17 excellent GoodGymmers met on a somewhat blustery evening to get fit and do some good.

We heard some GoodGym news:

• Lots of people with us tonight had done The Big Half, including with some impressive PBs!

• There's a community mission at Hyde Vale, Blackheath this Saturday morning (10am-1pm).

• There's another community mission supporting guide runners at Paddington Rec Track next Thursday evening (19th March).

After a quick warm up, we braved the riverside path to run to Christchurch Primary School where we were helping in their lovely garden. We heard about (and saw) their brand new apple trees and were instructed on our tasks for this evening:

• Moving some very heavy pallets.

• Moving some equally heavy soil from big bags into smaller bags.

• Moving some slightly less heavy individually rocks to form a rockery around the pond for an amphibian habitat.

• Doing some equally important litter-picking.

We split into groups and got down to business quickly, efficiently dividing the jobs up and developing systems of lifting and shifting. In no time, it was time to down our tools and head off, after a group photo, naturally.

Our run back was into the headwind and very impressive considering just how strong it was! We ended with a quick fitness game and some stretching, before heading our separate ways to warm up and feed up.

Next week's group run is at Ballast Quay Garden, another opportunity to get those green fingers working!

The promise of burgers brought out an enthusiastic bunch of 17 runners ready to work and do good to earn their food.

We gathered at the meeting spot and counted heads (a few of us were number 9...), each saying our favourite cereal with most options on the health spectrum represented.

We dropped off our stuff and completed some loops of the green in the Naval College - in an exciting twist we were on a different patch of grass to normal! We limbered up with a quick game of “if I say 1, touch the ground with your left hand” and so on. We then set off on our way along the river and through some residential roads (navigated skilfully be Elle) to GoodGym Favourite Christchurch School.

Our task was to clear grass in a long 1 metre by 8ish-metre strip, ready for trees to be planted on Saturday for an orchard. At the same time, a barrel of water had to be emptied eventually moved to allow the digging to pass seamlessly by. Armed with forks and spades to dig, and watering cans to transport water, we got to work.

We dug (and forked and emptied) for victory for half an hour and in classic GoodGym fashion completed our allotted task so got to move onto another plot of grass! The tree planters on Saturday won’t know what’s hit them!

We headed back to base camp to pick up our bags and half-heartedly stretch before it was time for the main event - the food! We munched our way through beef, chicken and vegan burgers and plenty of chips, celebrating 4 years of GoodGym Greenwich! A lovely evening full of good friends, good deeds and good food - not much else to ask for on a Wednesday!

Thank you to Alice for the run report this week! If anyone else fancies it, let me know!

15 goodwilled goodgymers attended Goodgym Greenwich this week, ready to run in the rain

Jennifer reached 10 good deeds. Fantastic work and dedication! Go and give her some cheers!

After quick introductions and pointing out that I am not in fact Sarah, I found out that lots of you have signed to the BIG HALF in March! It's a brilliant route and it's YOUR chance to go head to head with Sir Mo, assuming he's running it again next year! If you haven't signed up, why not?! (I know Greenwich have some community entries, are there any still available?! ;))Please remind me below which other races/runs/parkruns you are all preparing for? :)

We had lots of lifting and moving to do this week as the outdoor classroom was being readied for winter. We got through the following tasks:

Sweep up classroom Move Benches into outdoor classroom Clean off the bases of benches Move red shed items into classroom Take wood from car park, add to wood stack Put soil in rubble bags and stack

Some of us also had a lesson on the environment:

Fiona, our task owner, was telling some of us about the recent planting of ornamental pear trees along Blackwall lane. They will act as a natural drainage system and the water collected will be used by the school for the garden. Wild flowers will also be planted, adding to the asthetic as well as helping to reduce pollution!

Next week's task will be flyering for the Made in Greenwich shop. You can sign up for it here: next group run

We finished our tasks and made our way back to base, where I gave the group a quick circuit training session, focused on aerobic fitness and core strength. We finished with quick movements based on marshal arts and some cool down stretches.

Thanks everyone. I hope everyone enjoyed this weeks task and I look forward to seeing you all again soon!

14 wonderful runners ran 3km to help trim branches at Christchurch School Community Garden!

For the first time this year, it was dark before we'd even started. It's coming to that time where only the most hardcore runners show up.. so well done one and all!

After a quick warm up, we headed off towards Christchurch via the river where we stopped for a nice photo... Greenwich is surely the most photogenic of GoodGym locations? Am I right?? Plus the most photogenic group of course!

Moments later, we arrived at the school, greeted by the wonderful and always super organised Patrick and Fiona who had got everything ready for us and explained the tasks at hand.

The main one was trimming overgrown branches that had started to peek through the blue fence plus there was also some work to do on a raised bed so Alex, Steve and Julian stayed to help Patrick with that while the rest of the group grabbed some gloves and some secateurs and began snipping branches!

The fence seemed like it went on forever but it was quite a satisfying job and the branches were coming down at lightning speed. Before we knew it, some of you were right down the other end of the school already!

The raised be was coming on nicely too and after 30 minutes we were done! The fence was so tidy and all the cuttings had been bagged up and put by the bins, there was even time for a final sweep of the pavement and a few minutes to put in the last bag of soil into the bed. NICE!!

On our next visit we will be helping to plant some trees for their orchard project! Sounds like it'll be another good one!!

We had a little jog back and called it a night!

Community Mission on Friday...

Just quickly.. the community mission helping at the Pop Up Kitchen in Woolwich tomorrow is here. Big thanks to Julian who is already signed up and if anyone else can lend a hand at any point during the day from 1-8pm then they would hugely appreciate it!

Hopefully see some of you at Victoria Dock Parkrun this weekend! There are lots of spaces still on the volunteer roster if you didn't want to run!

Great job on the task last night, you got so much done and made a huge difference as always!! If you know of any other schools nearby that could do with our help then please put me in touch or let me know! See you next time!

20 lovely runners ran 3km to help out at the lovely Christchurch School!

The Old Royal Naval College has once again been turned into a film set, probably one of the biggest I've seen here in Greenwich! You can find out more about what has been filmed here! Some of them might surprise you! Thankfully the filming didn't affect our running much at all, we all managed to find each other eventually and get into our room with no one telling us off. WIN.

We had one new runner join us last night, big welcome to Rebeca! And for the second week running it was cause for celebration as the wonderful Darryl was celebrating his 50th good deed! Last night was actually his 52nd as he officially did his 50th over in Bromley a few weeks back but we haven't seen him since and his home borough is Greenwich so it felt only appropriate for him to don the cape! He has been doing good since September 2018 so has managed to earn is black T shirt in much less than a year which is an excellent achievement! Well done Darryl, keep up the fantastic work!!

Not much space for a warm up this week as our usual area was overrun with horses and carriages so we headed straight to the school.

We arrived moments later and Patrick and Fiona were aleady there waiting to let us in! Perfect timing! They explained a few of the many tasks that needed doing which included planting some dahlias, edging a flower bed, endless watering and weeding and the main job was to level out some uneven paving slabs which were laid by a corporate group of volunteers a few weeks ago. Of course they have to call on GoodGym if they want the job done properly ;)

So these paving slabs are to be the base of a shed which is going to be built later in the summer so it's important for it to be level. We can't have a wonky shed now can we! A few people stayed with Patrick to help with that while everyone else grabbed a watering can and some tools and got stuck in straight away.

The garden has acquired so many plants from all over the place which is amazing but of course with that comes additional maintenance! After just thirty minutes the dry plants were looking a lot happier, the dahlias had been perfectly planted, the edging was on it's way but it's a tough job so we won't give the girls too much stick for not finishing! And finally the slabs had all been suitably leveled and re-laid! GREAT WORK!!

We had a little photo and then headed back to the uni for a quick wall sit competition. Once again it was Jenny who took the title with her legs of STEEL! I think she must sit like that at her desk at work! Cracking effort Jenny and well done everyone! 2 minutes is a very respectable time and congrats to runner up Natalie for passing the 3 minute barrier!

A quick stretch to finish and we said our goodbyes. Until next time!! Which actually is Saturday if you're coming to the Olympics!

Great job last night everyone! As always Fiona and Patrick were delighted with everything you got done!

19 amazing runners ran 3km to help out at Christchurch School Garden!

Lots of new people joining us this evening which is GREAT!! Sometimes we go weeks without a new soul and then this week we have FIVE! Amazing! So big welcome to Kat, Anna, Stephan, Rachel and Nisha! Hope you had a wonderful first run at GG Greenwich!

After spending a few mins talking about favourite books, we headed for a quick little warm up and then set off on our run!

Moments later we arrived at Christchurch School and were greeted by the always lovely and super welcoming Patrick and Fiona.. And also Linda who had arrived early and was already getting stuck in!

We had various tasks to complete. One of which was to clear an area behind the outdoor classroom for a shed to be built. The classroom itself needed a good sweep. The flower beds required some neatening up around the edges as well as LOADS of watering since the place now has SO many plants!! A lot of which were rescued from Royal Hill Garden, and along with those rescued plants Patrick also managed to salvage some of the edging tiles/bricks (no idea what they are called sorry) and so the other job was to re-home those! Lots to be getting on with so everyone got cracking.

I don't know about you guys but I thought it was so nice to see the place in the light for a change! This has been a popular winter task for us because it's one of the only outdoor tasks that has a big floodlight so most of our visits here in the past have been in the dark! So it was nice to appreciate all the different colours the garden had to offer!

After half an hour, all the planks of wood from the back had been moved, the classroom was clean and tidy, flower beds were super trim and neat and everything had been watered... awesome!

Just about time for a quick photo and then we were off on our way back! We did a little loop, nearly accidentally ran into a building site and then made it just in time for a quick little core routine!

It's super important to have a good strong core as it helps you stay in a nice upright position for longer and therefore running more efficiently and most importantly.. FASTER! So don't skimp on the core work! Even just a few minutes at the end of your easy run once or twice a week will make a huge difference!

After two rounds we had a nice stretch on the grass and called it a night!

Next week

I shall not be here next week but the wonderful Amy will be taking the session! You can sign up to the run here!

Also I do apologise guys and gals, I had an issue uploading my photos this week so sorry there are fewer than usual!

Great work tonight everyone!!! Fiona and Patrick were really pleased with what you got done, so big thanks from them! Have a wonderful rest of your week!