8 Greenwich Goodgym-ers met in Woolwich on a warm breezy Tuesday for a painting task at Pugin Hall, in need of a nice refresh to improve its appearance as host to several community groups using the hall on a regular basis.

It's a large hall, with several areas needing our attention, so we soon got to work dividing tasks up and down the room. Some of us joined the Ladder day Saints, cleaning & then glossing the window frames, with the more down to earth team painting the skirting boards - definitely not skirting the issue...!

There were doors & walls needing a splash of colour, cue long-handled contraptions and care to ensure an even layer was applied.

When the 10 minutes to task end was announced, we were at a gloss for words, as time had whizzed by to a mellow soundtrack from a local radio station.

Great progress made, with possibly another task here soon to continue this project. Thanks all & welcome Euan to GoodGym! ⭐️"

On Sunday afternoon, four GoodGym Greenwich runners got together for a community mission at Windrush Primary School in Thamesmead.

Our task was to give the playground fence a fresh coat of paint. We got stuck in, fuelled by Arthur's playlist and Ceci's chocolate and a short hour later one section of the fence looked considerably smarter. Good job team and a lovely sunday afternoon spent together. We'll be back to finish the job!

Until next time!

A sunny Saturday morning saw seven of us gather in the canteen at the Community Hospice, where we were joined by with Jason, the Head Gardener.

Ivar had arrived first, with a batch of his legendary home-baked Norwegian solskinnsboller (‘sunshine buns’). We normally save the sweet treats until after the hard work, but these pastries were too tempting to wait, so we tucked into them there and then!

Suitably fuelled, we headed out into the gardens, where Jason asked us to clear a patch of ground near the children’s playground. Straw-like Foxtail Barley had taken over, some weeds too, and leaves had piled up from the overhead trees. For the next relaxed hour or so, we pulled up the straw and weeds by hand to avoid disturbing the soil too much, and raked up leaves. Hopefully - when we get some proper rain - the grass can grow back and blend in with the rest of the lawn.

This was one of those lovely GoodGym sessions where the task was almost secondary to the setting: sunshine overhead, a friendly robin coming to see what was going on, plenty of chatting and a chance to enjoy being outdoors together while doing some useful work.

And, as always, the time flew by. While a couple of people headed home, the rest of us and Jason landed back in the canteen, for lunch or another bun and a cuppa.

We’ll be back again next month, and if you spot Ivar on the sign-up list, consider his sweet treats an extra incentive to come along!