Westcombe woodlands is a genuine hidden gem. Tucked behind Maze hill station, this former nursing home shows just what happens when sensible natural management and the power of nature can achieve in an urban space.

The woodland is an old Good Gym favourite and on a glorious Sunday morning, with the sun shining and unseasonably warm temperatures, a keen team of 5 runners made their way from other good deeds to join the local volunteers at their monthly session. Tasks at the woodland tend to fall into two categories: a relatively tough session removing brambles and other overgrowth to allow other plants to flourish; and sessions involving lugging all and sundry up a steep slope that put the gym in Good Gym. Dear reader, from the title of this report you'll realise that today's task was very much the latter.

The material to be lugged was twofold: three of the team set to work collecting mulch and woodchip to replenish the paths and the other two found themselves staring at a large and (very) heavy bag of aggregate, that was there to help ballast a new staircase that the amazing volunteers had carved out to open access to a previously inaccessible area of the woods. And we rose to the challenge, the chippers not being satisfied with just one bucket at at time carried huge quantities up the hill and those carrying the aggregate got enough stone up the hill to complete almost a whole flight of steps.

It was hard work, but reward soon came in the form of cup and tea, biscuits and the satisfaction of another job well done.

A fine October morning met us as we gathered for our monthly tasks at the Maryon Wilson Community Garden. Special welcome to Mason and Kenny for their first group sessions with GGG - great to have you join us and hope we'll see you again soon!

Tim and Edna met us, prepared as ever with a great range of jobs in the garden, including sieving compost to spread on the new daffodil bulbs to be planted, and painting the fences.

Jobs were divvied up and an hour later we'd completed a good deal enough to feel like we deserved some of the spread they put on for us to replenish our energy stores ready for the rest of the day.

A lovely morning spent in lovely company - great job team!

Coming up

• Tomorrow we've got maintenance at Westcombe Woodlands

• On Wednesday we're painting at Montessori House

• Next Saturday we're doing conservation at Oxleas Woods

Until next time!

Rachel

12 GoodGymers met outside Woolwich station for a warm-up & ice breaker discussing apps we rely on, before Walking the Line/Running up that Hill to Dee's Childcare. As one of our regular tasks, often involving building play equipment, we're not Lost Boys in this venue, so soon got stuck in to the various jobs assigned to us.

Beginning with Heathers (the planting of) and finishing lopping away at some (Poison) Ivy (where Julian, Marta & Pieter embraced their inner Edward Scissorhands!), we also got to plant daffodil bulbs which we can't wait to see next spring, a Memento of our task this evening. The Secret of Our Success was, as always, the A Team that is Greenwich Goodgym, and Mission: Accomplished (never impossible!) we parted ways at the Crossroads.

So whether you're watching this report on Disney, Amazon or Netflix, great work everyone & catch up soon 🎬

September litter picking – a little extra care goes a long way

September saw several of us out litter picking in our own neighbourhoods, showing how even a short session can make a noticeable difference.

Paul B returned to his regular route along the River Quaggy in Kidbrooke. Heavy rain had brought a lot of rubbish downstream and he collected around half a dozen bags for life full of muddy litter, with plans to return and finish the job.

Jacqui and Sally managed to combine a night out with a good deed, litter picking on their way back from the Chaka Khan musical in Wembley. Their haul was mainly discarded coffee cups and sandwich wrappers. Cecilia also spent 40 minutes around Herbert Road, collecting a full bag of mixed rubbish and giving the local streets some much-needed TLC.

I did my usual September litter pick, walking from home to a local park via the church. The area around the bus stop and churchyard was particularly bad. While picking in the graveyard, a lady walking through with some schoolchildren stopped to give me a very warm thank you. At the other end of the spectrum, someone rather unusually suggested I should simply “phone the council”!

Thankfully that reaction is rare. Most people are incredibly appreciative. I’ve even had council workers offer me bags and thank me for helping them out when they’re already stretched.

And perhaps that’s the wider value of doing this. It isn’t only about removing litter. It gets us outside, improves the place where we live and quietly shows other people that we care about our community. Adding that little bit of extra care will nearly always be noticed and valued.