Three GoodGymers, Jana, Emily and Marie – met at Raleigh House, New Malden, and got straight to work giving the outdoor space some much-needed TLC.

Emily and Jana started by tackling the weeds on the patio, while Marie arrived shortly afterwards and immediately got stuck in clearing weeds from between the paving stones. Jana then turned her attention to the flower beds, pulling out plenty of persistent bindweed to help tidy the borders.

With everyone working hard, the hour flew by, and we left the patio and flower beds looking much neater. Now all that's needed is some much-needed rain after the recent hot weather to help the plants recover!

To round off the task, Jana brought some refreshing watermelon to share, while Emily treated us to some fizzy refreshments. We hope the Stay Well residents enjoy spending time in their tidier outdoor space!

What a day!

On Saturday we celebrated an incredible milestone as GoodGym Richmond turned 10 years old. It was fantastic to see so many familiar faces, old friends, new members, GoodGymmers from other area, community partners and supporters all together to celebrate everything we've achieved over the last decade.

What made the day even more special was that we were celebrating on the exact 10th anniversary of our very first session. Back in July 2016, over 40 runners set off from Whole Foods in the middle of a heatwave to tackle Himalayan balsam. Anyone who's been around GoodGym Richmond for a while will know that some things never change – we're still pulling out that same stubborn plant!

Since that first run, 623 amazing people have been part of GoodGym Richmond, completing an incredible 7,911 tasks across our borough. That's nearly 8,000 hours of volunteering for local charities, community organisations and green spaces. Along the way, members who've tracked their runs have also covered over 82,000 kilometres – that's the equivalent of running around the world twice.

But while the numbers are something to celebrate, they only tell part of the story. GoodGym has always been about people. It's about showing up for our communities, finding purpose in movement, making friends, improving our mental health, settling into a new area, and discovering that doing something good for someone else often does us a world of good too.

Over the last ten years we've had the privilege of supporting so many fantastic organisations. From Achieving for Children, local Scout and Guide groups, schools, care homes and community centres, to Richmond Furniture Scheme, Integrated Neurological Services, St Christopher's Fellowship, Purple Elephant and so many others. We've helped care for Petersham Common, Ham Lands, Crane River and other treasured green spaces, built community allotments from the ground up, and turned up week after week to lend an extra pair of hands wherever they were needed.

Sometimes we've simply helped make a task a little easier. Other times we've helped make projects happen that otherwise wouldn't have happened at all. Those moments make us especially proud.

None of this would have been possible without the organisations who've supported us over the years. A huge thank you to Richmond Council, whose original funding helped launch GoodGym Richmond ten years ago, to Richmond Foundation for their continued support and recently renewed grant, to Heathrow Community Trust, and to Richmond Council's Climate Action Group, whose recent micro-grant has helped us buy new equipment for our community base.

Thank you too to our event sponsor, Alpha Vets in Teddington, and a very special thank you to JP and Monica, who generously dug into their own pockets to help make our celebration such a lovely occasion.

The celebration was also a chance to recognise the incredible people who have shaped GoodGym Richmond over the years. Thank you to Mark, who laid the foundations by leading those very first sessions ten years ago, and to Sam, who led the group before me and helped steer us through the post-covid era.

Thank you to every single Run Leader and every member of TaskForce, past, present, and future! So much of what GoodGym does simply wouldn't happen without people quietly giving that little bit extra behind the scenes.

We also wanted to celebrate some very special individuals. Thank you to Anita, whose care and dedication have helped make our community space so beautiful, to JP, our most active member, and to Lucy, whose contribution over the years has been enormous.

A huge congratulations also goes to Chris, who celebrated his incredible 500th GoodGym task during the event! Reaching 500 tasks is an amazing achievement and we're delighted he got to wear the crown and collect his milestone T-shirt surrounded by so many friends.

We were honoured to be joined by the Mayor of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, Councillor Nancy Baldwin, who spoke so warmly about GoodGym Richmond and reflected on presenting us with a Community Heroes Award in 2022. She spoke about the impact volunteers have across the borough and how remarkable it is for a volunteer organisation to thrive for ten years. We were incredibly grateful for her kind words and for taking the time to celebrate with us.

Finally, thank you to every single person who has been part of GoodGym Richmond over the last decade. Whether you've completed one task or hundreds, whether you've been with us since the beginning or only joined this week, you've helped build something really special. Together we've created a community that is welcoming, supportive, active and full of people who genuinely want to make Richmond a better place.

Here's to the first ten years of keeping fit by doing good, and to the next ten!

Tonight was all about watering as the heatwave continues to keep everyone and the plants hot and thirsty.

Having located the handle for the water carriers and extra buckets Dave, Luke, Claire and Jonathan headed to the river to fill every bucket, wheelbarrow and watering can in sight.

Wheelbarrows loaded with water were wheeled over to the GoodGym flowerbed for watering all the plants to keep it looking colourful and keep them going for a few more days.

Meanwhile the water carriers were taken to the community garden and emptied into the waterbutts. As fast as they were filled they were emptied for watering all the vegetables.

By the end it was a slick operation emptying the water carriers into buckets and into the waterbutts.

In between all of this Tom and Laura managed to give the compost heaps a good turn as well.

Let hope we get some rain before our next visit.

Today Marie, Sabir, Anna and myself met to feed the plants in this colourful plot to keep them going in the heat for all to enjoy.