What a day for a GoodGym trail run! Yesterday we headed out onto Wimbledon Common, and despite it being October and technically Autumn, the weather hadn’t got the memo. It was a hot 20C and many of us found we regretted our decision to wear layers!

We welcomed Guldjan to her first GoodGym session - lovely to meet you! - and settled into a great pace. The trails were beautiful and leafy, with plenty of hills to keep things interesting. Along the way we explored some of the Common’s more exciting landmarks, including the Big Alp, Little Alp and the infamous Toast Rack. There was even the added excitement of navigating around the golf course and successfully avoiding being taken out by any stray golf balls! ⛳️

After a good run, we finished up at a pub that felt like we’d been transported to the countryside — the perfect place to cool down, relax and give ourselves a pat on the back.

A brilliant run, great company and plenty of ideas for where to explore next. Richmond was mentioned so keep an eye out for the next GoodGym trail adventure! 👀

Thanks everyone for making it such a fun one and to Catherine for plotting us a beautiful route. 🌿💪

Last night GoodGym Hounslow was back on Turnham Green, helping to sow the seeds of what should be another beautiful display next spring.

We did this job last year and the results were fantastic — bright daisies, pops of poppies and cornflowers bringing a splash of colour to the Green. In fact, we even had passers-by stopping to tell us how much they’d enjoyed the flowers last year! 🌸

Our first job was to scarify the ground, working in strips across the meadow. This meant pulling up the dried grass and vegetation to expose patches of bare soil, before gathering up and removing the rough grass.

Next was the heavy rolling. This helped consolidate and firm the seedbed, giving the newly prepared ground a good, even surface and helping create good contact between the soil and the seeds.

And then came the fun bit — sowing the seeds! 🌱

With the ground prepared, we scattered the wildflower seeds across the freshly exposed soil, ready for nature to do its thing over the coming months.

Watch this space in spring to see what happens next! 👀🌼

It’s a small investment of time now that will hopefully bring colour, enjoyment and increased biodiversity to Turnham Green for months to come. A little work last night for the benefit of people and wildlife in the future. 💚

With the task complete, we still had time for a nice long full-body workout on the Green. We started with some strength and conditioning, working all the major muscle groups, before moving on to some cardio to get those heart rates climbing. We finished with the bit everyone loves to hate — a two-minute burner! 🔥

Great work, everybody.

🏃 This Sunday: join us for an inclusive, social trail run around Wimbledon Common. Around 10km, at a social pace, with hills, greenery and plenty of chat — all welcome!

🌿 Next Wednesday: we’re heading back to help Wild Chiswick

See you next week! 💚

It was a small but mighty GoodGym Westminster group last night for our visit to the Abbey Centre in central London. There really is no stopping Brenda, who arrived straight from another task, having just been helping out at Traid. Amazing GoodGyming!

Our task was at this wonderful community hub in the heart of Westminster. The Centre has been supporting the local community for decades and provides a huge range of activities and services, from health and wellbeing sessions and activities for older people to community support, advice, social groups and practical help for people experiencing hardship. Last night our contribution was in the the Lemon Pip Garden. It's a lovely community space designed for local people to grow, relax and spend time together, with accessible planters and seating. It can be used for gardening, social sessions, outdoor activities, art and simply enjoying a bit of green space in the middle of Westminster.

Brenda grabbed the hose and set about giving the plants a much-needed drink, before turning her attention to the fallen leaves and sweeping everything up. Meanwhile, I headed inside and started sweeping the downstairs stairs from top to bottom - soon realising just how many flights of stairs there actually are in this former Victorian swimming baths building!

With both jobs done, the garden was looking neat, tidy and nicely watered, ready for another day of community use.

A very warm welcome to our new runners Gabriel and Gareth last night — great to have you along for your first GG Wandsworth session!

We started with our usual warm-up, plus the random question of the evening:What is the only dog that doesn’t have a pink tongue? The answer of course was the Chow Chow, whose tongue is famously blue-black. Now fully warmed up — and considerably more knowledgeable about canine anatomy — we set off towards Battersea Park for a rather special visit.

First stop on the magical mystery tour was the Thrive Garden, where we picked up our tools before heading deeper into the park to visit the Battersea Park's resident monk. The famous Peace Pagoda was built in 1985 by the Nipponzan Myohoji Buddhist Order as a focus for peace and is one of around 80 such pagodas around the world. Reverend Gyoro Nagase helped construct the Battersea Pagoda and maintains it to this day.

Our mission for the evening was to give his garden a good tidy up. Armed with rakes, bags and plenty of muscle, the team got stuck in. Leaves were raked up and packed away — despite the bag having a significant hole in it which provided an unexpected extra challenge as we attempted to transport the leaves without simply redistributing them across the park!

There was weeding and clearing to be done, along with planting a new salvia bush. Before long the area was looking considerably tidier. The monk came out to thank us and was clearly very happy with the transformation — always a lovely way to finish a task.

But we weren't done for the evening. We squeezed in a two-minute fitness challenge, seeing how many reps of jump squats, shoulder taps and plank jacks. The numbers and form were very impressive! Well done everybody.

Tools returned, it was time to head back to base for some stretches and, of course, that hill. And apparently we didn't suffer enough, because there was even a request for more hill sprints! Ask and you will receive - more sprints are coming soon to a hill near you.

Next week…

We're heading to Doddington community garden followed by our monthly pub quiz social! Everyone is welcome — whether you're joining us for the run, the task, the quiz or all three!

See you there! 🏃‍♂️🌿🍻