Will Gobey


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Will Gobey
Will Gobey went on a group run

Mon 19th Aug 2019 at 6:45pm

How May(or) I help you?

Lewisham Report written by Emma Presley Abbott

What an action packed evening we had: special guests, a few tourists, extremely large tools AND the world's first competitive plankerpillar. Thanks as always to Oli for the superb punning, including the report title.

After months of cajoling, and in spite of Jacqueline's scare tactics about how far we were going to be running, we were very happy to welcome the Mayor of Lewisham Damien Egan to experience the delights of a group run with GoodGym this evening. A very warm welcome too to Laura who also joined us on her first ever group run this evening, it was great to have you! Not only that, but the one and only Adele tackled one of her longest walks yet to say hello to everyone and cheer us off to Hither Green - it was lovely to see you!

Rolling out the red (army) carpet

Not only that, but we had Matthew visit all the way from Liverpool, Morag and Stevie popped by from Wandsworth, and we welcomed Sarah from Camden.

After a brief warm up of clumping by numbers, we set off to Hither Green station, to crack on with the embankment clearing tasks that had been postponed from last week. With such a large group, we split into two teams on arrival. Team one comprised of our expert weed-bashers amongst the group, who tackled the brambles on one embankment under the tutelage of the Empress of Weed-Bashing no less (by which I mean Vic!).

Our second team took up shears and rakes to deal with the out-of-control meadow that we had previously planted on the other embankment (the weird weather having unfortunately foiled all our good work). Special mention has to go to Iitmari for wielding the largest gardening tool I've ever seen at a GoodGym task, and to Sophie for diligently ensuring everyone else's safety!

After some mayor-jor progress made by both teams, and a wonderfully big group shot under the station sign, we set off back to Glass Mill. Huge thanks to Darryl for his sterling job backmarking, and keeping such a big group together. Unfortunately we had run out of time for a themed time trial (for which I had a pun all planned out - "The Tortoise and the Mayor") so instead we squeezed in a quick world-first round of competitive plankerpillar!

Thanks again to our high-planking official for coming along!

Thanks to everyone for another fantastic Monday evening in Lewisham!

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Jacqueline FrancisAdele Prince

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Adele Prince

Mon 19th Aug 2019 at 10:43pm

ALL the wonderful puns there! Great work Emma, it’s challenging keeping track of a big group across two spaces! Excellent teamwork from everyone and a BIG welcome to new faces and visitors x

Will Gobey
Will Gobey went on a group run

Mon 20th May 2019 at 6:45pm

Perfect shade of Hither Green

Lewisham Report written by Adele Prince

On a warm evening in Lewisham, 22 runners covered a whopping 8km of running and helped paint ALL the fencing panels at Camelot Pre-School.

It was a delight this week to welcome along Clair and Stephen for their first ever GoodGym group run, Lewisham Love to you!

Thank you to Oli once again for this week's puns and congratulations on your one year anniversary of doing good!

We had another fantastic weekend of goodness, with lots of our runners over in Hackney for the half-marathon. Well done to everyone who got up at the crack of dawn (yes, really) to volunteer on baggage drop and water stations and great running from Vic and Bradley, who tackled the race (Vic smashing her run with a personal best time!). We also had volunteers at the Wildcat Wilderness, Manor Park and at Hilly Fields parkrun and junior parkrun (thank you Sarah for offering sign language support on Saturday).

COMMUNITY MISSION NEWS

  • This Saturday you can join our neighbours, GoodGym Bromley, as they take over the volunteering at South Norwood parkrun (easily reached on the Hayes line). There are some marshalling spots still going and plenty of opportunity for pacers (any pace welcome!). Check out the details here and don't forget to email the parkrun team!

  • We will be having our own junior parkrun takeover on Sunday June 9th. If you have never experienced the enthusiasm and energy of a group of 4-14 year-olds running around a park, then sign up now! There are lots of roles to be filled and it's the best way to start a Sunday morning (with a post-mission cafe stop).

At GoodGym Lewisham we like to give runners the chance to take the lead and learn new skills along the way. Last week, Emma completed her Run Leader training and is now part of the team, alongside Amber, Kim and Ian. To celebrate, Emma led tonight's warm-up, having us touching body parts (nowhere near as racy as it sounds!) and some good, strong dynamic stretches - thanks Emma! A big thank you once again to Kim, who ran up front, leading the way, Amber, who took care of the 'break-away' group and Clare, who kept us together at the back. WHAT A TEAM!

This week, we were working in collaboration with the Hither Green Festival, who connected us with tonight's task, a new one for us. It was a long run to Camelot Pre-School, 8km in total, so well done to everyone for pushing on through to get there promptly! We were helped in part by some unexpected motivational signs en route (we think we have Anne-Marie from the Hither Green Festival to thank for our awesome little bursts of cheer).

Night of Camelot

Arriving at the task, we were likened to Challenge Anneka. This absolutely delighted me, as I was a BIG fan, but I imagine many of our runners might not be so familiar with her jumpsuited ways. In the garden, Laura introduced the task, directing us towards delicious refreshments, brushes and paint (thank you for laying everything out ready!). Our challenge for the evening was to paint all of the fence panels a lush shade of green.

Two Oceans to brushing motions

The pre-school had recently been threatened with closure, but a group of parents came together to ensure that this didn't happen and taking on jobs like this is part of the process of keeping this amazing space running. Quite quickly the panels were getting greener and the time was ticking away. While he painted, Tom told me all about his recent adventures in South Africa, where he ran the Two Oceans Marathon (it's actually an ultr-marathon of 50+ kilometers!).

Panel beaters

As much as I would like to be able to, I can't really expand time, but I tried very hard, by making five minutes last a little longer. Adam just had a few pieces of wood left to cover, so I urged him on, finishing the very last bit of fence. Our run back from this area always feels ever so slightly easier, with a downward pull back to Glass Mill. Next week is Bank Holiday Monday, but that certainly doesn't stop play! We will have another new task, this time much closer, opposite Lewisham Hospital, helping in the garden at Glebe Court residential home - travel light, we don't have access to lockers, as the leisure centre closes early.

Have a great week!

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Jacqueline FrancisAdele Prince
Will Gobey
Will Gobey went on a group run

Mon 15th Apr 2019 at 6:45pm

You wall deserve a cheer

Lewisham Report written by Kim Parker

This week's group involved a variety of tasks over at Seniors and not put off by the slightly longer run (and slightly hillier run) than normal, the red t-shirts soon started arriving in the Glass Mill Foyer.

We had lots to celebrate this evening:

  • Nykolette's 200th Good Deed - she's a regular at group runs, always out and about doing missions and volunteering outside of GoodGym and visiting her lovely coach, she deserves lots of cheers!
  • Missions - we had lots of lovely runners out doing missions this weekend, Marta did 3 missions on Saturday - that's a lot of good deeding in one day!!
  • Brighton Marathon - two of our runners ran Brighton Marathon at the weekend (Monica and Ian) and both ran amazingly - what an achievement!

Warm up done, we headed over the hills to Seniors where Cathy was waiting for us with lots of tasks for us to get stuck into. Seniors is a wonderful space that provides lots of classes throughout the week (Choir, Yoga, Drama Groups and the list goes on) and various special events throughout the year. They have a wonderful garden space and this is the first time this year we've been able to venture out into the garden now it's light enough.

So... the tasks:

  • Team Wall Building - had the lovely task of putting the loose soil from the paths in the poly-tunnel back into the beds and then building a wall to keep the soil where it belongs!
  • Team Bunting - had the wonderful job of putting up bunting for an upcoming celebration event, it was expertly measured out using Emma's mathematics skills to ensure it covered the whole room!
  • Team Trophy Cleaning - in the beautiful conservatory we had trophy cleaning, the trophies were for darts, snooker and one we couldn't work out what it was for, it was quite a popular task and 2 soon became 4.
  • Team Conroy - Conroy got his own patch to weed, under the close supervision of Cathy when he got a bit carried away.
  • Team Wheelbarrowing Mulch - wheeling mulch from the front of the building round the the poly-tunnel were the wall building team then transferred it onto the beds.

With all the tasks going on, it was soon time to say our goodbyes and head back to Glass Mill, before the group photo there was just time for Cathy to show us some old pictures of Seniors back in the day which was wonderful! Group photo done and we headed back up the hill to Blythe Hill Fields to admire the view out to Canary Wharf and then we enjoyed the downhill back to the start point.

Amber then lead us through the stretches - thank you! And we had a quick chat about a potential social next week.

Don't forget, next week there won't be anywhere to store belongings as Glass Mill won't be open as it's a bank holiday.

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Jacqueline FrancisAdele Prince

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Adele Prince

Tue 16th Apr 2019 at 9:52am

Wow! So many jobs done and such variety!

Will Gobey
Will Gobey went on a group run

Mon 1st Apr 2019 at 6:45pm

Aggregating on with it

Lewisham Report written by Adele Prince

On a lighter evening (hoorah!) 20 runners covered 5km and helped shift a whole load of gravel at Beecroft Garden Primary School.

Yes! The clocks went forward, life is good. We had a busy weekend again, with runners off visiting older people, either for a chat, or to help out with a task in their home. If you want to find out more about this, have a look here. At one mission, runner Samuel very quietly completed his 50th good deed! Samuel doesn't generally come along on a Monday, so most of these have been helping older people. Well done Samuel! Why not see what he and Nykolette got up to and also give him a cheer?!

This week we welcomed Sarah along for her first run with GoodGym Lewisham (she has been part of GoodGym Camden for a few years, but now lives closer to us), how exciting! Lewisham Love to you!

We have been visiting the Sensory Garden at Beecroft Garden Primary School for a few months now and have really seen it grow and develop from an ugly wall, piled high and overgrown, to a series of easily accessible, wide steps, an indoor calm space and an area for new planting. This week we were visiting to take the project another leap forward by lifting, shifting and spreading a massive amount of gravel.

Big thanks to Kim for running up front again this week with Amber (and for leading the stretches at the end, superbly done) and to Jacqueline, Itmari and Chloe for back-marking and keeping everyone together, what a team!

It was such a joy being out in the daylight, the sky orange, with little fluffy clouds. On arrival at the school, Jules and Gemma very quickly showed us the work that has happened since our last visit - wow! The steps, fence and some trellises are now painted a lovely plummy shade and everything looks so much more solid! Gathering wheelbarrows and shovels (or spades?), we made our way round to the skip area, where there were a number of massive sacks of aggregate and gravel.

One group got busy shovelling this into buckets and trugs, while another group wheeled these back around to the garden, where others tipped it all out onto the steps. As this went on, a smaller team continued painting, chatting as they worked, about races such as 'Race the Horse' and 'Race the Train' (yes, such races exist!). Around at the gravel mound, talk had turned to pies and whether there is a time of year for pie (I think it's perfectly fine to eat pie all-year-round). Being in a Sensory Garden, there are some magical touches but, at one point, I thought I could see two little elves at work in the corner. As I got closer, I could see it was Itmari and Will, working carefully to sand the rough edges of a hand-made xylophone (beautifully crafted by Gemma, using old zimmer-frames!). Just as we approached 8pm, the light had fallen slightly, but was still just bright enough to take a group photo, making use of the part-filled steps. We will be back!

As is often the case on a trip to Crofton Park, we are drawn to the slopes of Hilly Fields, with a few repeats pushing us up and pulling us down. With one last push to the top, we admired the view over towards Canary Wharf before easing down the hill back to our start point. Kim took us through our stretching paces this week - thank you - and we looked forward to next Monday, when we will be off over to Ewart Road Clubhouse, our first trip there in about a year! Expect a nice outdoor task and a run of about 7km in total.

See you soon!

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Jacqueline FrancisAdele Prince
Will Gobey
Will Gobey went on a group run

Mon 25th Mar 2019 at 6:45pm

GoodGym x Earth Hour - Wildflower thing, you make my heart sing!

Lewisham Report written by Adele Prince

As March draws to a close, 27 runners took on a 5k round-trip to help at Hither Green Station embankment.

A big welcome this evening to Lucy and Sean joining us for their first ever GoodGym group run, Lewisham Love to you! It was also lovely to see some familiar faces returning after a little break, it's always good to welcome people back (with open arms).

If you have been part of this GoodGym magic for a while, you probably know all about coach running, missions and community missions, but if you're new, or need a reminder, have a look here to see how you can get involved in some extra-curricular activity. Three of our runners did exactly that on Saturday morning, by working on a very special task at Torridon Primary School. At the school there is a lovely garden, featuring a pond. This pond is home to frogs, toads and some rather gorgeous newts and was in need of a really good clean. Well done to Clare, Darryl and Stephen, who worked hard, but with great care, to restore some freshness to this habitat. Read all about it and check out the photos here.

As if all this wasn't enough for one weekend, Clare then went on to race in the London Landmarks Half-Marathon, as did Nadine and Anita - well done racers, show us your medals (Clare did and it was epic!).

This week's task was taking us back to Hither Green, this time to work on the other side of the tracks. Here the local community are working hard to establish a wildflower meadow and it was our job to rake the area and to sow the many thousands of seeds that will make this happen. A big thank you this week to Kim, for leading at the front of the run out, Conroy for leading the return leg and to Marta for back-marking and joining in the party at the back.

On arriving at the task, Anne-Marie very quickly gave us our special railway-safe hi-vis vests and a rake or fork, then pointed everyone in the direction of the 800sqm of ground to be raked. That sounds like a lot...because it is! We're not put off by such challenges though, so set off in a methodical line, working with focus (and a bit of chat, well, a lot of chat). As always, I was buzzing around taking photos and making sure everyone was working safely and happily, but I wasn't paying full attention to where I was and wasn't supposed to walk. No worries though, because I was soon TOLD!

Once an area had been raked, it was time to scatter the mix of sand and wildflower seed, making sure each section was covered. This pattern of activity went on until we reached the top of the bank and it was time to tramp our way back down, pressing the seeds into the surface. Depending on how vigorously you tramped, this could be quite an effective fitness session! Gathering our rakes, we continued the tramp all the way round to Springbank Road Community Garden, so the kind people who had lent tools to us could pick them back up.

If you enjoyed exploring Hither Green and want to come back soon, we have the opportunity to join in a river clean up on Saturday, sign up here.

At this point I should maybe have mentioned that we would be giving the Monthly(ish) Time Trial a go on our return to Glass Mill. There were some who pushed super hard coming into Cornmill Gardens and might have saved a little something if they'd known! Our time trial is basically four laps of the area outside our start point, which is just under a kilometer (though it's perfectly fine to go for one, two or three laps if you prefer). There was some very committed running going on, with that competitive spirit showing through at times. If you want to check out the Strava segment and see where you are on the leaderboard, have a look here.

Next week we will be off to Crofton Park, to help shift a ton of gravel at Beecroft Garden Primary School - come along! In the meantime, we have a community mission to help at GRACE's charity shop 50p sale on Saturday - sign up here.

See you soon!

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Jacqueline FrancisAdele Prince
Will Gobey
Will Gobey completed 15 good deeds with GoodGym. 😎

Monday 18th March 2019

Finding your feet

Finding your feet

Will Gobey completed 15 good deeds with GoodGym.

Will has completed their 15th good deed with GoodGym

Jacqueline Francis
Will Gobey
Will Gobey went on a group run

Mon 18th Mar 2019 at 6:45pm

Making a rail difference

Lewisham Report written by Adele Prince

As the evenings get a tiny bit lighter, 18 runners took to the streets to cover 5km of running and help clear the space at Hither Green Station embankment.

I, for one, was glad to see Oli this evening, with his top quality punning skills, just look at that lovely title pun!

It's been a really great weekend for missions! We had Emma and Monica helping an older person in her garden, we had Samuel and David picking up a gardening task that had been postponed because of the wind and we had Sarah, Louise and Tim out on Blythe Hill Fields, helping to plant trees with the Friends group - excellent community involvement!

GoodGym shearing squad

At parkrun we had Sarah giving sign language support to my pre-run briefing for the first time. It was great to be able to make everyone feel welcome at Hilly Fields and, if anyone else is able to offer this support, do let me know! To round off a weekend of great teamwork, some of our runners were at Crystal Place junior parkrun, helping our neighbours at GoodGym Bromley to make the run happen through volunteering - well done to Sarah, Livi and Darryl for turning up to high-five and encourage our junior runners.

Tonight's task was taking us on a 5km round-trip to Hither Green station, where we were due to work on clearing the brambles and levelling the steps. We can't head off on a run though without a good warm-up! A very big thank you to Kim this evening, for leading us in some fun and games to get our hearts racing and our muscles warm. Thank you also to Marta and Chloe for back-marking and to Conroy for leading up front on the way back - what a team!

Bush to the limit

We were met outside the station by Anne-Marie and Carol, who quickly got us all kitted out in some dashing orange bibs and told us about the various jobs. Splitting into smaller groups, we had teams working on:

  • shearing the brambles away from the pavement edge
  • tackling the brambles inside the embankment area and getting on top of the overgrown shrubbery
  • planting some little saplings, using a nifty technique with the trowel
  • making the steps down to the embankment safer (they were more of a slide than a step when we arrived), using some wood, soil and top construction skills

Step brothers and sisters

As we worked, we heard that there are hedgehogs here (I'm sure I heard some rustling) and also foxes, so this area is a haven for wildlife, right next to a busy railway line. As always, the time slipped away and we all gathered at the bottom of the steps to admire the work being done. Juliet had a very professional looking way with a trowel and got that last step looking good and strong. This will make a big difference, as people are often carrying tools as they make their way down here.

Before we ran off, Anne-Marie gave us some chocolates to share - yum and thanks! We will be returning next Monday, to work on the other side of the tracks, raking the ground then sowing seed (how lovely is that?!). If you enjoy hanging out in HG and also fancy pulling on some waders, we have the opportunity to join in a community river clean-up on Saturday March 30th (waders!), sign up here to get involved.

See you soon lovely people and stay good! x

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Jacqueline FrancisAdele Prince
Will Gobey
Will Gobey went on a group run

Mon 4th Mar 2019 at 6:45pm

Stick in the Mud

Lewisham Report written by Adele Prince

As Storm Freya whipped around us, 20 runners covered 7km of running and bashed, flattened and sorted their way around Wildcat Wilderness.

Thank you this week to our task owner, Maria, for our lovely title pun! She was full of them and I have used the others throughout the report.

All the news

  • Next time you see Emma, why not give her a very big and hearty hi-five? A few people had signed up to yesterday's community mission, but only Emma was woman enough to turn out in the rain to help! There was some really great work done during the session, with Emma single-handedly digging a trench (hence the rather lovely pun in the title of the run report). Great work!

  • It's the Big Half on Sunday, hasn't that come round quickly?! I hope you've all been getting in those training runs and are now enjoying taper week...If you are running, good luck, run strong and, most of all, enjoy the support around the course! If you're volunteering or spectating, project those voices! The runners need your encouragement!

  • You should have had an email about the GoodGym Shindig, our annual get-together, for chats, runs and socialising. This year it's in Ironbridge, over the weekend of July 20th and the deadline to register is March 21st - it would be great to have lots of Lewisham runners there!

  • Don't forget, the GoodGym Olympic Games are on August 3rd, why not sign up for an afternoon of fun, friendly competition and a tasty bake-off?

Tonight's task was taking us to Catford, for our first group run of 2019 to our good friends at the Wildcat Wilderness. This is a very special place, in the heart of Catford, where you can switch off from the hustle and bustle of city life and enjoy being in the great outdoors. There are many other opportunities to volunteer, with regular sessions, which you can find out about here.

Thank you to Caireen for back-marking tonight (and also to Amber, who took the lead on the way back). Running amongst the buildings, we were doing OK but, as soon as we hit Ladywell Fields, the wind was against us and we certainly had to dig deep!

Get the hole job done!

We were met at the task by Maria, who quickly ushered us along the path (it was quite a magical sight, all those head-torches sparkling along the way). Tonight, we were all going to work in the garden space (good to keep everyone together on such a dark night, we wouldn't want to leave anyone behind!). Once the gardening gloves were on and the lights were positioned, we had a number of jobs happening across the space:

  • Some weed-bashing (slightly more cautious in the darkness, thankfully!)
  • Clearing the discarded and rusted metal from the edge of the area
  • Loading the wheelbarrows with this waste and transporting it to the entrance gate
  • Pruning back some shrubs/trees
  • Liberating a massive root and its accompanying tendrils
  • Working really, really hard to pull out a rusty old stick/pipe/thing that was well and truly embedded in the ground

Pole Position

Around at Team Tug (trying to pull up the rusted pipe), it was like an episode of QI. 'Adele, do you know what happens to a worm when you cut it in half?' 'It dies' (sorry kids). A little Google search gave me the correct answer (warning, contains worms).

By hook and by crook (thanks Tom!)

As time was ticking by and we were all getting a little cold, we gathered up our tools, put back the gloves and made our way to the gate, like a giant train of glow-worms. It was a job well done and will make things a little easier during the next volunteer session, with some more space being cleared for the next big project!

Next week we will be running the slightly shorter distance to our friends at GRACE, where we will do some more painting and help set up the new shop, sign up here.

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Jacqueline FrancisAdele Prince
Will Gobey
Will Gobey went on a group run

Mon 18th Feb 2019 at 6:45pm

It'll be all wipe on the night

Lewisham Report written by Adele Prince

On a grey old evening in Lewisham twenty runners brightened up the streets with their smiles, whilst covering 7km to help at Seniors

A big welcome this week to Adam, who joined us for his first ever GoodGym run and to Dharmesh, who was visiting from all the way over in Redbridge. All our Lewisham Love to you! Thank you and a massive round of applause to Kim and Amber, who took the lead up front again this week for the up and over that takes us to Seniors via Blythe Hill.

Thank you to Tom for this week's title pun - good work - and to Oli for some other beauties throughout this report.

  • News this week was all about coach running and missions. Well done to all of our runners who take time out each week to have a chat with an older person. This makes a very big difference in both people's lives, with new friendships forming all the time (if you want to know more about how coach running works, have a look here). There have been some really amazing missions going on locally in the past week, take a look at this lovely run report from Elizabeth and Nykolette to see what it's all about. If you are already registered for missions, make sure you read the recent email about how they are changing and also check your settings to make sure you're ready for the call-up!

  • Last week we mentioned the Big Half water station, there are still places, so sign up here to put a smile on the faces of the runners on March 10th! If you're running, how is your training going? Last year we had a few group long(er) runs happening at the weekend, anyone fancy sharing a session/route/motivation?

After a very wild game of British Bulldog that seemed to involve rugby tackling, we took to the streets of Ladywell and skirted alongside the River Ravensbourne in Ladywell Fields to head to Seniors. We saw some impressive hill sprinting before a nice downward pull to our task.

Good clean fun

We were met here by Cathy, who quickly showed us through to the cafe for tonight's job: cleaning the tables, chairs, windows and anything else that might need a good wipe down. Gloves were on, cloths in hand and the air was filled with the heady aroma of antibacterial spray. With twenty people getting stuck in at pace, the cafe was soon sparkling and our helpers were on the move, trying to find something else to clean. Before long the massive sack of toys in the corner was tipped up and a frenzied ten minutes were spent giving the cars, balls, Duplo blocks and rattles a thorough scrub.

So clean you could have Senior face in it!

Stepping back, we could appreciate just how long this job might have taken the people who work in this space each day, so hopefully this will free them up to make and share delicious food to the many families and visitors who come along to the cafe in the week.

Putting the park in sparkle

There's no way we can get back to Glass Mill from here without another hill, so one last push before we could cruise back to Lewisham centre. As we stretched, we looked forward to next week's task, which will be a shorter run to Crofton Park, where we will be working on the Sensory Garden again at Beecroft Garden Primary School - wrap up warm and expect a little mud! Have a great week, stay good and see you next week for more of the same loveliness.

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Jacqueline FrancisBradley Smith
Adele Prince

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Redbridge runner

Tue 19th Feb 2019 at 7:22am

Thank you all for making my time in Lewisham so welcoming!

Will Gobey
Will Gobey went on a group run

Mon 11th Feb 2019 at 6:45pm

GoodGym (G)race Team

Lewisham Report written by Adele Prince

On a dark Monday evening, 22 runners lit up the streets of Lewisham, covering 5km of running and helping to paint the new shop space at GRACE.

On National Pun Day, our resident Pun King, Oli, has excelled himself! Check out that marvellous title pun and some beauties throughout this report.

It was an evening of welcomes, with visitors joining us from all corners of London! All our Lewisham Love this week goes to, Stuart, visiting from Bromley, Nicola representing Croydon, Lucy, over from Southwark and Aidan bringing his North London goodness all the way from GoodGym Islington.

News this week includes Personal Bests and a milestone:

  • Great work from both Itmari and Maria at Hilly Fields parkrun, bagging themselves a PB (I think Itmari was also going sub-30 for the first time, by quite a way!).
  • Incredibly strong running from our Tom at the Two Rivers Marathon over in The Netherlands.
  • 50 good deeds totally smashed by Florence, well done Florence!

After some really great work was put in last week by some of our group over at GRACE, we were heading over as a whole, to continue setting up shop. GRACE work all-year-round to provide warm clothing to refugees arriving in various parts of the world and their space in Lee is central to all of this. In the time we have been visiting they have grown and grown, with rooms being shared with other organisations, creating a real community hub. Now they have acquired the space next door and it was our job to help them set up their shop there.

A very big thank you to Kim and Amber, who led the way on the run, as I wheezed and huffed my post-flu body to the task. Keeping us together as a group as back marker this week was Itmari - thank you!

Rags of fun!

Arriving at the task a little early, we were shown into the original space to keep warm, with a small group very quickly getting on with some 'ragging' - this is filling massive bags with clothing that is too warn/dirty/damaged to be distributed or sold in the shop. These bags will then be bought and recycled, thus bringing in more money to the charity - great work!

(F)rock and Rollers

As soon as Claire rolled up with the paint, brushes and rollers, it was all systems go, heading around the front and into the HUGE new space - wow! It really is quite special and you can see so much potential already! You will see from the photos that the walls leading upstairs have been decorated with very colourful 'creatures' and it was our job to start painting over these (we're not sure who put these here, maybe the Lib Dems, who used the space previously?!). As those who had brushes and rollers got stuck in, a smaller group got busy with the soapy water and cloths, giving everything that needed cleaning a good old wipe down (as the task went on, this extended into following painty shoes around and wiping up trainer prints off the floor, oops!).

Love it or (c)lothe it

Painting tasks, more than any others, seem to go very quickly! Dragging people away from walls, gathering together equipment, wiping up the last drips, we made our way downstairs to hear a little from Claire about plans for the space. This main area will be the new, much bigger (and super-stylish!) shop. The area towards the back will be used a few days a week by a local veg box service and the upstairs spaces will be used in time by other groups as well as GRACE themselves. We also heard that a member of the Conservatoire is sharing their time by offering music sessions to junior members of the space - isn't that rather brilliant? The current space will now be the warehouse, where all donations will be sorted and boxed up (volunteers always welcome!). We look forward to coming back again soon, to give those walls another coat of paint!

On our return we heard how Louise, Sarah and Arran (who didn't quite make it!) had already run a very long way to join us, with Louise taking the crown for the longest distance, of 20km! Great work all of you! This is all training towards the Big Half on March 10th which, if you're not running, you can still participate in...

...by being part of the GoodGym Drinks Station Team! Emma was telling us how exciting this is, with a lovely New Balance jacket coming your way and, if we cover a whole station, a donation to GoodGym! SIGN UP! If you're wanting to train longer as a group, Lucy is leading a super Sunday session, finishing in Forest Hill for post-run lunch (and rehydration?). Sign up here.

Meanwhile, see you next Monday, for more loveliness when we run over to Seniors :)

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Jacqueline FrancisAdele Prince

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