Six GGers turned out for our quarterly Richmond Furniture Scheme visit.

This included Jenna , attending Richmond Furniture Scheme for the first time, three keen cyclists, one walker and a runner.

Once we recovered from our various exertions the challenge set by Volunteer Co-Coordinator Lucy to clear the assembly point of furniture including a puzzling draws set and shelving.

The fan was started and we edged closer by moving the shelving piece by piece and by the end of the challenge, the assembly point was all clear.

We made it!

Second Monday of the month means GoodGym Richmond Signature task! Starting at the Tap Tavern and giving a very warm welcome to Sam and Kayley joining for the first time, we had a proper warm-up, preparing for this month's fitness session.

Following a run along the river (accompanied by a ridiculous number of gnats!) the group got into some squats, jumps, lunges, pike reach throughs and flutter kicks before getting stuck into the tasks.

Between us we managed to turn the compost, sweep the arcade, dust cobwebs, water the Three Pigeons plot, cut back the pampas, pull out a lot of the riverside weeds, dead head and rake up! There is always more to do at such a lovely spot, and we had some very welcome thanks from passers-by too 😍

The evening finished with drinks and a chat at the White Cross, what a way to start the week!

On a lovely warm and sunny Saturday morning, 6 Goodgymers joined the Friends of Ham Lands for our monthly session of habitat improvement and preservation.

The session started with a short talk from Paul, who explained his work on monitoring insect life in the hawthorns on the Ham Lands, and how it has been a bumper year especially for caterpillars.

Our task for the day, to nobody's huge surprise, was tackling brambles - this time those hemming the edges of bushes and hawthorn trees in an area at the northern boundary. We went at them with gusto, enjoying the warmth of the sun as we built up piles of removed brambles before moving them into the undergrowth.

A warm welcome to Helen who joined for her first session!

June be a skipped month for this mission, we will be back on the Ham Lands in July, on Saturday 11th.

On a gorgeous sunny Bank Holiday Saturday five GGer's attended our monthly visit to the Three Ps .
We welcomed first timer Manuela for her first ever Good Gym task, while Rory came back for his second having impressively completed his first ever Richmond park run. After Jp had welcomed everyone, we set up about weeding and general tidy up of the Three Ps plot, Jenna successfully helped with weeding it easy. Overall a job well done and we certainly weed better together!

Monday evening saw the return of GoodGym Richmond to the Lynde House care home, one of our favourite places to help out in the local area and where we have previously built a free-standing flowerbed, removed cobwebs from awnings, varnished benches and put up Christmas lights.

Gitana had a new task for us this time, which was to help several of the residents in a session of flower arranging. But before we got going with that, we were asked to plant some pansies outside the front entrance to the home to brighten up the flowerbed there.

The flower arranging took place in the back garden, where six of the residents gathered in the warm evening air. We were provided with flowers including carnations and some greenery gathered from the gardens of the care home. We worked with the residents to help them select the stems they wanted to include in their arrangement and cut them to size for the vase. Everyone was very pleased with the results, with the arrangements being taken inside to brighten up the residents' bedrooms.

There was plenty of chat going on, with many congratulations sent Lucy's way for her successful completion of the London Marathon on Sunday - she even had the medal with her to show everyone. All in all a great mission in which we brightened up Lynde House in more ways than one!

Six GoodGymers turned up to tackle the litter along the roads across Petersham Common with help from Sky (child) and Julia (friend of Petersham Common). We set about to tackle the mostly car thrown litter and soon found lots from pillows, bedside table, hubcaps, bottles and crisp packs galore. In less than an hour we had numerous bags full of litter (sadly there is lots more!). Well done to Sky for finding the hubcap and her enthusiasm was infections as she handed out the chocolate chip cookies at the end to all the GoodGymers! Thanks to all for coming out and making a difference!