This morning James and I went to help Andy from SE5 Camberwell set up their stall for the market. We wheeled all the stock from their storage down the road, we erected the gazebo, and we laid out the stock on the tables. Just before we left we picked up our free copy of the Camberwell Clarion too!

We are now on three for three in terms of newcomers coming to our group run. This week, Sam greeted Vlad, who had been to a Southwark task before (his first good deed was at Thorlands on a Saturday). However, this was his first group run with Southwark. Welcome Vlad! As we all gathered in Old Spike, everyone rushed in as the drizzle came about; Nathan and Lindy arrived one after another whilst Nelly strolled in and finally, Daryl. Sam got a text message from Paulin that he would meet her and James at the task, so he started his GoodGym intro speech mainly for Vlad.

Since they did not want to brave the small amount of rain, Sam skipped the warm up and asked two ice-breaker questions: Who is your favourite Eurovision act this year? and for those not into Eurovision: What fruit or vegetable would you like to have an abundance of?

Nelly and Sam were the only ones into Eurovision and said "Finland" is their favourite act. The others chose the other question with Lindy starting us off with "mushrooms", Daryl said "potatoes", Vlad mentioned his love for "strawberries" and James said "corn".

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Eurovision-sceptics

Thanks to Daryl, who back marked again as we took the same route as last week, but turned left instead of right at the end of the run. Our 3k run took us 18 minutes to get there. We met James and Paulin at the task and they were already getting stuck in as they were cleaning windows.

Catherine met the rest of us inside for a few refreshments that she had prepared (including some strawberries...one for Vlad) as she told us that the task had changed slightly due the cub scouts using the hall where we would clean/disinfect the baby toys. There were some gardening gloves and tools by the refreshments as she asked us to weed the garden and parking space.

Sam split the group with Daryl, Lindy and Nathan taking control of trimming and weeding the front garden whilst the second team consisting of Nelly and Vlad as they paired up to take care of the weeds in the parking lot.

Sam moved between these groups to get photos whilst he had a Eurovision playlist going on to set the mood. He also got stuck in with some weeding but ultimately ensured everyone was doing fine.

As 20:00 approached and pretty much all the weeding done, the team stopped to pack up, get some more refreshments before proceeding back to Old Spike. James, Paulin and Lindy made their own way back home.

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out tonight! It wasn't the task that was advertised, but thank you for getting stuck in with the alternative tasks. You could see the difference from the start to 40 minutes later. Thank you for coming back for your second task and first group run in Southwark, Vlad!

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Thank You Catherine

GoodGym is all about getting fit and doing good! We praise the runners/cyclists/walkers who come to get fit and help out, but we often forget about our task owner. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Catherine who ensured we had tasks to do as our original task couldn't be performed due to the hall being in use. There's always plenty to do at Salvation Army Camberwell Corps.

Tonight, we had a newbie as Sam was getting ready to welcome everyone, Oriana appeared outside Old Spike. He opened the door and welcomed her in. After a year or so of signing up, she had decided to join us for a group run. Since it was meant to be the "launch of GoodGym x Raleigh", she thought it would be the best time to come. However, Sam never received the treats from Raleigh...so this has to be postponed.

Like the previous weeks, Sam had the privilege of 7 GoodGymers joining him on this group run as everyone knew it was going to be a short 2k run there and 1k run back. Lindy, Nelly, David, Claire, Paulin and James were all up for this run in colder than usual conditions (given the time of the year). As 18:45 approached, Sam delivered his intro GoodGym speech for Oriana before everyone went out to warm-up in the alleyway for the last time before next week we'll be warming up on the green.

Sam's ice-breaker question tonight had nothing to do with any social dates, so he used one from his list of ice-breaker questions, so he asked: Which cartoon character would be your friend and why?

There were suggestions from Spongebob Square Pants to Winnie the Pooh!

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Hardly any Lambrini

Our steady 2k run from Old Spike to Cossall Estate took us on a detour as Sam had to ensure the run met 2k and he had 5 minutes to burn. Once we arrived at Cossall Estate, we met up with Vic who smashed it at the weekend with a 3:22 marathon time - hence she walked to the task...we also met Alan and Jaki, who showed us to the tools and the tasks.

Sam split the team as there were two tasks:

The team that stayed at Cossall Estate to de-weed and remove moss from the courtyard was Claire, David, Lindy and Paulin as they chatted and cleared the courtyard in 40 minutes.

The second team picked up some litter pickers and bin liners to join Alan and Jaki in Kirkwood Nature Reserve. James and Oriana paired up and Nelly and Vic did too as they found some unusual items in the calmness of this beautiful, but unknown Nature Reserve.

With a warden sitting in the Nature Reserve waiting for us to finish our litter pick in order to lock-up, we stayed making our way back to Cossall Community Centre at 19:50.

With the weeding team finishing up, we packed all the tools and took a few group photos before saying our goodbyes to Alan and Jaki. Our run back was more direct and just over 1k.

Despite the monthly social being next week, Claire and Sam met up Daryl at The Montpellier.

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out tonight! Having a big group definately helps as we were able to do two tasks in 45 minutes. We will be back to clear the courtyard and do extra bits and bobs for Alan and Jaki in June. A warm welcome again to Oriana and I hope to see you again. Thanks David for coming for your second good deed and hope to see you again too.

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Thank You Alan and Jaki

GoodGym is all about getting fit and doing good! We praise the runners/cyclists/walkers who come to get fit and help out, but we often forget about our task owner. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Alan and Jaki for organising this session and managing to split the tasks and supply the tools. I'll be in touch about the next group run session to Cossall Estate and Kirkwood Nature Reserve.

Sam rushed from London Bridge to St Faith's Community Centre to open up the hall for tonight's community session.

As he made his final preparations, Kat walked through the door. It was her first GoodGym session and claiming her first good deed on a pleasantly chilly, but calm Spring night.

Our task was to sort out clothes from various different pick ups and drop offs into categories: Mens, Womens and Children's clothes as we helped GROAD get prepared for their Spring Swap and Recycle event at Brixton Library next Friday!

James and Paulin joined us as Kat was getting started with the kids clothes and Sam was untangling hangers.

The hour went by quickly as we smashed box after box as we found out more about Kat and talked about running adventures / challenges.

We are back next Monday night to pack for the rough sleepers.