On a lovely late summer evening what could be better that an evening wandering around Blythe Hill and Perry Vale helping assess the local flora. Tonight's task was to help Street Trees for Living, a group that has been planting, checking and maintaining trees in Lewisham and generally making the borough look lovelier for a good while.

We were met by the amazing Eva, Leonie and David from the Street trees team and after a brief intro it was down to work. The task was simple: we had to assess trees planted in the last three years to check things such as leaf and trunk health, the state of the ground and that the trees' supports were still adequate, The hardest thing was dealing with how slow the local phone signal was for loading up our assessments. The task came with the bonus of the three Good Gymers getting to explore some pretty local streets that we otherwise wouldn't ever have come across.

And the second bonus reflected the generosity of our hosts: once we were done we were all treated to a drink and snacks in the nearby Blythe Hill Tavern, a well deserved result after a delightful evening.

Tonight's task was a welcome return to Florence Green to help at this lovely restored open space, We were met by Subo and a random passing volunteer and got down to work raking up leaves and grass and picking up sticks. What we lacked in tools we more than made up for in enthusiasm and soon the respective stick and leaf piles had grown to impressive heights. After a hour the place was looking significantly tidier and it was time to run off into the sunset.

Last night, 9 GoodGym Greenwichites got stuck into another productive evening of running and doing good.

A special welcome to Aidyn, who joined us for his very first good deed! Welcome Aidyn and we hope it’s the first of many! 🎉 And a huge congratulations to Aman on reaching an amazing 50 good deeds, as well as becoming our newest Taskforce member👏

Our tasks were a mix of indoor and outdoor jobs. In the community garden, we got busy weeding and watering, helping keep the space looking its best. Meanwhile, inside, we continued the slightly more dramatic task of taking down ceiling panels ready for gilding. And bring down the ceiling we did 😁

With everyone working efficiently, we got through it all in just 40 minutes, leaving enough time for a quick group photo before heading out for the run back to Charlton House.

Coming up: This weekend on Saturday we have gardening at Hervey Road and on Sunday we have clearance at windrush primary in Thamesmead.

Next Wednesday we're at the woodland walk by the memorial hospital.

Until next time, you wonderful human beings 👋

Rachel

An intrepid group of runners left Glass Mill a bit earlier than normal for our longest run of the year to Baring Road Allotments which are being converted from rubbish strewn abandoned ground into community allotments. We met Clare and Louise at the task.

We were issued with gloves and wheelbarrows which were skipped down to far end of the site, past sunflowers to collect rubbish, wood and bricks then trundled slowly back with the barrows to split into metals, wood and stone with the rest heading into the skip. We filled around a dozen barrows. It was a lovely task, in a beautiful location with plenty of wildlife (fox cub and loads of parakeets; Lindsay even had time to brush up her archery

Holy Trinity Lamorbey Church has lovely grounds that are enjoyed by parishioners and public alike.

Last summer we made a couple of visits and cleared most of a very overgrown flower border - pulling up a weed membrane and removing unwanted plants and brambles. The area has now been planted out by the parishioners and it looks really great 🌱.

This evening we were back to finish off the final patch that we'd run out of time to tackle last year.

Some of us met early for a lovely walk around nearby Lamorbey Park, getting some extra steps in while catching up, while others headed straight to the church.

It didn't take long for everyone to get stuck in. Working together, we collected litter, wrestled up the last stretch of stubborn weed membrane and cleared away the remaining weeds, finally bringing the project to a satisfying conclusion.

But we weren't quite finished. The church had also asked if we could pop across the road to their hall, where bushes had started poking through the railings and out onto the pavement. Fifteen minutes with shears and loppers and we soon had everything looking neat and tidy. Much better to have the pavement back to full width!

With the cuttings and weeds added to the church's compost heap and their tools packed away, our reward arrived in the form of refreshing ice lollies – definitely appreciated on a warm summer evening 🍦🍦🍦.

Just as we were about to head our separate ways, someone suggested a quick drink at the micro-pub opposite. It was an unexpected but very welcome way to round off another productive evening of doing good together.