Our regular Thursday Achilles session took place at Paddington Recreation Ground. The cool breeze and the freshness brought by the morning rain made the run much more comfortable after London's recent heatwaves. There was an excellent turnout, with 16 runners and 14 guides attending the session. Three of the guides were volunteers from GoodGym, and we also had additional volunteers helping by looking after participants' bags, which was greatly appreciated. The session offered a variety of options to suit everyone's goals and abilities. Some participants chose to do interval training, others focused on sprint sessions, while some ran at a specific pace. There were also runners who preferred to run without a distance target and simply see how they felt on the day. In addition, some participants opted for a walk rather than a run. It was incredibly rewarding to see how happy the Achilles members were to have someone to talk to and guide them through the busy surroundings of Paddington Recreation Ground. The sense of support, companionship, and inclusion continues to make these sessions such a positive experience for everyone involved.

Another great GoodGym Hounslow session happened last night, with plenty to celebrate and two important community tasks helping local green spaces recover after the drought.

🎉 Celebrations all round

A huge congratulations to Maxime on his 100th Good Deed! That is a fantastic milestone and a testament to the time, energy and commitment he has put into helping others in the community. Reaching 100 good deeds means 100 occasions of turning up, getting stuck in and making a tangible difference — one task, one neighbour and one community space at a time. What an achievement!

We also gave a warm GoodGym welcome to David, who joined us for his very first session. It was great to have him along, and we hope this is the first of many GoodGym adventures.

💦 Watering after the drought

With our local green spaces needing some extra care following the drought, we split into two groups for two very worthwhile watering tasks. One group headed to Abundance in Chiswick, helping to water their community growing spaces. Organisations like Abundance do so much to bring people together around food, nature and sustainable local communities, so helping to keep their plants healthy is a small but important way of supporting that work.

The other group headed to Wild Chiswick’s allotments, where there was plenty to keep us busy watering plants that had been through a tough spell of dry weather. Wild Chiswick helps protect and nurture local biodiversity while keeping valuable community growing spaces thriving. We even had a curious fox was keeping watch over proceedings! 🦊

🤝 Reuniting!

We decided to skip the usual workout in the interests of bringing the groups back together and spending more time as one team. Neither group was short of a workout, though. At Turnham Green, the watering crew had to carry heavy watering cans all the way across the Green from the rockery — definitely enough functional fitness to make up for skipping the usual fitness! Next week, we’re back to normal with our session at Chiswick House — workout included!

A big well done to everyone. From 100 good deeds to a first session, and everything between and beyond, it was another great night of doing good together. 💚

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!