8 GoodGymers made their way to Glyndon Community Centre

The air was cool, the night was young, and love was in the air for 8 GoodGymers who met at their usual spot outside of the Elizabeth line in Woolwich. In celebration of our Valentines theme Sara, our esteemed run leader, asked us all to share what our good, clean, self-loving pleasures were! (Ooh, err, misses! 😂) After our usual fun warm up games, including how to tell our left from our right, we headed for a gentle run up the steep banks of Woolwich to the Glyndon Community Centre.

Once there we were met by the lovely caretaker Andy, who never fails to set us a good task. This week was no exception. The main task was to declutter one of the rooms. Included in this was to take apart some old desks, detangle a mass of wires and cables, clear out a large cupboard filled with old computers, monitors, tech kit and boxes. We all set about doing our bit, and Brin was able to make use of his DIY skills by using the drill!

After not too long our tasks were finished and the room was cleared and tidy. We all felt very pleased with our handiwork. The wires were detangled, and the desks were dismantled. A job well done! Looking at the once cutting-edge computer technology made it feel like a trip down memory lane. Oh, how times move quickly these days!

After a quick group snap, we then said our goodbyes to Andy and headed back down the hill to Woolwich town centre. The run back down is always fun after the initial climb up. Once back in Dial Arch Square Sara, our run leader, said we had enough time for a quick fitness session which we got right into. Then it was time for a quick cool down before calling it quits and heading home after a job well done! It really was a love(ly) evening!

Who says Christmas ends in January!!??

Well, quite a few people actually. Because there's 12 days. And those 12 days end in January. And you can't really get around that. Because it's set. And established. And that's that really.

The end. It was a good Wednesday run.

OH COME ON ALEX DON'T GIVE UP SO EASILY.

Who says the Christmas spirit has to end in January!!?

Now we're talking. Because we had a festive-esque task ahead of us last Wednesday.

This merry (pun absolutely intended) group were off to the lovely team at More 2 Childcare in East Greenwich, and we had some Christmas trees to sort out.

One tree - having given love and happiness to More 2's team and kids over the last few years - was due to be taken out and recycled into chippings - and one other tree - young and small and having just had its first Christmas inside - was ready to be planted and nourished.

And so we headed over, singing carols and wearing bright red suits and hats (perhaps), with a little Christmas spirit in our midst.

Met by the wonderful Eve (no pun intended), a few green-fingered folk amongst us volunteered for the tree up-rooting and tree down-rooting tasks. Whilst others volunteered themselves for cleaning, and sorting, and mopping, and fixing. And we got busy doing some of the jobs the team at More 2 don't have the time to get to.

40 minutes later, we were smiles and goodbyes, with some heading straight off to the east of the borough, and others jogging westward back to our starting point.

One tree in, one tree out, and one community nursery healthier than it had been just 60 minutes before, this group captured an evening of generosity, friendship, and kindness - so perhaps the Christmas spirit did follow us last Wednesday :)

Thanks, folks, see you next time!!

This wintry Wednesday night, a merry band of Goodgymers made possibly their last trip to the Prince Philip Maritime Collections Centre. Meeting at Charlton House, we shared our estimations of how far we’d get in a zombie apocalypse (and judging by responses, readers of this probably shouldn’t count on us). Jen had us warmed up in no time with games involving fun facts, compliments and shoo-ing of imaginary sheep.

We followed Fearless Leader Julian, one of the few in South-East London undaunted by the fact every street between Charlton and Kidbrooke looks the same, to the Collections Centre. Upon arrival we found out we’d be replacing ceiling panels in a room where kids can get hands-on with history (I’m copyrighting that phrase for a future educational company, just to say). And these weren’t just any panels, they were gold-gilded panels! Now that’s been established, I can now pepper the rest of the story with gold-puns. What a golden opportunity. an open goal dying to be scored.

The always friendly, funny and inspirational Matt showed us to the room, and the golden hour began with an explanation of how to take down and replace the ceiling panels which I’m fairly sure three of us understood and the rest, me included, nodded at attentively. Gold stars to those with the clipboards, and we soon all caught up.

The team taking down panels had to label them (A1, A2, A3 etc.) so they went back in the right place. My apologies to this team, who whilst busy working out the labels, had me cracking jokes about their size which only confused matters further.

The room was a treasure trove of curiosities from a golden age of seafaring. Including a Horseshoe Crab which, folks, is arguably the most successful animal ever to walk the earth, as it still looks like it did back in the age of the dinosaurs. Why evolve if you’re already perfect? The gold standard of all the species, if you will.

Once finished for the evening, we said our goodbyes to Matt, who is making the incredibly selfish and unhelpful move to Amsterdam to join his partner. A golden opportunity if ever he saw one. Not only does he have a heart of gold, but he’s truly worth his weight in gold too. He’ll be very much missed. A big thank you if you’re reading this, Matt.

See you all next week!

Wowee, Wednesday night saw it all! One of our largest turn outs this year, and two new faces joining our ranks - well done Franki and Yuliia on your first group run. We had a lovely task ahead of us in our favourite location, but before we headed to the task we quickly went around and discovered how we would fight our enemies. A lot of the team chose ways that would bore their enemies and an overall preference for using their special talents. Great to see a lack of violence other than my mind when thinking up the ice breaker.

Following a juicy little warm up we headed off through Charlton. We wound our way through the residential streets onto the bike path that takes us straight to the side entrance. The back half of the group did get disconnected but, I, your brave leader journeyed back to reconcile the two groups and lead us into the warmth of the Maritime Museum's Collection Center.

Matt greeted us and showed us the purpose of our task, which was to take down ceiling tiles, which then the golden age group would "gild". The tiles came from a special room in a separate building, where the records and archives are stored. The tiles are part of a room for discovery for younger visitors. The task was large and we started a chain, but not before intellectually planning how we would identify the panels and their homes in the roof. The time passed very quickly and all of a sudden it was time to head back to Charlton House.

The group managed to stick together this time and we got back with time for a good stretch and a chat. See you all next time folks, keep plugging away at the good deeds as we are in close contention with our group for the January Challenge!