Waiting outside Old Spike Peckham was Maria and Alex, who had just come back from three weeks out in Australia, Japan and South Korea, so we caught up on his adventures as Lindy, James, Paulin and Josie, who came back for her two GoodGym session since her first back in January as she had other commitments on a Wednesday. However, we welcomed Sarah who came for her first GoodGym session ever! Welcome Sarah!

We knew Emma and Rosalind would meet Paulin and Rose at Denmark Hill Community Gardens and Richard and Jo, who was celebrating her 100th good deed tonight at Thorlands Gardens. However, before all that, Sam had to go through his customary speech and do the full version for newbie, Sarah. Just before leaving for a warm up, everyone introduced themselves and asked the ice breaker snap poll and question for tonight, since its Denim Day as well as Stop Food Waste Day, is it acceptable to wear double denim and what tips would you give for stopping food waste?

It started off mixed for the double denim, but ultimately people would wear double denim. Whether they can rock it is another thing... People gave tips like using scraps for soup, stocks and snacks (batter your vegetable peelings and make it into tempura chips), using Too Good To Go and Olio apps, eating once a day, portioning and freezing food.

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Connected with nature

Since the group had to be split in two for the two tasks we had tonight, Maria and James opted to go with Paulin to Denmark Hill Community Garden whereas the rest went to Thorlands Gardens to meet Simon. Yet, they had to ensure they were nice and warm to avoid injury. With Maria backmarking for Paulin's group and Lindy for Sam's, they went off in different directions.

The Denmark Hill Community Garden group continued with what they started last week by deepening and widening the trench, but they didn't get the chance to plant the hedge saplings. This will be done this weekend.

The Thorlands Garden group arrived to find Simon and Richard in the "Walled" garden getting the tools ready. Jo came shortly afterwards to wear her wings as she hit her 100th good deed tonight! Hooray! We split the team in three: Lindy and Sarah took the wheelbarrows to do the woodchip run as Richard and Josie used the mattock and dutch hoe to turn over the soil and take out the weeds as they pushed to connect the woodchip paths. Finally, Alex, Jo and Sam did some weeding as it had been raining a lot recently. As the wheelbarrows of woodchip came through, these were put on the cardboard that had been laid out after the soil had been turned over and raked to be flat.

We completed the task within the allocated 40 minutes as we were encouraged by the 90s tunes in honour of denim day taking us back through the years. Tune after tune!

After acknowledging our great work with a few group photos and putting the tools away back in the "Walled" garden, off we went back to Old Spike Peckham and made it back for 20:30 to meet the others for a good stretch.

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out last night! Rose and Simon were really pleased with what we got done as per usual. I hope you'd enjoyed your first and second sessions, Sarah and Josie, respectively. Thank you to Maria and Lindy for backmarking their respective runs.

6 bags were filled putting a good dent into the weeding for Ms R - still some to go but the patio is clear for sitting out in the spring sunshine ☀️

Quick work setting up SE5 stall on a sunny April morning 🤙🏼🤙🏼

On International Day of Pink & National Siblings Day, 16 GoodGymers came out in full force to help out Alan and Jaki at Cossall Estate and Kirkwood Nature Reserve with litter picking and weeding.

Sam arrived in time to open Old Spike to Maria as Lindy, Rosalind, Daryl, Gemma, James, Andrada, Adrian and Nathan trickled in. We caught up on weekend trips away and activities that we did. As soon as it hit 18:45, Sam got on with his usual speech, but posted a photo on the WhatsApp group....siblings or dating: snap poll. As everyone introduced themselves and answer the ice-breaker of first thing that they think of that's pink, they also had to say if the photo shown was a photo of siblings or two people dating.

In the snap-poll, most thought they were dating, but in fact they were siblings. Top of the list for "pink" word association was "Pink" the artist then came Barbie and then piggies...oink!

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A getaway bag, a hoover and mixed pairs of high heels

Since the evenings are getting lighter, Sam opted to do the warm-up on the Green. Afterwards with Paulin backmarking, off the group went down towards Peckham Rye Park as we needed to do a loop around to ensure we covered at least 2.5k. We ran into Nunhead and down Gordon Road to reach Cossall Estate to meet Alan, Jaki, Anna, Sander and eventually, Folarin and Jessie. Here Jaki explained that she needed 3-4 people to stay in the courtyard to tidy it up, but the rest could head to Kirkwood Nature Reserve as we split half the group to weed the nettles and half the group to litter pick:

• Emma, Jessie, Nathan and Paulin stayed behind to tidy up the courtyard.
• Anna, James, Rosalind and Sam stayed around the gates of the Nature Reserve to weed the nettles and unwanted plants to beautify the entrance.
• The rest paired up with one holding a bing liner and the other using the litter picker to pick up litter: Maria and Adrian paired up, Gemma and Folarin, Andrada and Lindy and finally, Daryl and Sander as they combed the Nature Reserve finding hidden treasures.

As the night started to draw in and as we reach 19:55, those in the Nature Reserve gathered outside the gates to take a photo of their haul - 8 bags - including 5 bags of litter (including a hoover, shoes and baby/kids lunch boxes...) and 3 bags full of nettles and weeds. We threw them away and met up with the other group back in the courtyard for a final group photo and to say our goodbyes to Alan and Jaki.

It was only a 1k run back to Old Spike Peckham. After a quick stretch on the green, a few of us opted in for an impromptu social at The White Horse.

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out last night! Alan and Jaki (plus Oscar) were very pleased with what we got done in 45 minutes and can't wait to have us back in June. Thank you to Paulin for backmarking both ways.