Our February trip to our lovely sponsored riverside plots to look after them in the down season so they are fabulous in the summer, for everyone who passes by, including us!

This evening started at Tap Tavern with a warm welcome to Cally and Philip from Richmond Foundation who joined us for the first time to see what GoodGym is all about. And to Ivo who knows very well what it's all about as our CEO!

We took a moment to celebrate Adam becoming a fitness leader, Lucy arrived with news from the winter Olympics that Team GB had not smashed the mysterious art of curling, and we gave a little hoorah to Nina completing 25 tasks, Chris and completing 475 🥳

A good warm-up and lovely run along the riverside with a very high tide creeping in, we were met at the plot by Susannah and Rosie who manage the task as Taskforce, along with our resident outdoor expert, Ken who was working on a solution for hops supports.

After a short fitness session run by Liz we got stuck in to the real business of turning compost, weeding beds, collecting up leaves and sorting the supports. By next month we should start to see a little daylight at tasks, spring is coming!

Join us on the first Saturday and second Monday every month to help look after these lovely little patches of Richmond 😍

Only two GoodGymmers braved the drizzle for our new Saturday morning slot at Three Pigeons today. No matter, we placed the GGR banner out front and got to work clearing leaves from around the arcade, catching the side eye of many a passing runner who we’re sure we’ll see joining our ranks in no time.

We swept and shovelled away and soon had the place looking much tidier but with plenty left to do when we return with a full team on Monday.

A beautiful end of January task today for six happy GoodGymmers to head to Star & Garter Hill where rubbish has sadly collected in the roadside undergrowth.

Between us we collected eight bags of wrappers, pill packets, food containers, bottles, even a sandal!

Bags tied up, we headed to lovely HollyHock Cafe to start the weekend with a chat and a smile.

One GoodGymer was at Hatherop Park helping the Friends of Hatherop Park coppice some trees on another wet day in the end. The weather started out dry at first but that did not last. Me, myself and I cut away the ash trees to open the nature reserve up to some light.

One GoodGymer coppiced trees in the wet, wet, wet conditions for Friends of Hatherop Park in the forest. They are turning an abandoned bit of wasteland into a nature reserve and the stand of ash trees needs to be cut to let more diversity come in. A fair amount was done despite the rain. Time for some hot tea!

One GoodGymer came out to saw trees to improve biodiversity. Coppicing encourages new growth and light to reach the forest floor opening glades and greatly enhancing biodiversity.