This afternoon we headed to help Christian Care Merton to tackle an overgrown garden area. After hacking away a dense tangle of stubborn brambles, we set to work with spades and forks, digging to unearth buried brick, cement, and rocks in an attempt to clear the debris and begin flattening the space to prepare it for the next stage of transformation.

It was proper hard graft, and this project is definitely going to need a return visit or two - along with plenty more muscle! A huge well done and thank you to the hardy volunteers who answered the last-minute call-out. We will be back soon with hopefully a few more helpers.

Tonight’s challenge called for seamless coordination, serious pedal power, and plenty of footwork.

The action kicked off with bulbs being delivered by bike to three strategic rendezvous points across the borough, packaged and ready for distribution.

As darkness fell and the evening drizzle set in, the hardy volunteers split into smaller teams. Armed with map pins/addresses, and bags loaded with brown paper packages, we set off on foot to make the drops.

This mammoth logistical feat may only happen once a year, but it’s always a firm favourite for clocking up extra steps while covering plenty of ground. Despite the murky weather, spirits stayed high, every delivery was completed along with a bunch of good deeds.

Well done, team - Merton is going to look fantastic come spring!

For Monday's group session, we were deployed across Merton's Community Fridge and Morden Baptist Church for a multi-front mission!

Working with strict tactical coordination (especially in the limited storage space), our three squads executed:

📦 Operation Storage: A military-precision evacuation of the shelves. The space was cleared, swept and scrubbed in controlled phases before items were strategically redeployed back into formation; a masterclass in spatial logistics.

💄Donation Sorting: Interception of a massive influx of makeup, systematically categorising items including lipstick and nail polish and boxing them up ready for the Christmas distribution period.

🧽 Kitchen Recon: Cleared drawers and shelves, scrubbing every surface to leave things fresh and inspection-ready ahead of an upcoming wedding.

Mission accomplished - a swift, highly organised operation that left the space deeply grateful. Well done team and welcome to Camila, Sarah, Usaama, Su and Robert on your first GoodGym session. We hope to see you again soon.

Under the glow of the setting sun, the GoodGym Merton team headed to Ridgway Community Garden to tackle a massive delivery of mulch. Two months ago we were tasked with the same, but this was a very different challenge!

With darkness descending fast, the team switched on their headtorches and got straight to business. We cleared away stubborn weeds, laid down a protective layer of cardboard, and spread as much woodchip as possible.

Along the way, we even paused for a quick photo and a chat with local MP Paul Kohler, before diving back into the task - adding tree replanting and conker gathering to our to-do list!

A huge, warm welcome to Joe and Ben for joining their very first session, and to Harry on completing his first-ever group run and task with us! What an absolute powerhouse of a team. In just one hour, we achieved the equivalent of two full-time gardeners working an entire day. Bet they couldn't do it in the dark 😉!

For our very first visit to Tooting & Mitcham Community Club, the team arrived armed with scrapers - only to immediately find ourselves in a bit of a sticky situation!

The wall we were tasked with was covered from top to bottom in stubborn adhesive pads. We certainly weren't going to let things get 'board', but it turned out to be a real test of endurance as we worked our magic furiously, making sure no pad was left behind.

It was a full-body workout, flexing muscles we didn't even know existed, just to force those relentless little squares to come off.

Massive well done to the team – it was a huge challenge, but we well and truly smashed it!