Tonight’s GoodGym adventure took our group in two directions - to Canbury Community Gardens and Latchmere Park.

The Latchmere Park task was quite straightforward - fill 5 planters with compost. Just a small matter that the compost was in 3 1/2 ton sacks about 100m away from the planters! Emily, Ken, Laura, Petra and Dave donned their gloves and proceeded to fill and empty countless wheelbarrows. the time flew and the task completed with 5 mins to spare. Off to the pub!

Slightly more involved at Canbury Gardens with compost to turn, an elderflower tree to tackle, watering to do and gardening to squeeze in before darkness descended.

Claire kicked things off with an excellent briefing, particularly impressive given the jet lag from her recent trip to Korea! Rachel then provided an unexpected highlight by confidently picking up one of the resident chickens. Despite never having held a chicken before, she looked like a natural, comparing it to picking up her three-legged cat. The chicken seemed perfectly content! 🐔

Luke, Saber and Jonathan got stuck into turning the compost, while also attempting to secretly sign Claire’s birthday card without her noticing.

Meanwhile, Jana and Marie-Noëlle gave the dead elderflower tree a giant haircut. Marie-Noëlle wielded the enormous loppers on the larger branches, carefully avoiding the tomatoes below, while Jana tackled the smaller ones. Saber later took over with a saw and ended up up the tree, prompting a few concerned looks as we watched his balancing act! 🌳😂

Claire tracked down the wheelbarrows and collected water from the river with Rachel, who later became our human lighting department as daylight disappeared.

Jana then tackled one final job, digging a hole for a donated berry bush, which we just about managed to get planted and watered before darkness took over. 🌱

With everything wrapped up, Claire entertained us with tales from Korea.

Compost turned, tree dramatically restyled, water collected, bush planted, chicken cuddled and birthday card covertly signed, another productive and slightly chaotic GoodGym evening! 💪🌿🐔

To the tune of Mambo No. 5

Ladies and gentlemen, this is GoodGym Three Pigeons

One, two, three, four, five The rest will meet us there, so come on, let's stride To the sponsored plot around the corner The AA wants some more squats And we really all wanna Red top like I had last week I must squat deep because talk is cheap We got Adam, Lucy, Sam, Manuela And as we workout, you know they getting sweatier (uh)

So what can we do? We love to show you, To us is doing good is just like a sport Anything fly, it's all good, let me sort it Please set in the trumpet

A little bit of Manuela in my life A little bit of Susannah by my side A little bit of Lucys all I need A little bit of JPs what I see A little bit of Steph & Ken in the sun A little bit of Lizzie all night long A little bit of Cathy, here I am A little bit of Adam and then Sam (ah) Mambo Three Pigeons (ah)

Eight GGers were tasked with providing a litter bit of help on Petersham Common on a somewhat chilly summer evening.
Both Jade and Sam were led by Adam from the Taps Tavern and ran to the task with Chris cycling on ahead.
We met the the task owner Ken who supplied us with the trusty litter pickers and bags and were soon joined by Monika, Lucy and Sam.
Finds included a hammer, which we were able to nail, while the usual suspects wrappers, cans and bottles were litter-ally very predicable.
Overall we were all very satisfied that we could offer a litter bit of help!

What a day!

On Saturday we celebrated an incredible milestone as GoodGym Richmond turned 10 years old. It was fantastic to see so many familiar faces, old friends, new members, GoodGymmers from other area, community partners and supporters all together to celebrate everything we've achieved over the last decade.

What made the day even more special was that we were celebrating on the exact 10th anniversary of our very first session. Back in July 2016, over 40 runners set off from Whole Foods in the middle of a heatwave to tackle Himalayan balsam. Anyone who's been around GoodGym Richmond for a while will know that some things never change – we're still pulling out that same stubborn plant!

Since that first run, 623 amazing people have been part of GoodGym Richmond, completing an incredible 7,911 tasks across our borough. That's nearly 8,000 hours of volunteering for local charities, community organisations and green spaces. Along the way, members who've tracked their runs have also covered over 82,000 kilometres – that's the equivalent of running around the world twice.

But while the numbers are something to celebrate, they only tell part of the story. GoodGym has always been about people. It's about showing up for our communities, finding purpose in movement, making friends, improving our mental health, settling into a new area, and discovering that doing something good for someone else often does us a world of good too.

Over the last ten years we've had the privilege of supporting so many fantastic organisations. From Achieving for Children, local Scout and Guide groups, schools, care homes and community centres, to Richmond Furniture Scheme, Integrated Neurological Services, St Christopher's Fellowship, Purple Elephant and so many others. We've helped care for Petersham Common, Ham Lands, Crane River and other treasured green spaces, built community allotments from the ground up, and turned up week after week to lend an extra pair of hands wherever they were needed.

Sometimes we've simply helped make a task a little easier. Other times we've helped make projects happen that otherwise wouldn't have happened at all. Those moments make us especially proud.

None of this would have been possible without the organisations who've supported us over the years. A huge thank you to Richmond Council, whose original funding helped launch GoodGym Richmond ten years ago, to Richmond Foundation for their continued support and recently renewed grant, to Heathrow Community Trust, and to Richmond Council's Climate Action Group, whose recent micro-grant has helped us buy new equipment for our community base.

Thank you too to our event sponsor, Alpha Vets in Teddington, and a very special thank you to JP and Monica, who generously dug into their own pockets to help make our celebration such a lovely occasion.

The celebration was also a chance to recognise the incredible people who have shaped GoodGym Richmond over the years. Thank you to Mark, who laid the foundations by leading those very first sessions ten years ago, and to Sam, who led the group before me and helped steer us through the post-covid era.

Thank you to every single Run Leader and every member of TaskForce, past, present, and future! So much of what GoodGym does simply wouldn't happen without people quietly giving that little bit extra behind the scenes.

We also wanted to celebrate some very special individuals. Thank you to Anita, whose care and dedication have helped make our community space so beautiful, to JP, our most active member, and to Lucy, whose contribution over the years has been enormous.

A huge congratulations also goes to Chris, who celebrated his incredible 500th GoodGym task during the event! Reaching 500 tasks is an amazing achievement and we're delighted he got to wear the crown and collect his milestone T-shirt surrounded by so many friends.

We were honoured to be joined by the Mayor of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, Councillor Nancy Baldwin, who spoke so warmly about GoodGym Richmond and reflected on presenting us with a Community Heroes Award in 2022. She spoke about the impact volunteers have across the borough and how remarkable it is for a volunteer organisation to thrive for ten years. We were incredibly grateful for her kind words and for taking the time to celebrate with us.

Finally, thank you to every single person who has been part of GoodGym Richmond over the last decade. Whether you've completed one task or hundreds, whether you've been with us since the beginning or only joined this week, you've helped build something really special. Together we've created a community that is welcoming, supportive, active and full of people who genuinely want to make Richmond a better place.

Here's to the first ten years of keeping fit by doing good, and to the next ten!