12 GoodGymers take multiple lifts and elevators on a Wednesday night!

The Greenwood Centre in Kentish Town looks like it should make sense.

It's not especially large and it doesn't appear to be meandering.

Someone might look up and remark: That's a nice glass cube! Bet you can't get lost in there!

How wrong they would be!

There are gardens on the roof and out the back and off a random room on level one — you can't turn a corner without finding a garden!

And while I was busy getting bemused and confused, this special group were busy making a wonderful difference ❤️

Last night we welcomed Abigail on their first good deed (welcome!) and Caterina on their first trip to Camden GG (welcome!), as well as fabulous regular faces 👉 Ariane, Danny, Gary, Jackie, John, Kareem, Karen, Steve, and Thierry (great to see you all!)

Together they:

💚 Pulled weeds from seemingly every gutter bordering every garden on every floor!

💚 Shifted heavy bags of soil and sand and gravel and mulch 👉 upstairs to downstairs and downstairs to upstairs!

💚 And multiple other small tasks that make a big difference!

Thank you, everyone!

8 GoodGymers dug a pond, planted wildflowers, and made a REAL DIFFERENCE in Highgate!

Tucked and nestled away — behind houses and flats — is a special green space that's being re-purposed by the community in North London!

The Makepeace Community Garden on the Holly Lodge Estate is fast becoming a nature-bound oasis, and our wonderful group of GoodGymers are making a steady and regular difference :)

This lovely lot — Cecilia, Charlie, DaMarcus, Emily, Harvey (celebrating good deed 1001! CONGRATULATIONS!), Leora, and Luna (on their first good deed — welcome!) — caught a good-deeding wind yesterday morning!

Together they:

❤️ Dug, lined, and filled a delightful new pond!

❤️ Cut away an old weed membrane and planted oodles of wildflower seeds!

❤️ Positioned and installed hedgehog highways!

❤️ Mowed the lawn!

❤️ Planted fresh flowers and plants!

Thank you, everyone! Here's to next time!

P.S. Thank you to Cecilia and Emily for the many wonderful photos ❤️

When I got back with Mr T's shopping this afternoon, he was deep in conversation at the door with his local councillor who was leafletting and canvassing in advance of the local elections.

Of course this then prompted a lengthy conversation with Mr T on the topic of both local and national politics (isn't that a topic best avoided in polite company...?). Somehow this then lead onto criminal justice, and a few other items in between, before we finally headed onto more familiar turf (literally...he'd had a good week), and the ongoing story of the curtains for which IKEA appears to be the winner...more next week I'm sure.

9 GoodGymers caught early spring vibes in Central London!

On Wednesday evening — at approximately half past six — a special group of altruistic folk could be seen congregating on Tottenham Court Road.

Some wore red t-shirts. Others were jumping off bikes. And everyone was ready for a little good-deeding!

This lovely lot — Al (on their first good deed – welcome!), Alex, Imogen, Philippa, Sarah, Steve, Theo, and Thierry — turned up to get everything ready for the American International Church's winter shelter ☺️

Together we:

💪 Lugged umpteen camping beds into pristine position!

🪶 Discovered the quickest way to pull a duvet cover onto a duvet!

🍽️ Turned an empty room into a dining room!

✨ Left the space ready and welcoming for the evening's guests!

Thank you, everyone!

Nice to see Ms F again after a few weeks away. Had an extended chat about all sorts. I’m about to start a new job so we lit a candle to celebrate that. I’m a well oiled machine at Waitrose now and know her preferred substitutes. Was asked to get a box of 80 tea bags but the 160 was on a significant discount so only 50p more. Always a nice part of town to go to and walk around and also popped into some new rooms at the British Museum.

When I walked through Ms D's kitchen to the back garden, at first I couldn't see what today's ivy removing challenge was, as her patio area seemed quite clear...she then pointed to a very high wall at the end of her garden (accessible through a small "mind your head" shed), at which point my eyes widened..."I'm not that tall" I said.

At the end of her garden is a tall building, and the ivy had grown all the way to the top and encroached onto a small open area at the top, preventing (apparently...Ms D was somewhat sceptical) a door being opened, hence the request for the ivy to be removed.

Unfortunately to do that job required a decent length ladder, which wasn't something that Ms D had in her tiny shed (or elsewhere), so we did what we could from ground level using a step ladder, secateurs and a very useful pair of elbow length gauntlets to protect against the rosebush that was growing amongst the ivy - there was something quite satisfying about pulling at a strand and watching quite a few leaves fall down, but in reality we weren't going to solve the problem today with the tools that we had.

I agreed with Ms D that if she could get access to the building next door, it would be easier to attack everything from the top and let gravity do it's thing...