Let's talk about last night! It was a perfect crisp evening for a run and physical task - the quintessential GG as we called it.

Michael, Tilly and AA Yianny met at Papa's for the 2.5km jog and discovered that we had our meeting room back which was welcome given the chilly temperature outside. We set off in good time and good spirits through a quieter than usual Brixton, heading to meet Caroline down at Jennie Lee Garden.

Frances cycled to the task directly and met us there as we headed in for a briefing and to pick up tools.

Despite a couple of shovels having gone missing we had two barrows and 3 shovels, just enough to ensure plenty of relays from the 1 tonne top soil bags to the planters in the gardens which needed filling. By ten past eight we were packing up having filled one planter ready for today's gardening session where many older patients will be outside getting some fresh air and learning how to plant lots of herbs and vegetables.

We set off with a sense of achievement after a very pleasant task so thank you to Ed and to Caroline for hosting us and coming out in the cold!

Once back at Papa's Michael was discussing the upcoming London Jazz festival and conversation turned to the Tokyo Jazz scene and from there it was a light hop to one of AA's favourite authors Haruki Murakami. If you're a fan then you already know ;0) but if you haven't come across his work I recommend you dive in!

Thanks all and see you next time!

A change is a s good as a break as they say so last night we changed things up and set off from a new running location. Our task was in West Norwood which is the outer limit of our run distances from Brixton but we needed to be there as early as possible as we had a lot to get through.

AA Yianny met Louise in Tulse Hill and set off from there with the rest of the group meeting directly at the task either walking or on their bikes.

Ed from Lambeth GP Food Co-Op was there to meet us and had two wheelbarrows and 5 shovels ready for action, with our task being to get the compost from the one tonne bags over to the two remaining empty planters at the top of the hill. Marie-Noelle led the shovel and tip team, Louise and Tilly kept the compost coming from the bags and Paul, Will and Yianny took the wheelbarrow relays.

The group divided into two with half loading and walk / running the barrows up the hill and the rest shovelling and tipping the compost into the planters. One hour later and after too many trips to and fro to count the two planters were over half full and ready to be used for planting by the patients of the GP Practice at West Norwood.

Sadly this evening was Will's last for a little while as he heads back home to Stroud for a few months, it's been fantastic having you with us and we look forward to your return in the New Year!

Thanks to all and to Ed for hosting us and see you next week!

Joao and I spent an hour moving compost to some planters for the Lambeth GP group in West Norwood. We got through just over a bag so more missions to come!

This Saturday Lasso and Joao helped Ed, who coordinates the activities with Lambeth GP Food Co-Op to fill up planters that are stationed next West Norwood health and leisure centre. Plenty of soil to lift and shift and everyone got their hands dirty!!! In the end, we filled 2 massive pantlers to the brink and volunteers are now able to start planting stage. There's still work to be done and we plan to return and finish the job 😊👍

4 superstar GoodGymmers met Ed (GP Food Co-op lead) outside the impressive West Norwood Leisure Centre. He fitted us with 4 shovels and 2 wheelbarrows and set us to work, filling up the wheelbarrows with soil from where they got delivered, then carting the soil up the hill and into the 8 raised beds built alongside the outside of the Gym. In 1 hour we managed to empty 2 of the 1 Ton sacks of soil, and 2 more raised beds are ticked off the list! A few more sessions and we'll have filled all 8 raised beds, hopefully in time for the garden's official opening early next week! Go GoodGym!!!!

It was an evening marked by miscommunications and yet still lovely to see and laugh with fellow GoodGymer, thats the beauty of the community.

AA Yianny made the run portion of tonight's session alone as others made their way by bike or walking from their various start points. We were there nice and early and in good numbers having put the word out that we needed bodies given the size of the task ahead.

Sadly our task partner had got their dates muddled and was unable to be there to meet us! The challenge therefore was that we didn't have the tools required to shift 10 one tonne bags of soil and compost into the 8 massive planters that had just been delivered to the site.

Never mind - the Lambeth GG spirit is that we will find a way to good and have a laugh doing it - so we decided (by mutiny...) to go off plan in order to meet the criteria we had been set. This meant spinning and moving one of the giant planters away from the gym windows. While the gym goers were building muscle indoors, we were working our posterior chain outside and enjoying it far more!

And so that was it, a planter successfully spun, moved and levelled and then we had to head off as we couldn't move any soil.

There is another session on Thursday to continue the work so hopefully lots of people will sign up and otherwise we will see you next week!