...so we did! Along with lots of other tasks at a productive community mission today. A warm Saturday morning led 9 GoodGym-ers to St Richard's Church in Charlton, where our woodchip pathway project is nearly complete!

Our first task was to pin down the last of the membrane, and ferry as much of the remaining woodchip to cover it. Just a bit more woodchip is needed and the pathway at the side of the church will be ready. A local tree surgeon has donated the woodchip from recently lopped trees, so the material has been nicely recycled. Some of the team got to work sanding the front door, which now looks super smooth, and ready for some shiny varnish, while others smartened up the Church signposts by painting the red posts a glossy black.

Our last task was one we're very familiar with, which was clearing brambles in the back garden. Chopping and digging commenced, and both sides put in their best game - team Brambles had a better defence (look out for those thorny tacklers!) while team GoodGym struck for goal with an attack formation (secateurs & forks).

The whistle blew for full-time leaving the teams to debrief & pose for the newspapers.

Great match all & see you soon! 🙂"

Garden Preparation Progress Report

This week, we continued with the task we began last week—getting the garden ready for the next phase. Our efforts focused on ongoing preparations, including removing old cardboard, sweeping up dried leaves using rakes, and laying down membrane in key areas.

Although the work was carried out by just three of us (Owen, Isabella and myself), we felt a real sense of progress and accomplishment. The garden is steadily taking shape, and it’s clear that our contributions are making a difference.

That said, as always, more helping hands would be greatly appreciated to keep the momentum going.

Till next time! ✋🏻😁

We're continuing our gardening preparations, with more volunteers helping out - 3 C’s from Goodgym (Chloe, Calvin and Cecilia); *with Isabella , helping Owen.

What we did: - We removed the cardboards that served as weed barrier. - We removed stubborn weeds and dig out the roots with hope of preventing regrowth. - we cleared the soil and ensured it’s free from rubbish, such as plastic, big stones, etc. (Raking and hand-picking them) - we used landscape membranes or weed barriers and secured them firmly with hooks. - As a finishing touch, we spread woodchips over the prepared area.

After completing the day task, we were kindly offered tea and biscuits—an irresistible treat that made it almost impossible to say no! ☺️ Till next time. 👋🏼😃

Tonight's task for GoodGym Greenwich brought us back to St Richard's Church in Charlton, where we're working on a ongoing project to make the outside area, formerly a weeded wilderness, a more user-friendly, comfortable area for the community.

For anyone following this project, we've battled rebellious plant life, embraced our inner cave people by fashioning our own tools for staple administration, and turned mountains (of woodchip) into molehills.

So on a lovely rainy breezy sunny evening in June, 7 goodgym-ers got to work continuing with this process. First the cardboard had to come up, which has helped restrict weed growth, then it was back to our routine we've got going now of digging, membraning and spreading the pine-scented woodchip, and with lots of chatter, the task time flew by. Time for a quick group photo and update on plans for the area, before our ways parted until next time! Thanks all & have a good week 😊

On a chipper Saturday morning in May, 3 goodgym-ers made their way to St Richard's Church in Charlton. Good Gym Greenwich have been working on a project here, and today's task involved the next step, which proved both slightly daunting at the start (that was a big pile of woodchip!) and rewarding to see the progress we had made.

St Richard's is a local community church, with a very weeded outside area, which the team are keen to turn into a more usable community space. During past tasks, we've cleared weeds & laid down a membrane base. Today we were greeted by a freshly delivered hill, made up of pine tree wood and leaf chippings (which smelled amazingly like Christmas trees...!) and it was our mission today to spread this over the membrane layer. Spades, rakes, and buckets at the ready, we dug straight in to move that mulch mountain from A to B, C and D. Our time flew by with much chatter, some helpful supervision from honorary Good-gym member, local cat Freya, and the path really looks like it's taking shape now. Thanks to all involved & have a great weekend! 😊

It’s just a continuation of last week’s clearing the garden. Today, we did mostly pruning of Lime trees. They now look better without the overgrown parts sprouting from the trunk and roots. Thank you Annie for taking the photos.