On a very wet Sunday morning Mark and I headed over to Betts Park to help out the Friends to keep the park looking lovely!

Thankfully the rain help off whilst we worked on an area that needed some TLC. We pulled out lots of tall weeds where they start the tours of Betts Park. That's right, they offer tours!

They says you only get one first impression! A job well done ✅️

Love may have been all around for Valentine's earlier in the week, but Sunday was soppy on another level!

GoodGym'ers David, Kelly (with a guest appearance by Ed), Rebecca, Mark and James met the Friends of Betts Park team at the end of the Croydon Canal to tool-up for the task ahead. We were led down to the playground, which resembled a boating lake because the accumulated winter 'gunk' around the edges was stopping water running off freely. We were put to work de-gunking, weeding and giving the space a much needed tidy up.

The team spread out and attacked the task from all sides. Rebecca proved to be effective with a rake, Kelly and David were deadly with a range of hand tools and Ed excavated an enormous amount of debris with a hoe and mini-scythe thingy! A trusty, rusty wheelbarrow was soon filled and then again, and again, and again...

A lot was accomplished in the time. The task was declared to be a success by the organisers and confirmed by kids pouring in to enjoy the freshly cleared area. With soggy socks and tired arms we headed back to the meeting point and got snippets of the area's fascinating history going back to 957AD. See you again soon Betts Park!

First time meeting Izzy for this good deed, and what a pleasure. Particularly because unlike lots of us to migrated to London, or different parts of London to end up in the lovely Penge, Izzy is born and bred Penge!!

We met Alan from friends of Betts Park, and the three of us managed to fill five big bags of litter! It’s always a surprise how much you pick up on these!

Special shout out goes to the can of coconut milk, the two water guns (various colours and sizes) and finally the mop…

Great start to Sunday :)

I met Mark and Bex at Betts Park this morning and it was coooold. My feet haven’t warmed up since.

We met to plant the remaining bulbs in the park to make it pretty in the spring. But we discovered a lot of were moldy!

So while I sifted through moldy verses non-moldy bulbs, Mark and Bex started the planting!

Towards the end, I discovered a couple of potatoes in the big planter! I’ll be giving them a wash and tasting them for dinner this week.

Goodgym, not only is it giving me exercise, good deeds, socialising, it’s also feeding me! Wow!

Four goodgymers met with the Friends of Betts Park volunteers to plant some bulbs on Sunday morning!

Braving the cold November morning, mark, Becky, Louise and Kate planted croucus and daphodils which will come back in the spring bringing colour and wildlife to Betts parks.

We all agreed that bulb planting was a great task generally and you gets lots of them at this time of year.

Generally all smooth sailing apart from when a shriek was heard from Louise, who was gallantly trying to avoid killing a worm who was in the way of her trowel!

I haven’t yet checked to see if that thing we were told as kids is a myth - that is you cut a worm in two, it survives…it makes no sense when you think about it now…but nature is surprising so …

Tonight we experienced the dire situation of our country's youth services which thankfully contrasted nicely with the absolutely fire 🔥 work of GoodGym Bromley!

We got off to a not-so-explosive start, discussing our favourite ways to keep warm. From dancing to Abba bangers to whiskey, I think we're all sorted for the winter.

It was a quick run to Betts Park, a usually delightful greenspace we've been visiting to make some varied improvements. This week we were preparing a flower bed near one of the entrances so that some bulbs can be planted on Saturday. It was full of weeds and a couple of trees, so it was mostly a yanking and digging job to remove the grassy tufts. We long debated what to do about a few elder saplings (great knowledge Olga!) - a couple kept their lives!

We were getting along swimmingly until a group of youths (we think) got their fireworks out... They were getting a bit too close for comfort so we headed off, but everyone did an incredible job getting the bed cleared so that the bulbs can slip into the ground!

I left feeling a bit sorry for our terrorisers to be honest. Moronic as they are, there should probably be more youth centres and places for kids to be kids.

Well done GG Bromley crew for smashing the task anyway!

Shout out to Hannah for the pun, nice one Luisa and Olga for joining for your first GoodGym sesh 💥💥💥 and sorry for not taking any better photos - I was a bit distracted!