Thunder? Lightning? Merely a warm-up act for GoodGym Lambeth, who absolutely refused to let a bit of dramatic weather stand between them and a good deed. A magnificent seven assembled at Papa’s, ready to get their hands dirty — and we mean that quite literally.

A huge welcome to Rich, joining us for the very first time! 🍾 He turned up on a stormy Tuesday evening to do unpaid weeding with strangers, which either speaks to his tremendous community spirit or his very adventurous social calendar. Either way, we’re delighted to have him! 💪🏼

A special shoutout to Fi and Katie, who stepped up as makeshift superheroes when AA Yianny was running a little behind schedule 🦸‍♀️🦸‍♀️ — safely shepherding the group from Papa’s like the absolute legends they are. No cape required (though it might’ve helped with the rain).

The full heroic lineup: Fi, Dan, Michael, Ben, Tilly, Katie and the newly initiated Rich. What a crew. 🌟

Tonight we returned to help our beloved Roses of Brixton — the wonderful Annick and Jean — giving their gardens a thorough seeing-to. We’re talking weeding, sweeping, clearing, and cleaning… and then things got avant-garde. 🎨

Yes, we laid carpet. As a weed suppressant. 😱🤩

Look, when you think about it, it makes perfect sense — the weeds get a cosy living room, which you might say is to die for. Truly the most passive-aggressive gardening technique known to humanity, and we are HERE for it. The gardens are looking lush, Annick and Jean were thrilled, and the weeds are already regretting their life choices.

Another brilliant evening of running, doing good, and laying soft furnishings in unexpected locations. See you next time! 🌿❤️

GoodGym Lambeth — getting fit, giving back, occasionally redecorating.

Our friends at Brixton Windmill needed a hand setting up for their May Fest event. Quick to answer the call to arms was Lambeth local Katie, our friend from the North (London) Emily, and long-time-volunteer-first-time-GGer Joe. Welcome, Joe!

We joined the massive volunteer team from the windmill to set out chairs, tables and gazebos, and remove litter from the site.

We were rewarded with a pot of coffee and some interesting facts about windmills. Did you know that lots of common phrases including 'the daily grind' and 'run of the mill' both stem from windmill history?!

On a sunny Saturday morning I jogged from parkrun to the Community Healing Garden. My job for this session was to plant dozens of seeds into pots and trays for the greenhouse - cucumbers, beans, and squash. We all enjoyed a cup of tea together at the end.

The sun was shining, the fountains were flowing, and the litter was just begging to be picked. So two intrepid goodgymers descended on the beautiful Agnes Riley park in Clapham, grabbed their litter pickers and bin bags, and filled them to brim with waste.

On our last trip to Agnes Riley, we helped mulch the newly planted hedge whips in the community garden, so it was lovely to see how much they've grown since then.

It was also great to speak with local residents who were delighted by all the developments in the park recently, and were grateful for our efforts.

What better way to kick off the monthly social than with a sweeping success? 🌟 A magnificent seven — Fi, Adam, Michael, Ben, Nicole, Katie, and Jo — descended on Holy Trinity, ready to make the orchard garden the belle of the bower. 💪🏼🍾

With Nicole, Adam, and Naomi on home turf to lead the charge, the crew got straight down to business in the orchard garden, where weeds had been living rent-free for far too long. 🌿😤 Hoes were wielded, scrapers were scraped, brooms were swept with panache, and bags were filled with the kind of righteous fury only a GoodGym volunteer can muster. Under new management: this garden. 🏡✨

It’s fair to say the team made a clean sweep of the place — leaving paths cleared, beds tidied, and the whole space looking absolutely broom-tiful. 😱🤩 Some might say it was a brush with perfection. We couldn’t possibly comment. 🧹

The orchard didn’t know what hit it — and by the end, neither did the weeds. Gone. Bagged. Swept under the rug of history. 🪣🌸

After all that hard graft, the monthly social awaited — and frankly, no one had ever earned a drink more. 🥂❤️

Big love to Nicole, Adam, and Naomi for having us, and to the whole crew for showing up and showing out. Until next time, Lambeth — stay sweeping. 🧹💚

What do you get when you mix seven GoodGym legends, a historic windmill, and a mountain of woodchip? Pure, unadulterated mill-ificence, that’s what. 🤩

This week, Tilly, Adam, Michael, Marie-Noelle, Nicole, Katie, and the brilliant Emma descended on the Waterworks allotments to lend a hand to Annick and Jean from the iconic Brixton Windmill. ❤️ And lend a hand we did — both of them, repeatedly, with shovels.

Emma was joining us for her second ever session and her first group run — and she didn’t just show up, she showed out, bringing the extra scoop on our Million Acts of Hope crossover. Turns out we weren’t just doing good deeds — we were contributing to something genuinely huge. 💪🏼🍾 No pressure, but we may have helped save the world. Provisionally.

The task list was, shall we say, eclectic. We shovelled and shifted woodchip to lay a brand new path (the glow-up was real 😱), got stuck into some serious weeding and pruning, carefully sorted edible leaves from the compost (a surprisingly meditative experience), and rounded things off with a litter pick to leave the whole place gleaming. ✨🌿

In short: we came, we chipped, we conquered. Annick and Jean — it was an absolute pleasure. The allotment looks windmill-iant. 🌬️

See you next week, you beautiful lot! 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️