🌞 GoodGym Wandsworth in the evening sun

On a sun-drenched Monday evening, still basking in the post-London Marathon glow, an energetic gang of GoodGymmers ran to St Mary’s Church in Battersea for a brand-new task. Not just any church—this is Battersea’s oldest, where William Blake tied the knot and J.M.W. Turner once whipped out his paints to create his iconic river scenes.

A massive shoutout to all those who ran the marathon on Sunday, and kudos to the spectators, who undertook the noble task of clapping, shouting and creating signs that Turner would be proud of. Respect.

An even bigger Wandsworth welcome to Kate, who joined us for her very first GoodGym adventure! She picked an absolute banger of an evening: blue skies, a route bursting with blossom, and a riverside scene straight out of a Richard Curtis movie. There were geese waddling past wisteria in full bloom as the sun set over the Thames- all that was missing was Hugh Grant himself.

Our mission for the evening was to weed, litter pick, spruce up paths, and hang bunting. Within minutes, the area was buzzing with the sounds of gardening, laughter and debates over where to hang the next bit of bunting.

Among the more curious discoveries: a small religious plaster figurine and what we concluded was a leg tag—left behind by someone who was in a bit of a hurry...

As the sun dipped lower and the geese gave us side-eye for disrupting their evening stroll, we gathered for a few lovely group shots and admired our handiwork. But we weren’t done yet...

On the way back, we hit up several fitness stations (because one plank is never enough) and made a detour to check on the bulbs we planted earlier in the year. And guess what? Just like GoodGym Wandsworth, they were blooming beautifully 🌷💪

Next week it's a bank holiday so we'll be having a lunchtime run on the Monday over to the GoodGym garden.

This weekend we need help protecting the trees in Wandsworth, and if you fancy a double header of tasks you could op down to Streatham to beautify the nature reserve there - what a bank holiday weekend!

With a last minute task cancellation last night we had to pivot quickly but that didn't dampen our enthusiasm in the slightest! Maybe that was because it was our fitness leader Catherine's birthday so we were feeling festive (and energised by the prospect of cake) or maybe it was that spring was in the air, or perhaps it was just those Monday GoodGym good vibes!

We kicked off with a warm up and a quick round up of what we'd be wishing for if we were blowing out the candles. From new houses, to more dogs in the world, to be able to fly, to fewer candles on the cake - our dreams are certainly varied!

We set off on our run to Bramford Gardens, a community green space run by a volunteer, Shah. Unfortunately when we arrived we found that a contractor had been in and pulled up a load of carefully thought out plants. We needed to jump into action to tidy up the place as best we could - and fast.

We divided up into teams. There was plenty to do - collecting and transporting pallets, litter picking, strengthening the raised beds which had been knocked down, scrubbing graffiti and picking out that sticky weed - which seems to get everywhere!

After a good stint we were done, and moved onto party game themed fitness. There was freeze tag and a plank waterfall, with just one team emerging victorious, although it was a close run thing.

After a run back it was time for stretches and cake - lots of cake! Next week it's Easter Monday so there will no group run - but don't worry it wil be scheduled for later in the week. There is plenty to look forward to, including this mission to beautify a nature reserve and a task to dig lots of holes in Southfields!

Even without the light spring evening, the prospect of a pub quiz in our immediate future and exciting collabs to chat about, there was so much to celebrate last night!

Let's start with

• Katie's 100th good deed and Jason's 50th good deed! Absolutely spectacular GoodGyming from both of you, huge congratulations on the commitment, positivity and fun along the way

• welcoming Jennifer and Cheski to their very first GG session - give them a massive cheer! So great to have you join us

• The upcoming Friday Night Lights festival of running in Battersea park where if you sign up to volunteer either for the morning or the afternoon session you get free entry to the festival and entry to the fun social evening 5km. Vibez!

That's without even mentioning Annabel getting to the end of her epic marathon training and Ali smashing the Putney half. You've all been extremely busy bees.

But not too busy to throw yourselves into several tasks at Doddington Community Garden, a space which is used by local people for growing organic produce, educating kids and providing a safe green space for those who don't have access to one.

There was loads of watering to be done, cavolo nero to snip, leaves to clear and one huge path to dig and cover with cardboard. We soon got busy and the time flew by. There was just a few minutes left for a group photo before heading down to the square for a fitness session that worked on balance and agility for runners.

Luckily the chalk fairy had been down earlier to mark out a course on the pavement. We had a quick run through of the various challenges, including ladder runs and lateral jumps, and set off for our first round. The idea was that we would time it and then try and beat our first time. It took a bit of getting used to, but fast feet and cat-like balance skills were on form and the second time round our previous record was easily smashed. Well done team!

All that was left was stretches and a run to the pub where we very, very almost emerged victorious. Second place is pretty good! In the end, we were all winners when Catherine produced the most incredible lemon and poppyseed cake - her magical powers with cake never fail to make us happy.

Well done to everybody! Next week we're back at it, this time heading to Waste Not Want Not to help with jobs there. See you there!

It's potato planting time! And who knew all your needed was some potatoes and elbow grease! A group of us planted a load of potatoes at the GG garden in Clapham - which we'll harvest later this year and donate.

6 Goodgymers helped prepare the Goodgym garden for a new season of crops.

There was lots of weeding to do, soil to turnover and even some leeks to pick that survived the winter!

We welcomed two new Goodgymers: Manon and Helen. Great to have you join us!

After an hour of hard work, the garden was looking in tip top shape, ready for new produce to be planted soon.

Last night, 8 intrepid GoodGymers gathered to take on a mammoth task at the Katherine Lowe Settlement (KLS). For those whose first visit it was to this Battersea institution, KLS is a truly wonderful community centre that provides support for older adults, refugees, young people and vulnerable communities in the area. Not only do they provide a warm, supportive environment, but they also offer vital social services and activities for local people, so we were more than happy to help out!

KLS is having two floors redone, and they needed all the old flooring transported downstairs to be picked up this morning. We knew it was going to be quite the session so after a warm-up (where we spent way too much time discussing whether we were motivated by the carrot or the stick – turns out, most of us are stick people, which we should probably look into a bit further!) we set off on a quick jog down to KLS.

As we arrived and were met by Tracy and Tony. The scale of the job soon became evident with Tony's first question, 'how strong are you feeling?', which gave us an inkling about what lay ahead! We were working in a beautiful Victorian building, but those narrow stairs were definitely not designed for moving hundreds of planks of wood. Still, we are GoodGymers. And we fear no floor.

The plan was simple: Start at the top, and move planks down, all the way to the bottom.We were soon sweating, but there was a job to be done and we were going to do it no matter what. It was like a full-body workout, but after half an hour of intense work we managed it - after all, many hands make light work. We celebrated with a very artful group photo and headed out into the night.

The fun didn’t stop there. After all that lifting, we finished the night with even more fitness- a workout based on the classic game, I Have Never. We soon found out who has run more than 15km in one go, who has recently moved house and even who has broken the law. But there is a golden rule - what happens in GoodGym fitness stays in GoodGym fitness!

If you're free this weekend, Jordan will be leading a session on Saturday at the GoodGym Garden. You can find all the details here. Next week, I’m away, but Steph will be leading the session and you can find the info for that here

Great work, team! Another task well done, with plenty of laughs along the way. Until next time! 👏👏