On Saturday morning we arrived at the Maryon Park Community Garden, ready to get stuck into our task for this month which included varnishing the fence and hosing down the toys in the kids area. In no time we were teamed up and getting splashed, muddy and varnishy getting the jobs done as well as lots of chatting between ourselves and with the lovely Tim and Edna who were hospitable as always, providing snacks and drinks after our exertions. I say "our", but Arthur and I mainly chatted to Edna and read books so I'm not sure I should get a good deed for that 😅

We left with a gift of mint from the herb garden for our meals and off to the rest of our weekends.

Great job team, we'll be back next month!

Coming up:

On wednesday we're back at Hervey Road: https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/gardening-at-hervey-road-sports-field-6f25b74e-293a-42d3-bce6-72d39ae8195f

Saturday 11th: Helping at CCRA's community day: https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/help-out-at-ccra-s-annual-community-day

Sunday 12th: Clean up Charlton: https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/clean-up-charlton-3ff675ce-0b0d-462b-965c-49c86a8cf326 And Bostall Woods Family Fun Day (time slots): https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/help-out-at-bostall-gardens-family-fun-day

Until next time!

Rachel

In a welcome respite from the intense heat of the last week Good Gym arrived at Woolwich Common for the monthly litter pick. I'm never quite sure if a good litter picks means lots of bags full of rubbish or the slim pickings that renew your faith in humanity a bit more. Today was more of the latter with most of us returning with relatively empty bags after an hour. The returns included the usual array of trash but todays highlights were some monopoly money and the longest tape measure your author has ever seen.

Things weren't looking promising for tonight's task as a dramatic thunderstorm — complete with forked lightning and torrential rain ⛈️ — rolled in just as we gathered at Danson Watersports Centre.

The plan was to take to the water for The Big Paddle Clean Up, litter-picking from kayaks and rowing boats 🛶 🚣‍♂️ to reach rubbish lurking along the banks that can't be accessed from the shore.

Along with volunteers from The Friends of Danson Park, a local Scout pack and Meridian Canoe Club, we huddled in the watersports reception, watching the skies and hoping the weather would ease. Not the best start for Jay's first ever GoodGym session.

Thankfully, though, the storm passed and we got the all clear to get going!

After a safety briefing, our water-based volunteers got kitted out in waterproofs and buoyancy aids before launching onto the lake. Meanwhile, two of us GoodGymers opted to stay on dry land, preferring a more traditional litter-picking approach and clocking up an impressive step count with a full lap of the lake.

The weather must have sensed that we were lending Mother Nature a hand. Before long, the storm clouds had disappeared, replaced by blue skies and glorious warm evening sunshine.

There was plenty of chatting and teamwork throughout the evening and, encouragingly, not a huge amount of litter to collect. Always a positive sign!

The time flew by and, once the boats were back on shore, everyone gathered for a well-earned hot drink and biscuits before heading home.

GoodGym tasks are always varied, but this one felt particularly special. How often do you get to go litter-picking by boat? We had a fantastic evening and can't wait to get involved again next year!

What a lovely task at Holy Trinity Lamorbey Primary School this evening!

After a short run from our meeting point at Sidcup Leisure Centre, Jane the vice principal, explained her plans for turning a stack of pallets into bug hotels in the school's outdoor learning area.

With ideas like this it's well deserved that Jane was recently named Bexley Eco Teacher of the Year 2026, and the school was awarded as runner up in the Bexley Eco Primary School of the Year. (And it's fair to say that we are proud our work at the school has made a small contribution towards this.)

Following Jane's instructions, we set about collecting twigs, branches, leaves, fir cones and bricks from around the grounds, and tore up some cardboard boxes. Then we started building: filling an upside down pallet with the natural materials and cardboard, placing a brick in each corner as a spacer, positioning another pallet on top... and repeating several times until... voilà... we'd made a new wildlife habitat!

We had time to build a second one before packing up and celebrating Ashton's 100th good deed. That's a whole lot of helping out in our local community, and it felt right that Ashton should wear our superhero cape to mark the occasion!

In the coming weeks, pupils at Holy Trinity Lamorbey Primary will continue adding more material into the bug hotels, and we'll be back in a month to add roofs and wire casing to stop the contents falling out.

If you fancy spending some fun time outdoors in a midweek antidote to a busy day at work, come along and join us.