"I'm late, I'm late, I'm very very late, hello, goodbye", like the white rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, Sam (for the first time in his 2.5 years as Area Activator) was very late for the group run and opening Old Spike Peckham as he was held back at work.

Arriving at 18:47, Sam saw everyone gather outside Old Spike Peckham, but to add to his woes, he found out for the first time too that whoever locked up Old Spike Peckham locked the bottom lock too, which he didn't have. Thinking on the spot, he asked the Georgian Wine Bar next door whether the run group could drop bags and coats in their cupboard room at the back. With some persuasion, the bar manager agreed. That was one less stress to deal with. Amongst all the chaos, Sam managed to introduce Tony who came for his first GoodGym session. Hooray and welcome!

The group were led by Paulin to the alleyway as she is preparing to complete her run leader training and wanted to put a practise in tonight. She did a quick jumping and squatting warm up to get us warm.

Noticing the time was approaching 19:00, Sam skipped the ice-breaker (for now) as he led from the front and Steve volunteered to backmark.

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Refreshed walls

Through the backstreets of Peckham, up Chadwick Road (the hill) and down towards Camberwell, we went as we stopped in various places to re-group. We finally made it to Salvation Army Camberwell Corps. in time (19:15) as we met Valentina, Folarin, Phil and Richard who opted to walk / cycle to the task.

After taking a moment to introduce Valentina and what happens at the Salvation Army in Lomond Grove, Valentina gave clear instructions on what needed to be done after learning what we did from the first session. We had to ensure the entrance hall was clear and that there was lining on the floor before any paint could come out. There was enough tools for everyone, so picking up a paint brush or roller and sharing a paint tray, which Lucy had kindly poured out, everyone picked their bit of the wall and concentrated on applying the second coat of paint.

Having missed out on the ice-breaker poll and question earlier, Sam proceeded to ask: Since it was National Pokemon Day on Tuesday, what is your favourite Pokemon from Pikachu, Squirtle, Charmander and Bulbasaur? Plus, he threw in the ice-breaker question which was to do with "Employee Appreciation Day" on Friday: Do you have any cool perks at work that you want to share?

Pikachu won by a few votes, but Squirtle was a close second. Isaac shouted out that his company is doing the 4 day working week (more or less) as he logs off by midday on Friday. Others had flexi-working, which is almost a similar concept, but with a 5 day working week contract.

Once the paint was out and conscious that we had to clean / wash up afterwards, after 30 minutes, we managed to put on a second coat of paint and the team started to head to the kitchen to wash up the water-based paint brushes, rollers and trays.

Valentina was happy with what we had achieved and she will get one or two volunteers to touch up certain parts of the wall that needs to be touched up.

By 20:05, we had to rush off back to Peckham as like a school bus, we said our goodbyes to Adrian, Andrada, Folarin, Isaac and Nelly. After a quick stretch and having reached the Georgian Wine Bar, it was only fair that we brought something from the bar/shop, so Sam and Steve bought a lovely deep red, which was recommended. A great way to end the night!

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out last night! It was a bit of a hectic start and we managed to work out a solution to drop off our bags and coats thanks to the Georgian Wine Bar next door. I will ensure Old Spike Peckham does not lock the second lock next Wednesday. Thanks to Steve for backmarking both runs and kudos to everyone for getting stuck in. Another warm welcome to Tony and we hope to see you at another group run or GoodGym session soon. Next Wednesday will be a calm one as we run over to Denmark Hill and Champion Hill to deliver Get Rid Of And Donate (GROAD) flyers to homes and flats around there and on top of that, we have our monthly social, so why don't you join us?

Love was in the air! ❤️

10 love-sick (not really) GoodGymers opted for on a date night with GoodGym.

8 out of 10 cats...GoodGymers were up for the just under 3k group run to Salvation Army Camberwell Corps and met Sam at Old Spike. As runners came in, we caught up on our week and the festivities of Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Day) and Valentine's Day, the former social date was a more preferred topic. As 18:45 arrived, Sam promptly went through his usual GG intro speech and his ice-breaker snap-poll for the night was to do with, of course, Valentine's Day. Would you prefer to receive a dinner, gift or flowers? Everyone voted for dinner... Sam even prepared an ice-breaker question: Awkward / unusual first date question or scenario?

We had from consoling a Prince fan upon hearing he had died to the date assuming our GoodGymer took drugs in the bathroom (she just had a runny nose...) and from headbutting, the date leaving half through a date to spirit animals not matching....there's been a few awkward dates amongst us.

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You colour my world

After a quick warm-up in the alleyway, Sam led the group through the backstreets of Peckham and up Chadwick Road (the hill) and down towards Camberwell. We were quite pacey this time with Paulin backmarking (both ways). At the task, we met Valentina, Richard and their son, Lucas as well as newbie, Diana and arriving as we just arrived, Sander.

Richard and Valentina had prepared loads of paint, paint brushes and liners to put down to protect the carpeted floor. Yet, before we got going with the painting, our runners got a deserved drink of water, biscuits and heart-shaped Haribos sweets.

Since there were 10 of us and plenty of painting to be done, everyone picked up a paint brush, stirred the paint and concentrated on their section of the entrance hall. Diana and Joely concentrated on painting the main door from inside as it had received a lot of marks over the years. Isaac and Paulin had their fair share of paint on them as they took on the ceiling and high wall roller paint brushes. David, Fi, Laura, Sander, and Steve had smaller brushes to paint the finer parts of the walls.

In 45 minutes, with romantic tunes blasting, we managed to complete the first coat of paint. It was such a therapeutic task and we will be happy to come back in two weeks' time to put on a second coat. But next time, we will ensure we have plenty of time at the end to clean the paint brushes as we left that to the last minute and I feel guilty for leaving it all for Valentina to do!

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out last night on Valentine's Day! Appreciate the love and the faster than usual pace on the run there and back! It was lovely to meet you Diana and thanks for coming back for your second GoodGym session, Joely. Finally, a massive thank you to Paulin for backmarking on both runs. We're off to Thorlands Gardens next Wednesday to continue with the garden project there!

Old Spike Roastery was a welcomed sight for everyone on this cold night. Sam welcomed in Daryl, Gemma, Isaac, Lindy, Maria, Nelly (who reach her target tonight, hooray!), and Tim. We even had Andy come back for his second group run in a row and Alex came back too! But more importantly, we celebrated Emma's major milestone of reaching 100 good deeds! She earnt her wings!

Sam did his customary GG intro speech and highlighted that we are close to the end of the year. Noticing that it was a cold night, Sam did a more active warm-up to ensure everyone's core was warm. After the warm-up, everyone gave their answer to tonight's ice-breaker question.

Since it was French Toast Day on Tuesday, Sam's ice-breaker question for tonight was: What is your favourite topping on a French Toast?

A few people couldn't remember the last time they had a French toast, whilst the majority had a sweet tooth with sugar, lemon, cinnamon, maple syrup, fruit compote, bananas and berries. Some went for cheeses and hams...

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A petition to bring back gooseberries...

Off we went through the backstreets of Peckham as Sam lead the way whilst Daryl backmarked as we ran up Grove Hill and down towards Camberwell and eventually to the back roads where Salvation Army Camberwell Corps is. Valentina let us in as Alex, Mikhail and Olive had just arrived to met us there at the task. Then Phil arrived slightly afterwards.

Like we have done many times before, we were here to clean and disinfect the children's and baby toys that is used at this nursery as many kids use them daily and germs do spread, especially during the winter months. Yet, tonight, Valentina wanted us to clean the blue mats on both sides and loads of chairs too. Since we were a big group, we managed to clean, dry and put back all the toys and equipment within the 45 minutes that we were there. To lift the spirits and keep the mood festive, Sam put on his Spotify Christmas playlist (but no Coldplay please...).

By the end of the session, Sam asked those who hadn't answered the ice-breaker question to give their answer. Everyone seems to have a sweet tooth, but we got into the topic of bringing back gooseberries as they are very much an underrated berry. We will look out for Isaac's petition soon.

After our group photo, we said our goodbyes and ran a more pace-y pace to get back to Old Spike for a lovely stretch before a few of us decided to go to The Gowlett Arms for a pint.

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out tonight! Firstly, we welcomed back Alex and Andy. I feel it's harder the second time as you know what to expect - hahaha! It ended up being a 3k run each way, so I don't know where I got 3.5k each way.... The task was done in an efficient matter, so thank you for arranging yourselves in small teams. Finally, thank you to Daryl for backmarking the run and to Mikhail for taking the photos!

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Thank You to Valentina

GoodGym is all about getting fit and doing good! We praise the runners/cyclists/walkers who come to get fit and help out, but we often forget about our task owner. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Valentina for preparing all the tools for the task in advance! We will be back in the new year (on Valentine's Day) to paint the hallway walls!

Halloween might be just around the corner, but our group runs land on wicked Wednesdays, but especially this Wednesday Sam was preparing to howl his GG speech to those who would listen...

As the clocks stuck 18:45, there was an eerie silence from those who came to Old Spike for the group run as Sam updated everyone with what's going on in GG Southwark.

Sam's ice-breaker question for tonight was Halloween themed: What is your scariest nightmare / character?

Many of us instantly thought of Freddy Krueger, but we had Annabelle/Chucky (creepy dolls), the girl / victims in The Ring, the creepy person in Luther, dogs, snakes and even Richard pitched in with his son getting hurt.

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Fang-tastic time

After our quick warm-up in the alleyway, Sam lead the way whilst Maria backmarked as we ran through the backstreets of Peckham, up Grove Hill and down it on the other side to arrive in Camberwell. A last 500 meter sprint to get to the Salvation Army Camberwell Corps.

We met Richard and those GoodGymers that said they would meet us at the task: Folarin, Isaac, Mikhail and Vic.

We were here to clean and disinfect children toys for their nursery. These toys get used four times a day, so a clean from time to time is very much needed. Yet, Richard also needed 1-2 people to sweep the leaves outside, so with a headtorch, Folarin did this quickly.

The rest of the team grabbed the toys from the cupboard and put them on the prepared foldable tables. With warm water and a sponge, everyone proceeded to disinfect and clean toys whilst listening to Sam's Halloween playlist. Mikhail was our photographer for the night and ensure he got a photo of everyone getting involved with the task.

Those who had been here several times knew the setup and so an orderly system was in place with Isaac and Lindy putting on a spook-ta-cular performance in putting back the toys in the cupboard...as there is an art to it.

As 20:00 hit and with everything done, Sam called it a night as we had to dash off back to Old Spike before the vampires come out. Going via the slightly longer, but more direct route with Maria backmarking, we made it back in time for a stretch and a cool down.

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out tonight! That hill is always tough to run up, but I felt like we didn't struggle as much this time. Thanks for working as a team to complete the task in less than 45 minutes. Many hands do make light work and hopefully, it was enjoyable too!

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Thank You to Richard

GoodGym is all about getting fit and doing good! We praise the runners/cyclists/walkers who come to get fit and help out, but we often forget about our task owner. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Richard for staying later to open up the centre and prepare the tables, sponges and warm water for us to clean and disinfect the toys. We will be back on the 29th of November for more plus any extra bits and bobs that need doing.

As we waited outside Old Spike for Marcus to finish up cleaning, we enjoyed the warmer weather than the inferno that was presented to us inside. We met newbie, Michelle, who came over from work in Mayfair, but lives in Acton! Wow, we appreciate her attending our GoodGym session, which is so far away from her work and home. Thank you, Michelle and I hope you'd enjoyed your first GoodGym experience!

On a warm and muggy day, waiting inside Old Spike wasn't ideally as we welcomed Alastair, Alex, Becky, Daryl, Emily, Emma, Gemma, Paulin, Mikhail Nathan and Tim as Sam quickly went through the GG intro speech before heading outside to get warm on the Green!

After our warm-up, Sam's ice-breaker for tonight was a question on yesterday, which was: Yesterday, was International Day of Charity, what is your favourite charity or the one you donate/fundraise to the most?

We had the obvious ones like GoodGym, Cancer Research UK, NSPCC, RSPCA and MacMillan, but Clare gave us a heart-warming answer as she had fundraised for a friend who was in a coma. Charities are not just organisations, but are acts of kindness.

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Arigato, Kanpai

With Sam leading from the front and Lindy backmarking, we made it to Salvation Army Camberwell Corps within 20 minutes to find Folarin, Mikhail and Paulin already there. Paulin was helping Valentina setup the cleaning stations by filling buckets with warm water.

As we piled in, Olive, Magda, Vic and Abigail met us at the task as we had to split the group into three:

• Team Gardening, who weed the outside garden and a partial part of the parking lot consisted of: Daryl, Mikhail, Olive and Vic.
• Team Window Cleaning, cleaned all the windows inside and out consisted of: Clare, Elena and Gemma.
• Team Disinfecting and Cleaning Toys, the rest of us assisted with the main job of the evening, which was to disinfect and clean the toys in the cupboard and all around the main hall as the Salvation Army Camberwell Corps prepare for the toddlers to come back and use this space next week.

Within 45 minutes, we managed to complete our main task and even put all the toys away back into the cupboard, which in itself is a task of minds (how do I find all these toys in?!). After a quick group photo and small speech to Daryl for his selfless act on Sunday to help another GoodGymer cross over the finish line at the Big Half, we ran back to Old Spike.

Since it was the first Wednesday of the month, a few of us walked over to Kanpai for a couple of rice beers, sake, corn fritters and skewers to say our goodbyes to this establishment before they move "homes" from Peckham to Bermondsey.

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out tonight! Firstly, a massive thank you to my taskforce team, Daryl and Lindy for backmarking the run there and back. Thank you to the rest of you for coming along as you saw that power in numbers means we can get not one, but three tasks done within 45 minutes! Thank you to those who stayed on afterwards for a final farewell drink to Kanpai before they move to Bermondsey!

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Thank You to Valentina

GoodGym is all about getting fit and doing good! We praise the runners/cyclists/walkers who come to get fit and help out, but we often forget about our task owner. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Valentina who recently moved over here from the US and was covering Catherine! Thank you for having all the items and tools ready for us to tackle the tasks and we hope you saw a massive difference within the 45 minutes that we were there. We will be back in November and we'll arrange that shortly.

We are now on three for three in terms of newcomers coming to our group run. This week, Sam greeted Vlad, who had been to a Southwark task before (his first good deed was at Thorlands on a Saturday). However, this was his first group run with Southwark. Welcome Vlad! As we all gathered in Old Spike, everyone rushed in as the drizzle came about; Nathan and Lindy arrived one after another whilst Nelly strolled in and finally, Daryl. Sam got a text message from Paulin that he would meet her and James at the task, so he started his GoodGym intro speech mainly for Vlad.

Since they did not want to brave the small amount of rain, Sam skipped the warm up and asked two ice-breaker questions: Who is your favourite Eurovision act this year? and for those not into Eurovision: What fruit or vegetable would you like to have an abundance of?

Nelly and Sam were the only ones into Eurovision and said "Finland" is their favourite act. The others chose the other question with Lindy starting us off with "mushrooms", Daryl said "potatoes", Vlad mentioned his love for "strawberries" and James said "corn".

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Eurovision-sceptics

Thanks to Daryl, who back marked again as we took the same route as last week, but turned left instead of right at the end of the run. Our 3k run took us 18 minutes to get there. We met James and Paulin at the task and they were already getting stuck in as they were cleaning windows.

Catherine met the rest of us inside for a few refreshments that she had prepared (including some strawberries...one for Vlad) as she told us that the task had changed slightly due the cub scouts using the hall where we would clean/disinfect the baby toys. There were some gardening gloves and tools by the refreshments as she asked us to weed the garden and parking space.

Sam split the group with Daryl, Lindy and Nathan taking control of trimming and weeding the front garden whilst the second team consisting of Nelly and Vlad as they paired up to take care of the weeds in the parking lot.

Sam moved between these groups to get photos whilst he had a Eurovision playlist going on to set the mood. He also got stuck in with some weeding but ultimately ensured everyone was doing fine.

As 20:00 approached and pretty much all the weeding done, the team stopped to pack up, get some more refreshments before proceeding back to Old Spike. James, Paulin and Lindy made their own way back home.

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out tonight! It wasn't the task that was advertised, but thank you for getting stuck in with the alternative tasks. You could see the difference from the start to 40 minutes later. Thank you for coming back for your second task and first group run in Southwark, Vlad!

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Thank You Catherine

GoodGym is all about getting fit and doing good! We praise the runners/cyclists/walkers who come to get fit and help out, but we often forget about our task owner. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Catherine who ensured we had tasks to do as our original task couldn't be performed due to the hall being in use. There's always plenty to do at Salvation Army Camberwell Corps.