It's hard to measure the impact GoodGym has had, but nine years and 6217 is a good place to start! Not only that, but we have had 9 people reach 50 good deeds, a massive 17 people soar over 100 good deeds, and one person is well on their way to a giant 1000 good deeds. A special shout out to all the lovely faces that have joined in the last year and are well on their way to reaching their first milestone. If you've come to one session or 500, you've all been part of something really meaningful. Here's to the next year of doing good and getting fit!

We kicked off the night of celebrations with a warm up and thanks to Ariane, a beautiful selection of party hats! In our best party wear we ran up Chiswick High Rd for the first of two weeks of sessions there to first clear, then plant. This is a busy area which often gets lots of rubbish chucked into the raised beds. It has been taken over by Abundance London, a local charity, who want to make it more environmentally friendly. The hope is that if it is filled with spring flowers and cleared of leaves, it will stop people littering, create better air quality and look beautiful too.

We got straight on with the work, clearing the space and packing up leaves into bags. In just a short window of time we managed to get no fewer than 50 bags, which is amazing. The area looks so much better, has reduced the chances of slips and is all ready for our planting session next week.

Everybody knows that no party is complete without a fitness element, so it was on to Turnham Green for our birthday themed session. First up was a balloon relay - everyone got their own balloon and the challenge was to transport it between our knees using lateral jumps. The first team to complete the sprint and then pop their balloon between their knees (squeeze those quads!) wins. The ladies achieved the first victory, so it was on to the next game to decided who took home the prize. This involved keeping a balloon in the air, and involved quick wits, fast reflexes and even faster twitch muscles. Again, it was the ladies that emerged victorious and snagged themselves an early Christmas selection box!

On Saturday we have a lovely mission planting bulbs at Chiswick House -why not join in the fun!

Happy Birthday GoodGym Hounslow - here's to all the litter picked, trees planted, community hubs planted, gardens created and mulch shifted so far!

No demon running here, just some older friends and some newer friends chatting on and having a smile! This was the second special collaboration social stations run for GoodGym Ealing and We Run Ealing. This time the aim was no more than run to every station with Ealing in the name!

The first one, Ealing Broadway, was easy - we all met there! And what a turn out! We more or less stuck together and completed a big loop. Even a last minute drizzle didn't dampen our spirits.

We will return, not with the the thin white duke (a link to the obscure title of this report), but with another round of Acton and Ealing station runs next year!

It was all about the wildlife in Chiswick tonight as we delivered information locally about hedgehogs underneath the beaver moon!

Wild Chiswick is an organisation which works to protect vulnerable animals in the area. There have been recent sightings of hedgehogs for the first time in years at Strand on the Green and Jo, who runs the project, wanted to make sure the population continues to grow. Our job for the night was to deliver information leaflets to houses in the area so they knew how to care for hedgehogs, improve their habitats and help them thrive!

We divided up into teams and, like the well oiled machine we are, started delivering the leaflets at impressive speed.

We were done before we knew it, so meeting back up with Jo, we posed for some photos under Justin Beaver. (thanks for the punspiration!)

Then it was back to the town hall for a short but sweet tabata session working our major muscle groups.

The good news? The task was very effective - Jo got an enquiry about creating a habitat before the evening was out! Amazing work.

We have a couple of weekend missions coming up. Fancy taking part in a huge bulb planting task at Chiswick House??

Or maybe some hedge care in Heston is up your street.

Either way you'll be kicking off the weekend doing something positive for your community and getting in a great work out!

Today, Luis and I returned to visit Ms H and help her out in the garden. We got to work clearing the garden path and cutting back a shrub that had started to grow over the neighbour’s fence. Ms H made us tea and biscuits, which we enjoyed during a little break. While we sat in Ms H’s conservatory and Luis worked extra hard not to nod off in the warm autumn sunshine we chatted about and some of our favourite places to travel. Ms H had travelled to so many wonderful places with her late husband and it was lovely to hear her memories of their adventures. We had such a nice time we forgot to take any before or after photos so here’s a photo of the biscuits Ms H likes to offer when Goodgymers visit.