This group run was a 2 task week and we had 12 wonderful GG-ers ready to tackle the litter at The Albany and the mulch at the Tiny Forest

We gathered outside Glass Mill and as I approached it was great to see a group forming after last week's bank holiday lowering our group run numbers. We split into groups and one group headed to the Tiny Forest guided by Steve and photographer for the evening Julian and the other group to The Albany with me.

The Tiny Forest team were joined by Linda and a couple of Tree Keepers and most importantly joined by Suki - our favourite Tiny Forest dog! There was lots of mulch to be moving to the main Tiny Forest (we covered the extension last week) and involved filling buckets and pouring those over the fence.

Meanwhile at The Albany....there was barely any litter!! That's never happened in the history of group runs at The Albany, usually its a satisfying clean up of all the cans and chicken shop wrappers that have blown in from the streets.

We did still fill 3 GIANT bin bags, when I say fill I mean to about 50% as they were so big I could fit in them and they got heavy quite quickly, with the litter, not with me in them! The litter we did find was described as level 10 litter i.e. nappies etc not pleasant - bring back the cans and chicken shop wrappers (although no litter at all would be encouraged)!

At both tasks it started to rain slightly then it started to pour down!! We made the decision to pack up our litter picking at the same time as the Tiny Forest text to say the rain was too much and they were heading back to Glass Mill.

We regrouped at Glass Mill and headed off for our social at the local, Guardian recommended Turkish restaurant. After some confusion over the booking which Marta handled, we were all seated and ready for a catch up and refuel.

Eight intrepid GoodGymmers returned to the familiar Group Run location of the Albany in Deptford, but with Kim away on her skiing jollydays, regular GoodGymmer Steve stepped into the less familiar role of run leader for the evening.

After a warm welcome to regulars Sarah, Darryl and Matt there was a welcome back for Victoria S and Adam! (give 'em all a cheer!)

A few quick warm up drills later and we were on our way through the streets of Lewisham. The Albany Centre is a charity, community centre and performing arts space right in the middle of Deptford's market and high street, which has been its home since 1899!

As we arrived, we were greeted by Chris who was our host at the Albany and got us signed in and equipped with litter pickers and bags to tidy up their lovely community garden. We were joined by Vic C and Vic L, who brought our Victorian tally to 3. As headtorches bobbed about in the darkness, we had quickly packed 4 bags of rubbish and had time for a couple of team photos.

It was time to say goodbye, as Team Vic headed homewards and the rest of the group ran back to our starting point of the Glass Mill Leisure Centre for a final 50m sprint followed by a chilled yoga-ish cool down and stretch.

14 GoodGymers shouting each others names, 4 tennis balls, a couple running round in circles and we had a perfectly chaotic warm up. And everyone got a quick reminder of each others names! Oli, Julian, Paul, Sarah...glad I had a reminder, I'd never of remembered their names! Just joking my wonderful regulars!!

This week it was off the The Albany, which is a great Theatre in Deptford but also a hot spot for rubbish.

Our tasks for the evening were to patrol the perimeter (and the rest of the garden) to see what litter we could find. We usually find some gems and this week I'd say less gem and more disgusting - a nappy which I'm reliably informed was used.

The second group tackled the weeds in between the paving stones. There was also the mandatory lesson in sweeping from Paul. Isaac is now an expert sweeper!

It wasn't long before we lost daylight and we were all weeding. A good reminder that it is now most definitely head torch season.

We have a brand new task next week and we're heading to the Young Lewisham Project to help with the painting. Remember to wear your oldest GG top that you don't mind getting paint splatters on.

Another week, another chance to do some good in the borough of Lewisham. This week we were heading to The Albany to tackle the never ending supply of litter that blows in from the surrounding streets (and also gets thrown into the garden)!

It was a shorter run to The Albany where we split into groups to tackle the litter and also split into recycling and rubbish. As always we found some gems including a lime, a frisbee and a lot of beer cans!

With The Albany closing at 8pm, it wasn't long before we dropped our rubbish bags off at the bin store and gathered outside for a group photo.

On the way back, we confusingly detoured to the Waterlink Way so that we could take part in an exercise called "The Snake" - it probably does have a better name than that! The group ran slowly in a line, making sure to keep the pace steady whilst the person at the back sprinted to the front and once they arrived, shouted go for the next person to sprint and so on and so on. It's a great exercise to add in a variety of paces and the Waterlink Way gives us the perfect stretch of pavement.

Next week is a mystery task at the moment! See you there!

This week I decided to bring back a warm up that we haven't done for years, I shout a number and body part and everyone has to sprint to find the matching number e.g. 4 hands. I thoroughly enjoyed the creativity to avoid the 10 starjumps!!

We haven't been to the Albany in the daylight for a long time so it was a treat to see the space with the sun shining and not a headtorch shining.

One group went to tackle the abundance of litter and the other group tackled the weeds and brambles taking over along the side of the polytunnel. It wasn't long before we'd found some interesting items from the litter picking: a sock, a broken vinyl, a handbag full of snails and a tick!!

Check out the before and after pictures as the difference we've made to that space is amazing! Great work team!

Thoroughly checked for ticks, we began our run back to Glass Mill, a slightly smaller group than when we started.

After a week in the snow, I was happy to be back with my favourite group of people to tackle the litter that blows into The Albany garden on our last group run before the clocks change.

Welcome to Lindsay who was joining us for her first time - hope you enjoying your first of many good deeding with us!

We gathered outside Glass Mill and it was soon time to head up to The Albany, upon arrival there were thoughts that we had no task after no one answered the bell but then Nicole emerged happy to see us.

We split into litter pickers and bin bag holders and began to do a sweep of the garden. As usual we found some very interesting items, the more tame being a golf ball and a car bumper.

Half the group headed out to the front to tackle the surprisingly free of litter streets in front of the The Albany and the other group helped empty the bins and replace the bin bags.

Great work tonight everyone - next weeks task is still a mystery but we do have a social at Mamma Dough!