🌿😅 Our mission, should we choose to accept it (we did, obviously — we’re GoodGym): help the wonderful Annick at the Brixton Waterworks allotments tackle a carpet situation.

*Shoutout to Adam for weaving his magic and nailing this week's pun title!

Yes. Carpet. In the soil. Apparently the weed barrier of choice for a certain era of allotment gardening was “just bury some carpet and hope for the best.” 😂 Well, that carpet’s time was UP.

The team got stuck in — pulling, heaving, rolling, folding, and wheelbarrowing that ancient carpet to its temporary resting place like the absolute legends we are. ❤️ It was gritty, it was grimy, it was extremely satisfying. The carpets may be old and worn, but our team? Totally on the right thread. 🧵😏

We split into two crack squads: the running crew — AA, Katie (an ICONIC comeback after injury, we literally cannot 👏), and Michael (“just a casual 16km at the weekend, no biggie” 😤🔥) — and the walkers/cyclists Tilly, Ben, Nehal, Marie-Noelle and Adam, who were honestly bringing the vibes on wheels and heels. 🚴‍♀️🚶‍♂️

Annick was thrilled, the allotment is one step closer to full bloom, and we went home absolutely filthy and absolutely proud. 😱🤩

See you next week at The Landor — first round of brags about your weekend mileage is on you, Michael. 🏅🍻

Run, do good, repeat. 💚​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

OCA Community Kitchen just opened their new space and it was an absolute pleasure helping the team out!

Chandrima served up a little Christmas cheer by sorting and quality checking food, clothing, hygiene items, toys, and other essentials, then opening for distribution from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm to support those in need.

A child-friendly first aid room was set up, allowing parents to shop while their children enjoyed toys and books.

After service, a thorough clean up took place, leaving everything tidy and ready for the next day by 5:00 pm.

This day’s work was all about sharing warmth, dignity, and practical care — a true Christmas recipe for a stronger, kinder community.

Lawn cut and help with other garden tasks for Ms J

Several Goodgymers assisted VGCC at their foodbank on Friday 20th March, including sorting, packing and serving the local communities.

Lovely sunny afternoon meeting Ms A and hearing all about her life - so much chatting we forgot to take pictures of the garden before/after, just some war wounds from the rose bushes!

Vauxhall Gardens Community Centre serves around 80–120 families and individuals in crisis every Friday with short-term food support. It was an absolute GoodGym takeover today, with 6 GoodGymers giving it their all during a marathon 6-hour shift: three hours of prep (9–12 pm) followed by three hours of full-on distribution (12–3 pm).

Our three seasoned GoodGym vets – Brenda, Chandrima and Susan – enthusiastically led the charge, joined by three fantastic newbies: Ayan, Aysha and Rafa. A very warm welcome guys!

Together they left no stone (or spud) unturned: every single crate was meticulously quality checked before crate-mixing mountains of veg including parsnips, potatoes, broccoli, cabbages, red onions and carrots. They also put serious muscles to use lifting, unloading and sorting heavy crates full of cereal, pasta, rice, vermicelli noodles, loads of frozen meats (chicken, pork, beef), cans of fizzy drinks, mixed beans, snacks - crisps, flapjacks & buns, and bottles of various pasta sauces. Once the eye-catching fruit, veg, meat and snacks display was ready, all 6 got busy with distribution, greeting everyone with big smiles and making sure each person left with both a full bag and a full smile!

True to their hardcore engineer roots, the newbies crew even squeezed in some AI chat, sharing fun ideas about how it will change things for the better. And honestly, after today’s session, it feels like the future’s in pretty good hands.

We’re already looking forward to seeing our brilliant newbies back for many more Friday sessions!