On a cold November Sunday three of us congregated in hornfair park for a lovely 4k run taking in the sites of Charlton park, Maryon Wilson park with it's guinnea pigs, rabbits and a single beautiful stag. By the way, what do you call a stag with a new hair style? A stag do? Deer oh deer.

Dad jokes aside, we met Lynne and Becky at the common along with more volunteers from the Friends of group and teamed up to tackle our chosen areas of the common land. Soon we were laden with bags full of all sorts of junk, including a washing up bowl and lots of balloons.

It's always a nice start to a Sunday morning, chatting with friends who want to protect our green spaces.

Great work team, until next time!

As Saturday got slightly less cold Louise, Lynne and Julian made their way to the United Reform Church in Charlton for today's mission. The church has been holding community sessions with doctors and there was a need to improve vehicular access by clearing the lane at the back of the church.

We were met by vicar Andrew and Lucy and soon put to work: Lynne got down to work clearing brambles and weeds and Julian and Louise set to digging a path for cars. Normally when working on missions we'll see cats, dogs, the squirrels and the occasion fox, so it was delightful when a different creature, in this case a small frog, was uncovered.

After an hour and a bit the lane was a lot clearer and the mud and weeds had been tucked away for collection. Extra kudos to Louise though, who stayed even longer to help Andrew lay some sleepers and gravel to finish off the path.

Sunday saw 4 eager Good Gymers return to Woolwich Common to help the friends of the common with their monthly litter pick. In lovely weather we split into two groups and wandered off to fill our bags up. Happily for your author's group there seemed to be as much blackberry picking as litter picking required, with little fruity bonuses helping punctuating the usual picking up of beer cans and crisp packets. Just over an hour after starting all of us had returned with our swag and a significantly cleaner common..

It's been a while since we last attacked the brambles at St George's Garrison Church and nature had fought back in the intervening months.

Armed with a somewhat bizarre array of tools, we resumed our battle against the prickly invaders, cutting them back and digging out the roots.

Twelve barrow-loads later we surrendered to the lure of the GoodGym picnic in the adjacent park.

Such a lovely way to spend a Saturday morning.