Two tasks, two robins and two hosts were waiting for Good Gym as we turned up at Maryon Park community garden to be met by the wonderful Tim and Edna.. The team split in two, Sarah and Johnny set to work turning a big old pile of compost whilst Marta and Julian got on with chopping back a large overgrown bush to create a lighter space for the garden's beans to flourish in. The two robins were much more interested in the compost, possible due to there being a smaller risk of being cut in half by wayward loppers. An hour later, the compost was turned and the bush had been pared back significantly and so it was time for team, biscuits and pizza.

It rained and it poured today, despite the forecast of "light rain" from 11am. But a bit of water ain't gonna stop this crew from doing good on a saturday morning! Some of us fresher than others from our mornings of park running, time keeping, feeding a friend's cat and stopping Arthur from breaking the TV, we got to the pile of mulch awaiting us. The task is simple but hard work and we know this from having done it several times before:

Get rid of the pile of mulch.

-Stuff it in your pockets

-Chuck it in the pram

-Sell bags of it for £10 a pop

-Throw it at innocent passers by

Sadly not - it involves shoveling it into our wheelbarrows for the painstaking walk up to the top of the garden to the Forest School, tackling slippery steps, Arthur standing right in your path, and Edna insisting you stop for a cup of tea because it's too wet. If you're lucky enough to get to the top of the garden, whoever is raking the mulch out politely directs you to the perfect spot to unload your barrow and boom your load is lightened for the treacherous path back down...to do it all again, lots of times.

Well for everyone else. I had a cold, wet and unhappy two year old to get me out of the majority of it and judging from the pictures all the mulch was spread out in the Forest School by the end of the session, in time for everyone to enjoy the lovely spread Edna puts on for us all.

It's certainly a good work out and a very satisfying task, with a lot of gratitude from Tim and Edna.

Great work team. We'll be back first Saturday of each month!

It was nice to be back at Maryon Park Community Garden on Saturday, always a Good Gym favourite. There were a couple of tasks to be done: a polytunnel and some beds needed to be emptied ahead of plantings, the sad act of taking down Christmas decorations was required, and finally there were a lot of mucky toys. Two of us got to work on the emptying. one to the tree and one to fitting a hose to start cleaning the toys. After a while it was just the toys to clean with one of us hosing and two of us scrubbing and all three of us getting wet (the Christmas tree packer cleverly managed to stay dry). After an hour the toys were looking good as new and after a little tidying it was time to take advantage of the generous spread that Tim and Edna always lay on for us.

On a surprisingly warmish Saturday, three GoodGymers arrived at the Maryon Park Community Garden to be greeted with the sweet scent of pine and that fresh woody smell. It cast a deceptively kindly auora over the humungous pile of wood chip waiting for us not-so-innocently outside the garden. It looked intimidating but Sarah and Johnny were up to the task as always. They shovelled and barrowed and shovelled and barrowed, and shovelled and barrowed, had a cheeky coffee and treats break, and then shovelled and barrowed some more until the entire pile had been spread across the forest school floor. It now smells so sweet and fresh and for some reason made me feel like I was in Narnia, I'm not sure why. I guess the garden has a magical quality for me and I think many others, probably down to the wonderful Tim and Edna who run it with such grace and hospitality.

Thank you team Wren for your company and muscle!

Until next time.

It was a beautiful morning, and after enjoying our last sips of post-parkrun coffee at the Old Cottage Cafe in Charlton Park, 6 GoodGymer’s ambled their way to the wonderful Maryon Park Community Garden. This garden really is magical, you half expect to find pixies in it. It's cleverly tucked away at the top of Maryon Park. Blink and you miss it. It is full of quirky bits of furniture, homemade garden ornaments and decorations and most of all it has lovely views across Charlton and beyond.

When we got there, we were greeted by Edna and Tim, the lovely couple who run the garden. They had two tasks and which we split into groups for. One task was to wheelbarrow homemade mulch up to the top of the garden to cover the raised beds there growing all sorts of organic produce. The other group was tasked with clearing out the greenhouse and giving it a good clean.

After not too long these tasks were finished. As we felt like we weren't quite done we were happy to do another task of cutting back some of the overhanging trees that were intruding into the garden. This gave us a task we could all work on together so armed with loppers we got to cutting back the overhanging branches. This was hard work and when Tim said the immortal words "Tea break!", we were all happy to down tools and make our way to the tea and coffee station. Edna had also laid on a few lovely veggie snacks for us. She really does go to a lot of effort which was really appreciated on a sunny, but chilly February morning.

After drinking the tea and eating our snacks we were happy to look through photographs of the garden throughout the years. It really is something to treasure!

Tim then took us to the Forest School area at the back where in the past they've held film events and it also serves as an outdoor classroom for local school children.

This lovely task was Julian's 300th good deed. What an amazing achievement, bravo Julian!

(Note by Sarah Wren: Report actually written by Sarah Hornsey, I just posted it because Sarah experienced technical issues.)

That's right, folks - it's the first Saturday of January and Marta embodied the GoodGym new year's energy by immediately jumping in to the garden bin to make room for more leaves. Never a challenge too small for this one! And good thing too, because we raked many a leaf from the children's play area to add to Marta's freshly trod leaf mulch and filled the bin to its untimely brim.

It was a pleasure to be back at Maryon Park Community Garden and spend time chatting to Tim and Edna, who are the most hospitable task owners and make a drizzly Saturday morning a lovely trip out for all with coffee, pizza, and those crisps that return to Sarah in her happiest dreams.

After lots of hosing down children's toys, raking up leaves, and trying to remember how to put everything back, our task was complete. And Julian was busy having a man in sheds moment, cleaning up the greenhouse long after everyone else had succumbed to the tasty treats and warming drinks on offer.

Thank you to everyone for a lovely morning that certainly lifted my spirits. And we've got Tim and Edna to thank for our newest Sarah joining us - it's been so nice getting to know you Sarah and a lovely example of community working at its best.

Good job everyone!