A last minute change of task yesterday meant that rather than running to help open up a community garden which has been closed for years, we were down at Battersea Park's beautiful Thrive therapy garden. This amazing space is used to promote therapeutic horticultural skills to bring about positive changes in the lives of people living with disabilities or ill health, or those who are isolated, disadvantaged or vulnerable. At GoodGym we truly believe in the power of getting active outside so it was the perfect fit for us!

We started off the night by welcoming some new faces to our group - so great to have you along for your first session Ben, Mike and Helen. Give them a big cheer, GoodGym!

Thankfully it was a lovely warm night compared to last week's washout, so we did a brief warm up to get those muscles firing. Before we set off on our 2km run to the park, we also went round the group to find out what everyday item (aside from our phone) we couldn't live without. Coffee and delicious things to eat came very high up, as did our watches, beds and our trusty kettle!

We made our way into the park, trying not to notice all the picnics and cool drinks at the cafe, and headed into the therapy garden where we had a list of jobs waiting for us. There were plenty of tasks to choose from, from watering, litter picking, weeding and leaf raking. Everybody cracked on with their chosen task, and somehow it was Paul who ended up on the wrong end of the hose again - or perhaps given the warm weather the cooling off was welcome?

At the end of 40 minutes we had got loads done, including collecting a huge ton bag full of leaves and making sure all the plants (and some humans) got a good watering. It was a calm, regenerative place to spend the evening and easy to see what a great resource the garden is for local people. We'll be back across the park at the herb garden in a few weeks, so get those green fingers ready for more Thrive fun!

It was almost time to run back, but not before an intense plank challenge. For four minutes without a break we held various plank positions, working all those ab muscles. If that wasn't enough we finished off with a core triathlon before heading back to base for stretches. Great work everybody.

Next week we will be back at the Rose community centre to finish off a huge painting job. There are plenty of other sessions to get involved with too, from supporting junior parkrun to helping deliver food for vulnerable people.

As always, if you have any questions about any sessions or events coming up don't hesitate to let me know, and if you haven't joined already we have a busy whatsapp group full of all the GG and social news. Happy GoodGyming everybody!

We kicked off yesterday's group run with some good news, which is always nice! There was a big round of applause for Paul, who, by completing a whopping 17 good deeds last month left him at number 7 on the GoodGym wide leaderboard. Amazing! If you're going to buy a lottery ticket anytime soon then make sure you take Annabel as the luck is with her - great news that she has got a place in next year's London Marathon on her first ballot attempt! We're with you every step of the way.

Given the huge amount of sport being played at the moment what with the Euros and Wimbledon going on at the same time, we did our warm up and then took it in turns to name a sports venue - the more obscure the better! Options ranged from the classics such as Lords to The R. Premadasa Stadium in Sri Lanka - so safe to say we had quite a range!

We set off for our run down to Doddington Roof Garden for our monthly session there, meeting with Jason who was already getting the lowdown on what needed to be done from Malissa. The jobs were watering, cutting back ivy and hanging mirrors, building a bug habitat and tearing up cardboard to lay as a base in the raised beds.

We divided up in to teams and quickly got to work. We were just working out how to hang the mirrors to make a reflective wall when the whole garden was filled with gales of laughter from the hose area - I'm not sure what happened but there were quite a few damp red tshirts and maybe even one or two guilty expressions?!

Jobs done, a few of the group headed for the pub to secure the tables for the quiz, while others ran over to a green space to do a floor based strength and stability session. It may not have been quite the ideal spot as we were treated to enthusiastic encouragement from a nearby dog, but Chris took the positives, noting how good the wildlife diversity was on the ground there, and a bet between Leanne and Paul saw Leanne earning herself a pint!

Great job everybody! Next week we're back to the Doddington estate to move a whole load of donated wood to a community centre. Hope to see you there! happing GGing everybody.

The team met at Omnibus Theatre cafe, where we enjoyed coffee and some rather spectacular croissants - because everyone knows you can't garden on an empty stomach! And we had a LOT of gardening to do. After agreeing our plan of attack, we headed round to the garden where we were greeted by a jungle of weeds. After some debate and a bit of Googling, we agreed which were weeds and which were keepers, and got to work. Amongst the weeds we found signs of carrots and parsnips, which was very exciting! And the potatoes and tomatoes were coming along nicely too. In less than an hour we had transformed the space and restored it to it's full glory, so that our produce could get the light and water it needs...

...But how long until the weeds return??