On Thursday afternoon we joined the latest session of the 'Tour of Welling' for the Great British Spring Clean. Alongside members of Discover Welling and a local councillor our mission was to clean up Wrotham Road.

Armed with the essential tools of hi-vis vests, gloves, grabbers and litter bags we began picking up litter in front of St Michael's Community Centre and the other side of the street in front of the parade of shops.

Aided by the lovely sunny spring weather, we cleared loads of drinks cans and bottles from hedges, as well as lots of sweet packaging and cigarette ends.

We bumped into a member of the council's street cleaning team who had stopped for lunch in the café, and alerted him to the large gas canisters we'd hooked out of the bushes, so they could be picked up and disposed of safely. Then we moved on to the area leading into Stevens Park and the park itself.

Once we finished, that section of Wrotham Road looked much cleaner. And we'd enjoyed a rewarding hour in the sunny outdoors.

Look out for other stops on the Tour of Welling over the coming days, plus plenty more asks on offer in Bexley borough.

It’s the first day of the Great British Spring Clean, and there are loads of litter-picking events popping up across Bexley over the next fortnight.

First up was Bexleyheath, where four GoodGymers joined the Love Where You Live community tidy-up co-organised by our friends at Discover Welling.

A large crowd in hi-viz set off on a 2.5km circular route around the roads surrounding the shopping centre. The bright yellow wave of litter pickers was quite a sight for shoppers and motorists!

We were so busy collecting rogue rubbish that we completely forgot to take photos along the way. Luckily we did manage to snap Ashton after he wrestled a stray blue supermarket wheely basket out of some very determined bushes. 🛒🌿

It was a lovely group to be part of, and somewhere along the route we completely lost count of the number of bags we filled between us.

Of course, we’d all much prefer it if people took their rubbish (and dog poo bags and cigarette butts!) home with them in the first place. But thanks to everyone’s efforts, the streets we covered are definitely looking a little tidier today.

Eleven Goodgymers came along to tonight's task for our 9th birthday. What a great turnout!

We were back at Box3Education, helping transform their unit in Bexleyheath Mall into a community space. Walking through the closed mall to get there was a little surreal!

Professor Levi met us and we soon got started with painting metal shelving units, and there was a lot of them!

We got stuck in with brushes and rollers, being super careful not to get paint on the nice floor. (Thankfully there were industrial wipes available to mop up drips!). While we worked there was lots of talking and banter, with a few jokes and hot drinks thrown in!

I noticed some black paint on my GoodGym top... I only had my-shelf to blame!

The session flew by and it was time to wash the painting gear and make our way out of the mall.

We then headed to the nearby Wetherspoons where Lisa and Graham had secured a large table for us.

The evening continued with food, drinks and more chatter, plus a chocolate Connie Caterpillar cake complete with candles and a rendition of 'Happy Birthday To Us'! Nine years of doing good and social fitness in Bexley - that's a brilliant milestone!

A great night was had by all, thanks for coming everyone. Here's to the next year!

we were back at Box3Education, a new initiative which recently secured a unit in The Mall, Bexleyheath that will house their free design school, community coffee shop, and art gallery.

After meeting up with Levi outside the shopping mall we made our way into the centre.

Lots had been done since our last visit and things were beginning to take shape!

We all got stuck in with the painting. Ashton was our mentor as he knows a bit about technique. We got so much done in a short space of time. There was also a lot of chatting with Gemma and Monika our newest members - we look forward to seeing them again!