Brixton Windmill

A little bit of history in central Brixton!

The Friends of Windmill Gardens (FoWG) were formed in 2003 with three aims:

  • to get the Grade II listed Brixton Windmill restored and opened for public visits – in 2002 it had been put on English Heritage's buildings at risk register;
  • to make Windmill Gardens park a more welcoming space for local people;
  • to have a new education centre at the windmill.

Windmill Gardens gained a Green Flag Community Award in 2015 and we have just been judged again so our fingers are crossed that we will retain the award for the next two years.

239 GoodGymers have supported Brixton Windmill with 81 tasks.


Top supporters

Upcoming sessions
Helping Out Alot(ment) - Tuesday's Group Run !!

Tuesday 13th August 2024 6:45pm - 8:30pm


Previous sessions
LambethGroup run
Yianny
Joao FernandesMichael Welsh
Katie Allan

There’s Snails and Slugs and Spiders - Oh My!

Tuesday 16th July

Written by Yianny (he / him)

Oh what a wonderful evening, oh what a miserable day! The weather yesterday had us feeling quite up and down but what always keeps me positive is having a great GG crew out to make a difference in the community.

First up we had Rebecca back after a while away and it was lovely to see you!

An all-runner group this evening and despite the short distance we wanted to arrive early so we could get through what turned out to be a big old task. AA Yianny, Katie, Maya (it was only a little rain shower!), Michael, Joao & Rebecca set off for the less than 1km route.

Annick from Friends of Windmill Gardens needed our help to lift up huge planters, clear the 40 year old crates from beneath, clear it away and then replace the planters onto breeze blocks - an awesome heavy duty task.

After tools were distributed and tasks allocated the group attacked with zest, the muggy conditions making it a sweaty and peaty affair. There was weeding, clearing, dumping, lifting and on and on.

Not the easiest task for anyone with a bug/spider aversion (although Joao very much resembled Spider-Man climbing over the railings) but no-one shirked and after an hour we had just about completed it all, leaving only a bit of sweeping for Annick post task.

Check out the photos below and a big thank you to all, it was a really fun one!

See you all next time :0)

Read more
LambethGroup run
YiannyShivam RamfulBecky HeadKymmMichael Welsh

Putting the Gym in GoodGym !!

Tuesday 2nd July

Written by Yianny (he / him)

After a showery afternoon the weather broke just in time for our evening session helping out Jean and Annick from Brixton Windmill.

First arrival was Shiv who is a brand new GGer (great to have you join us Shiv!) closely followed by Becky who was sneaking in her 2nd session before heading away on hols. Michael was next and so completed the running group and of course being a famous GGer he was ideally placed to talk Shiv through all things GoodGym as we made our way to the Brixton Allotments.

On arrival we met with Annick and Jean who took us through the tasks for the evening and it was a big one with plenty of heavy lifting and shifting various items into the skip. We were also met by Marie-Noelle and Paul our resident walkers and ANOTHER new member of Lambeth community Kymm who also made her way directly to the task - welcome Kymm!

We had a shopping list of tasks including dumping green waste, shovelling and bagging woodchip, barrowing, throwing out heavy boards, pulling up multiple entangled carpets (!) and general tidy up. We also uncovered a toad's nest with 4 lovely specimens a bit surprised when their shelter disappeared but we were very careful to ensure they were all safe and well!

The team worked really hard and stayed a little longer than normal to get to a point we were happy with which shows the spirit of the group so huge thank you to all!

See you next time :0)

Read more
LambethGroup run
+6
Joao FernandesNathan WoodMatt BurtonLiz
Charlotte Emms

Farewell Frances - It's Been Fan-tastic !!

Tuesday 5th December 2023

Written by Yianny (he / him)

Only one place to start this report and that is to celebrate our incredible GGer Frances who last night notched up her 600th Good Deed! An absolutely fantastic achievement and it also marks the end (for now!) of Frances' journey with us as she is moving overseas, wishing you all the best and you will be sorely missed. 🤩

And so it was that we took a bumper group of runners including first time London but longtime GGer Matt from the Oxford group up to Windmill Gardens (ahhh there's the pun reference) to help out Jean and Annick get the park ready for the Winter Fair this weekend. Else thank you for signing up via the website - great to have you come through the MeetUp link and now onto your third run with us.

It was amazing to have so many runners out this time as there was plenty of work to be getting on with so we split into several teams in charge of the following: - A two person litter picker crew - Several people making up the 'raking crew' (1990s WCW reference.... no? Anyone?? Seriously???) - A few people on grabber duty (giant plastic hands for collecting leaves) - Brooms and giant compost bags for the remaining volunteers

We set about raking up millions of wet leaves, trimming the edges of the pathways and building a giant mud pile to dry out and be used for composting.

After a good 50 minutes labour it was time to tidy up and the park was looking much clearer than when we found it - the daylight will give us a better idea though so if you want to help out set up or pack away the Winter Fair head to the links below and get signed up. Then of course make sure you go to and enjoy the Fair itself! https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/help-make-brixton-windmill-s-winter-market-go-with-a-swing-set-up

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/help-make-brixton-windmill-s-winter-market-go-with-a-swing-set-up-29fce655-c879-405a-a0cc-3bb5deb7e94b

Lastly a reminder that we have our Lambeth Christmas Social coming up on the 19th December so get signed up for that as well: https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/litter-pick-bingo-tuesday-s-group-run Thanks all and see you at the next one :0)

Read more
LambethCommunity mission
Emma

Goard-geous morning at Windmill Gardens 🎃

Sunday 29th October 2023

Written by Emma

Today, I had a great time helping the lovely Friends of Windmill Gardens prepare for the family-friendly Brixton Windmill Halloween event. Together in the rain, we set up the outdoor carving area, wheeling pumpkins around, and lopping off pumpkin tops. I also had go at carving my own—his name is Good Jimmy!

Read more
LambethCommunity mission
Nathan Wood
Tracey Deal

It's grey but chair up

Sunday 24th September 2023

Written by Nathan Wood

Three of us made it to help out the friends of Brixton Windmill. We set up tables, chairs and (a) gazebo. It's grey but fairly mild - so we're not expecting any rain 🤞

Read more
LambethGroup run
YiannyLuce

I Put a Tea Bag in My Pocket - It was a Novel Tea...!

Tuesday 4th July 2023

Written by Yianny (he / him)

We had a first at GG Lambeth last night, for the first time ever with cancellations and no-shows there were no GoodGymers to help out at Windmill Gardens.

Makes a lot of sense, it's July and lots of people are on their holidays and also it was scheduled to pour down with rain all evening so as it stood it was just AA Yianny on his lonesome heading up to help out.

And so in the absence of anyone to do categories with AA headed up the hill in a light drizzle to meet Annick and Nick. As there were only 3 of us it was down to us to clear the verges, bag up the green waste and redistribute the soil. The rain did not disappoint and absolutely bucketed down so you can see all of us looking very soggy but happy by the end! (If I did put a teabag in my pocket I'd have tea for all of Lambeth GG!)

See you next week - yeah??!

Read more

Loading...