Westcombe woodlands is a genuine hidden gem. Tucked behind Maze hill station, this former nursing home shows just what happens when sensible natural management and the power of nature can achieve in an urban space.

The woodland is an old Good Gym favourite and on a glorious Sunday morning, with the sun shining and unseasonably warm temperatures, a keen team of 5 runners made their way from other good deeds to join the local volunteers at their monthly session. Tasks at the woodland tend to fall into two categories: a relatively tough session removing brambles and other overgrowth to allow other plants to flourish; and sessions involving lugging all and sundry up a steep slope that put the gym in Good Gym. Dear reader, from the title of this report you'll realise that today's task was very much the latter.

The material to be lugged was twofold: three of the team set to work collecting mulch and woodchip to replenish the paths and the other two found themselves staring at a large and (very) heavy bag of aggregate, that was there to help ballast a new staircase that the amazing volunteers had carved out to open access to a previously inaccessible area of the woods. And we rose to the challenge, the chippers not being satisfied with just one bucket at at time carried huge quantities up the hill and those carrying the aggregate got enough stone up the hill to complete almost a whole flight of steps.

It was hard work, but reward soon came in the form of cup and tea, biscuits and the satisfaction of another job well done.

A fine October morning met us as we gathered for our monthly tasks at the Maryon Wilson Community Garden. Special welcome to Mason and Kenny for their first group sessions with GGG - great to have you join us and hope we'll see you again soon!

Tim and Edna met us, prepared as ever with a great range of jobs in the garden, including sieving compost to spread on the new daffodil bulbs to be planted, and painting the fences.

Jobs were divvied up and an hour later we'd completed a good deal enough to feel like we deserved some of the spread they put on for us to replenish our energy stores ready for the rest of the day.

A lovely morning spent in lovely company - great job team!

Coming up

• Tomorrow we've got maintenance at Westcombe Woodlands

• On Wednesday we're painting at Montessori House

• Next Saturday we're doing conservation at Oxleas Woods

Until next time!

Rachel

12 GoodGymers met outside Woolwich station for a warm-up & ice breaker discussing apps we rely on, before Walking the Line/Running up that Hill to Dee's Childcare. As one of our regular tasks, often involving building play equipment, we're not Lost Boys in this venue, so soon got stuck in to the various jobs assigned to us.

Beginning with Heathers (the planting of) and finishing lopping away at some (Poison) Ivy (where Julian, Marta & Pieter embraced their inner Edward Scissorhands!), we also got to plant daffodil bulbs which we can't wait to see next spring, a Memento of our task this evening. The Secret of Our Success was, as always, the A Team that is Greenwich Goodgym, and Mission: Accomplished (never impossible!) we parted ways at the Crossroads.

So whether you're watching this report on Disney, Amazon or Netflix, great work everyone & catch up soon 🎬

Another regular Thursday morning saw us back in the garden at the back of Charlton House, helping Head Gardener Jason and the other amazing volunteers keep things growing and looking their best.

Two GoodGymers -myself and Aidyn came along to lend a helping hand and it was Aidyn's second session here. It was especially lovely to hear some great feedback from Sharon, who said Aidyn had been really helpful. Great stuff — and that’s exactly what we’re here for! 💪🌱

We soon got stuck into a few different jobs. My tasks include digging up young fleabane and other plants so they could be potted up ready for future sales; tackling some climbing ivy that had made itself rather too comfortable on the wall; some clearing in the plant bed - removing old, dead iris leaves to make everything look a little tidier.

Meanwhile, Aidyn continued cutting back some tree branches, sorting them ready for shredding and preparing the wood for future use. Plenty of branches to deal with, but we were certainly branching out into all sorts of jobs!

Before long, it was time for a well-earned tea break. We joined the other volunteers for tea and biscuits, along with a quick group photo. It was lovely to sit together for a while and enjoy the company of everyone who regularly gives their time to keep the garden looking so wonderful.

I’m also one of the regulars here, and it’s been great being part of the journey with Jason and the CEO towards the London in Bloom awards. There’s always plenty happening behind the scenes — quite literally in this case!

The morning had flown by, as it always seems to, but we left knowing we’d done something worthwhile and given the garden another little helping hand.

Until next time. - Cecilia D.

What a lovely day today was! Most of us met during Junior Parkrun where Linda, Julian, Khai, Aman, Marta, Ivar and Louise cheered, tokened and high fived all the kids round the 2km course before heading for coffee at the Old Cottage cafe.

We then had a walking group and a running group who headed to Mycenae Gardens where we were met by Mayuri, Arn and the Friends of volunteers who introduced us to the tasks at hand. These included sawing down branches for the dead hedge, raking and clearing ivy and brambles.

An hour of clearing and getting scratched by brambles (particularly in Louise's case) we stopped for cake which was scrumptious before a few of us went to another cafe to top off the morning! Because you cant have too much sitting down and chatting over something yummy can you?

Great to see you all and until next time.

On Wednesday we're meeting in Woolwich for a task at Dee's Nursery

And next Saturday we're back at Maryon Wilson Community Garden.

7 GoodGym-ers met at Charlton House for tonight's run in part 2 of our letterbox flyering task for the Library of Things in Woolwich. This week with some contrasting red flyers for none other than our own Library of Tasks, GoodGym!

After an ice-breaker discussing favourite snacks (always a hot topic!l we headed through Charlton Park to our destination streets.

There's not loads one can say about a flyering task, other than its a great way to get our steps in (well, up & down) and discuss the relative merits of different design doors, letterboxes and front gates. Splitting into teams meant we covered a good section of the area, under the scrutiny of several neighbourhood cats, and soon had run out of both leaflets & time.

Thanks all & catch up soon!

On Saturday there's gardening at the Hospice, Sunday we're gardening at Mycenae House and next Wednesday we're helping out at Dee's Nursery