you were very welcome.

We started off clearing some leaves from a path with rakes, then used a spade to remove some mud that had accumulated underneath. It looks much nicer and more accessible now, and there were plenty of people walking through the Green today who I'm sure appreciated it.

Our second task of the morning was to help clear brambles and ivy from a patch of the Green. Brambles grow back fast, so we used forks to lift out the root of the plant too - Nick got a big catch! These were all thrown on a pile and before we finished up we cut them up to fit inside bin bags ready to be taken away.

Many hands make light work and the Friends thanked us for our efforts. There are exciting plans for the Green next year, so look out for more sessions in the near future.