In glorious sunshine it was a task of two halves at the Community Hospice gardens this morning.

Working on the children's outdoor play area, some of us pulled up a weed membrane to allow the soil underneath to return to nature. It took heavy-duty effort and a coordinated approach to get it up. A proper workout 💪💪💪.

Elsewhere we set about tidying up the overgrown flower bed to give a better view of the play area from the rest of the garden. After taking out a couple of shrubs and clearing the dead parts of last year's growth, we removed some substantial stones that had once been laid to create a kind-of rockery. More muscle power 🏋‍♀️🏋‍♂️!

Then, that's the idea of GoodGym, using our workouts to make a difference.

Shout out to Ashton as this was his 50th good deed. What a fab achievement in just six months since he joined 🥳🎈 !

This was the perfect session for GoodGym's partnership with WWF's Workout For Nature initiative, getting out in nature while giving it a helping hand.

There's still plenty more to do to help Jason, the Hospice's head gardener, realise his plans to transform the grounds, so we'll be back again on the fourth Saturday of each month. Do come along and join us.

This is our new monthly session working with Jason, the head gardener at The Community Hospice.

Our focus was the long border, taking out unwanted plants so the plot can be re-planted when it's been properly prepared.

'Team Roses' got physical digging out several rose bushes to allow the remaining Tender Loving Care roses, bred especially for the Hospice, to be the stars of the show.

'Team Sedge' also needed muscle power to uproot the grassy clumps of Carex pendula that were attempting to crowd out other plants.

'Team Leek' took a more delicate approach, carefully removing the invasive Three-cornered Leek plants - Allium triquetrum - that had been stealthily invading the area. Getting out the entire bulb and roots was the aim of the game here, all with the aroma of onions!

It's always amazing to see how much a team of enthusiastic GoodGymers can achieve in such a short time.

After tidying away the tools we enjoyed tea and coffee in the Hospice café.

We'll be back on the fourth Saturday of each month. Come along and together we'll help Jason realise his plans for the gardens of this wonderful charity.

Today we had our very first gardening session at the lovely Community Hospice! Jason the head gardener, met us for a brief intro before heading down to the long border where the task was to clear out as many of the plants and weeds as possible. Challenge accepted.

Special welcome to Chris who joined his first GoodGym session today!

An hour and a half later and 6 trips to empty the big bag of foliage, the border was much clearer than when we started and those of us able to stay trotted off to warm up and have a nice cup of tea inside.

We'll be back here every month to continue transforming the long border so keep your eyes peeled for the next session!

On wednesday we're painting at Holy Trinity Lamorbey School - join us if you're free.

Until next time!

Well, not exactly dancing but we were leafleting about the Community Hospice's Boogie Wonderland party night, and it was in the moon light...

After a short warm-up we headed off on a gentle run around the streets, leap-frogging each other to deliver the fliers through letterboxes.

Sue did the task with a broken toe - that's true dedication to helping out a good cause!

It's amazing how going up and down driveways and garden paths clocks up the distance and step count. And with six of us on the go we got the job done in no time.

That's one of the things about GoodGym, we try to keep our sessions short and sweet!

Next week it's all change for a spot of painting. Hope to see you there.

This week we were with the Rotary Club of Bexley's Santa Sleigh, collecting donations and giving out sweets as part of the Community Hospice's team of volunteers.

There were other volunteers too, including an exuberant bunch of Police Cadets.

Santa arrived a little late (may have been traffic on the way from the North Pole?) and Faye from the Hospice was on hand to brief us and give out the hi viz jackets and collecting buckets.

Karen and I had a photo with Santa and Faye, then the Christmas music was turned on and after a few pics with some of the children we were off!

People were out on the streets in their hundreds, smiling, waving, dancing and singing along to the Christmas tunes.

Santa was on top form, waving and posing for many photos. One child exclaimed, “I can’t believe Santa is in my street!” Memories to last a lifetime for the local children (and adults!) .

We were so impressed by the young cadets who were polite and confident in their efforts to knock on doors and fill their buckets.

The route covered over 5 miles - that's a pretty good walk on a chilly, drizzly evening!

At the end the buckets were emptied and the remaining sweets were divvied up among the helpers, then we were off home, waving Santa on his merry way.

A great evening was had by all.

That's a wrap for 2024. Merry Christmas and here's to lots more good deeding in our local community next year. 🎅🥂

There was lovely party atmosphere helping at The Community Hospice's Boogie Wonderland fundraiser.

We were on cloakroom duty, along with Carl, one of the Hospice's regular volunteers.

Having perfectly organised the hangers and sorted out all the cloakroom tickets, we were all set for guests to arrive. 🧥🥼

Who knew that checking in coats would include so much chat, fun and laughter? and there was plenty of time to enjoy a drink and a spot of dancing. 🕺🕺🏼

Lovely to have Karen with us, congratulations on your first GoodGym task. 🥳