Weeding ponds, paths and hedgerows was the name of the game for our Tuesday evening session, when eight GoodGymers headed to Edith Gardens, in Berrylands.

One of 12 designated nature reserves in the borough, this special site is used by people to access nature who might not otherwise be able to - such as disabled people and people suffering from mental health problems. So it’s important that it’s kept in good condition for their use.

Luke bravely volunteered to lean and ‘rake’ the pond to remove the algae on its surface, Tom and Sabir worked hard clearing brambles from the hedgerow GoodGymers planted a few years ago, Jana enjoyed slashing the nettles on either side of the wheelchair accessible path, while Dave, Julie, Rachel and Emma weeded the path to make it ready for flattening next week.

It was a slightly longer run from the Quaker Centre to this task - 3.5km - but great to get back to this site and hopefully we’ll return again this summer to lend a hand to the volunteers that manage this space so brilliantly day-to-day.

Always a pleasure to help the lovely Marilyn @ Canbury Community Gardens...

Today's tasks were to chop up weeds & green waste for the compost pile and make the garden path more accessible. Saber and Dave set to work chopping and clearing and soon got the job done, with a little help from our feathered friends!

GoodGym Kingston smashed out another session at the amazing Growbaby this evening. After we had all run, walked or cycled there, we were greeted with a long list of tasks to tick off so we got straight to it.

Tom, Sabir and Dave were upstairs sorting out the bookshelves, toy boxes and board game cupboard, Claire, Mel, Skyla and Chloe were tasked with sorting out the huge amount of donations that were dropped off by DLAG at the weekend - nappies, wipes and babyfood to give out to the local families in need. Jana amassed a load of clothing to hang out on the rail for the families to browse when the charity was open the following day. Rachel kept us all in check and made sure the jobs were done well and within the time!

A big welcome to Skyla and Chloe on their first good deed! Lovely to have you along and hope to see you soon.

Great to support Keep Britain Tidy’s Great British Spring Clean today with a litter pick in Canbury Gardens. The sun unexpectedly shone down on six GoodGymers, as we met at the bandstand and armed ourselves with gloves, bin bags (held open in nifty hoops!) and pickers! We were pleased to see the park and tow path along the Thames, remarkably clear of litter - well done park visitors - but were still able to make a difference filling three bin bags with plastic bottles, polystyrene, paint pots and wrappers. Emily, Melissa, Sabir, Gemma, Rachel and Emma can now reward themselves with an Easter egg or two for a job well done!

It really was wet wet wet for this evening's task but a little rain won't stop our intrepid GoodGymers from getting out and doing good! Tonight we were at the Searchlight Centre, a funtion space used by many local charities and organisations. The task was to make a good start on painting one of the function rooms in the building.

After a run / walk / ride in the rain to get to the task, 7 of us set to the task in hand. First things first we needed to prep the walls, cover the floor and move all furniture to the middle of the room. Once ready, we set to work painting, changing the colour from a tired magnolia to a fresh and functional white.

Many hands meant we made a good start on the room - still a bit to do but more volunteers getting involved over the weekend to finish up. Mission complete.

Tuesday's group run got us up the hill to Surbiton Library where we met the walkers and the cyclists. A great turn out which was much appreciated as we had some heavy work to do. The ivy in the planters had got 2/3 foot deep and the poor plants were trying hard as they could but were struggling to get through the mass of roots and stems. It was our job to get rid of as much ivy as possible and free the plants.

With great gusto we grabbed loppers, secateurs and mattox and got to work. It took great effort to give the planters a haircut but we really got into it with our head torches in the dark. Once we shorn the first planter within an inch of its life we split into two teams with the first team continuing to get out as much of the root mass as possible and the second to start the process again with the other planter. So many hands did indeed make light work and we started the tidy up process well within the hour. Three massive sacks of green waste was produced from the two planters and 11 very delighted GoodGym volunteers!

We are looking forward to the next session where we empty out more of the planters so we can refill with good soil and then the planting can be done. Join us for the next session at Surbiton Library

GoodGym Kingston were off to local charity Growbaby this evening, a regular destination for our Tuesday evening run. As per usual we had a whole host of tasks awaiting us...

A crew of flat-pack builders set to work constructing 4 new STOOLS. This was a lot more involved than any of us had expected but fortunately Farzeen brought the right TOOLS for the job!

Meanwhile, donations needed to be sorted with food items being checked for best before dates and nappies sorted into sizes and stacked

Luke made sure that Growbaby were abiding by the RULES, ensuring that the fire exit was free and clear of obstructions.

Finally, Jana set about preparing a clothes rail for seasonal baby clothes... lots of blankets, sleep-bags, wellies, rain coats and CAGOULES... just the job for these rainy days.

Lots done and an enormous sense of well-being at the end. 5k in the bag for good measure too! Mission complete.

We had another great evening helping out at Full Cycle, an independent, non-profit community bike project. We had the great honour of celebrating Emily's 100th good deed and we thanked her for her amazingness. Well done, Emily!

Eight GoodGymers got stuck in to the tasks Callum had lined up for us. Emma rolled up punctured inner tubes for recycling, Tom, Sabir and Rachel made rags to clean the bikes, and over the course of evening, together with Jade, Emily, Jo and Dave, we all helped to clean nine children’s bikes ready for resale or donating to children in need in the community. This might sound a quick and easy task but as anyone with a well-used bike will know, mud and grit can get in every nook and cranny! By using the three bike repair stands we were able to hang up each bike making all the nooks and crannies easier to reach! Hopefully we did a thorough job and can be invited back to help out again!

We all went in different directions from Full Cycle, walking, cycling and running, with a cool down at the Quaker Centre for those of us who wanted to head in that direction. Lovely to see Jo again - who now splits her time between Goodgym Bristol and GoodGym Kingston! 👏

As a group we get head over wheels running - or pedalling - over to Full Cycle, an independent, not for profit group, to help them get ahead on a few time consuming tasks.

This week the many hands of nine GoodGymers made light work checking and labelling dozens of inner tubes. Jas, Tom and Sabir focused on removing the inner tubes from a pile of tyres while Luke, Rachel, Claire, Julie, Dave and Emma pumped and deflated dozens of inner tubes waiting for our attention, sorting out the good from bad. It may not sound like a significant job but with the air tight ones all rolled up, labelled and stored in different crates for the different sizes, the maintenance team will now be able to easily reach for the right inner tube to fit in a bike they can sell second hand or give to someone in need in Kingston. And don’t worry about the punctured inner tubes - they all get recycled.

A run back along Kingston Road saw us back at the Quaker Centre, where our cool down gave us an opportunity to check who’ll be attending the range of other great tasks lined up for this week.

A sunny day for our five GoodGymers who completed their first 2024 Canbury Community Garden mission and we SMASHED* it 🔨 With some considerable brute force we broke apart the old rusty barbecue and loaded it ready for a trip to the local recycling centre. Next we shoveled-up wheelbarrows of compost and of fallen tree leaves clearing the entrance gate, and we raked the ground around the large plastic drums where water is stored. Before leaving, we made plans for our February task and Marilyn lured the chicken back into their pen with fresh corn 🌽