What a ride!

On Wednesday evening, fourteen humans and one pup headed down to the UK's oldest adventure playground with strict and clear instructions to "have at it"...

We had Chris stoically sweeping basically the whole site, a dedicated squad clearing out the "pit of doom", and our expert gardeners removing a rogue buddleia that was impeding play (after double checking it was the right plant to remove - an occasional risk in the exciting landscape of the adventure playground!). And of course particular props to watering team for embracing their iconic tools of choice - winning the week's style awards in the rubber-ducky-chic category.

Great to have Stephen, Amy, Ashfaq and, with thanks, co-backmarkers Eloise and Anna for their first sessions! And of course our first E&C canine joiner, Max.

We did note with some pride as they ran off that Amy chose to join us at E&C after Chris had been talking up GoodGym for years! Let's go!

The Community Healing Garden are holding their big summer party next weekend, so needed all hands on deck for party-prep. Luckily, Goodgym-ers descended from all across London to boster numbers - Julian, Marta and Khai from Greenwich; Tracey from Wandsworth; and Manuel all the way from Elephant and Castle!

Head Gardener Hugh started with a tour of the garden and it was great to see the planters thriving despite the endless dry spell - the residents have done a great job with the watering efforts!

The main task of the day was to shift piles of poles, planks and pallets from the central party zone, to the far corners of the garden. Many hands make light work, and by setting up a production line we efficiently lifted and shifted everything in sight. Our efforts were rewarded with a well earned cup of tea and a cookie - but the real celebration will be next week's party - Sunday 6th Sept 12-4pm, all welcome!

Series one, episode two has dropped!

And it was some GoodGymming for the ages. A dozen of us met at the Castle Centre and jogged a lovely route down the quiet roads and across Burgess Park to meet a few more GoodGymmers at the Trinity College Centre, an amazing long-standing community space in the heart of Camberwell. We split up into teams and set to, one taking on clearing up the garden, the largest group deep cleaning the kitchen walls - the kitchen gets a lot of use as they offer free meals in partnership with local charities - and a third sorting through a magical mystery room that needed a bit of a refresh.

With an honourable shout out to Hilary for getting up the ladder to deep clean the extractor fan; the session highlight has to be the team of Lorna Jorge James Sevan Theo and others turning their talents to surgically deep cleaning the insides of two huge ovens - getting in a solid bicep workout and transforming them to look almost new.

Site manager Kevin was delighted and was already asking when we can come back. With a seamless return jog where we stayed perfectly as a group and definitely didn't split into three smaller groups, we capped the evening with a gentle cool down.

A small gang headed to the Four Quarters for some OJ & lemonades (king of drinks!) and to plot our next running events.

See you all for episode 3!