Helping nature on a sunny Sunday morning 🌿☀️.

We love supporting the many fantastic groups making a difference right on our doorstep.

Today we were with the Friends of Lesnes Abbey helping with woodland conservation.

Marc met us and the other volunteers with a wheelbarrow of tools ready to go. We headed up to The Heath - and it definitely was up - taking turns to push the barrow through the woods, and collecting litter as we went.

Once at the top, and after Marc's safety briefing, we got to work pulling up bracken and cutting back the holly, being careful not to tread on any new shoots of heather.

Keeping the invasive intruders at bay will allow heather to gradually reclaim the area, restoring The Heath to it's former glory.

After an hour or so we said goodbye to the others (who carried on working) and headed homeward, stopping to pose in from of the glorious azaleas as we went.

Tomorrow is a bank holiday, and we're off to do something completely different, sorting donations for a local baby bank.

Variety is the spice of GoodGym!

This afternoon we were back at Sidcup station, helping prepare flower beds for planting in the run up to the Britain in Bloom judging in July 🌼.

A couple of weeks ago we cleared a large plot next to the ticket hall. Today we turned our trowels to two very overgrown brick planters on the pavement.

Luckily the soil was nice and soft so the weeds mostly came up easily - roots and all. However some were a bit more stubborn and it took some determined heaving to extract them! (No need for a session at the gym this evening 💪.)

In just an hour we were super happy with the transformation.

Thank you to Mick, Heather and Sheila for coming along to chat to us about GoodGym while doing your own litter pick, and Mick for staying to give us a hand 🫶.

We're likely to be taking on more tasks to help get Sidcup looking blooming good over the coming weeks, so watch this space!

In life things don’t always go to plan, and this morning was one of those occasions.

Our original task - gardening at All Saints Church in New Eltham - had to be called off when Neal the Church Warden sadly put his back out. Wishing you a speedy recovery, Neal!

But this is GoodGym, and there’s usually a Plan B, and it's usually litter picking...

We gathered at the church anyway and were delighted to welcome Hope to his very first GoodGym task. Great to have you with us!

With litter pickers and bin bags in hand, we crossed over the road to Southwood Park, and what a hidden gem it turned out to be.

We were pleasantly surprised by how little litter there was (a rare problem!), and we guessed a dedicated ‘friends of’ group must be keeping it looking so good.

Still, litter picking is never just about the rubbish. It’s about getting outside, stretching our legs, and having a good natter. This morning delivered all these - sunshine, fresh air, and great company made for a cracking stroll.

We stopped for a few photos by some murals, and while most people have to clock up 100 good deeds to earn their GoodGym wings, you'll see in the photos that Hope managed to get his on day one!

We’re hoping to rearrange the gardening session at All Saints soon, so keep your eyes peeled on our listings 👀.

This was our monthly visit to Parkview Care Home.

After meeting up with Andy we headed out to the garden area. There was lots of watering to be done as everything was very dry. We also needed to remove a build up of moss from the pathway.

Some of the residents came out to give us a helping hand! It was a great workout trying to scrub the moss off and satisfying to see the difference!

A big thank you to everyone who turned up! A great effort by all!