This community centre in Pollards Hill was a new location for our group session and we'd picked a chilly night for it! The aim was to help clear a large flower bed of soil but a slight change of plan meant we were tasked with collecting up the large piles of leaves along the front walkway and in the car park and putting them in hessian sacks. This was to help prepare the centre for a community event on Saturday. As it was, we whizzed through both jobs at tree-mendous speed and didn't throw in the trowel until the site was transformed. Congratulations to Rachael for completing her 50th task, Williams for his 25th and it was great to welcome Sonia to her first session.

On such a chilly night, it was good to have an indoor task to keep us warm for our group session. Abby set us to work sanding, taping, wiping and painting some of the church skirting boards, to match the newly painted walls. Although we were a small group, we whizzed through the task in record time and Jon even managed a bit of a lie down. We had to admit the results were simply brush-taking (although we didn't want to get too emulsion-al).

The Friends of Morden Rec had received funding from the Community Fund for 1,000 spring bulbs, with the aim of getting 100 people involved in planting them, so GoodGym was only too happy to be involved. With the help of local residents, their children and some willing dogs we managed to plant 1,100 daffodil, crocus, tulip and allium bulbs in less than the time allotted. Hopefully come spring we'll be able to return and enjoy the beautiful blooms. Some of us were also inspired to go and buy bulbs to plant in our own gardens! 🌷

Last night we tackled a mission at South Mitcham Community Association, to clear a large garden bed and prepare it for planting. With spotlights and all the right tools for the job we were in for a real treat as the rain held off and we got busy unearthing lots of weeds and roots, filling many bags, and salvaging a few potatoes! 🥔

With the bed cleared in just 30 minutes, the team took the initiative and set about tackling the rest of the garden area, then tidied up and went on our way. 

Most of us joined the group run back to base via the beautiful River Wandle. While it will undoubtedly be a stunning path in the spring and summer daylight, running it as a group at night provided an excellent fitness boost.

A big welcome to Ivo, on your first Merton task, and we hope to see you again soon. Well done team, we totally aced those spuds!

As ever, the regular volunteer day at the community garden was a hive of activity. We got stuck in loading wheelbarrows, mulching flower beds, digging over the compost and generally having a good workout in the mild weather. A mischief of mice, an armada (yes!) of newts and an inquisitive robin all livened up a very enjoyable session and meant we stayed well over the hour. We'll be back!