What a way to celebrate two whole years of GoodGym Merton! To mark our 2nd birthday this November, we doubled down on the fun with two action-packed sessions in creative spaces at Revive Wandle Roots and Little ARK heading off to enjoy a well-earned birthday drink.

It was incredible to see such a brilliant turnout and reflect on just how much our community has grown over the last two years.

Admittedly, we got so caught up in the catch-ups and celebrations that we completely forgot to snap a group photo! Luckily, John Shirley saved the day and grabbed a quick picture with a few of the team before heading off. We hope to see you back in Merton again soon, and definitely well before our next birthday!

A massive thank you to everyone who has been part of the journey so far. Cheers to two years of doing good and keeping fit, and to many more to come!

This afternoon we headed to help Christian Care Merton to tackle an overgrown garden area. After hacking away a dense tangle of stubborn brambles, we set to work with spades and forks, digging to unearth buried brick, cement, and rocks in an attempt to clear the debris and begin flattening the space to prepare it for the next stage of transformation.

It was proper hard graft, and this project is definitely going to need a return visit or two - along with plenty more muscle! A huge well done and thank you to the hardy volunteers who answered the last-minute call-out. We will be back soon with hopefully a few more helpers.

Tonight’s challenge called for seamless coordination, serious pedal power, and plenty of footwork.

The action kicked off with bulbs being delivered by bike to three strategic rendezvous points across the borough, packaged and ready for distribution.

As darkness fell and the evening drizzle set in, the hardy volunteers split into smaller teams. Armed with map pins/addresses, and bags loaded with brown paper packages, we set off on foot to make the drops.

This mammoth logistical feat may only happen once a year, but it’s always a firm favourite for clocking up extra steps while covering plenty of ground. Despite the murky weather, spirits stayed high, every delivery was completed along with a bunch of good deeds.

Well done, team - Merton is going to look fantastic come spring!

For Monday's group session, we were deployed across Merton's Community Fridge and Morden Baptist Church for a multi-front mission!

Working with strict tactical coordination (especially in the limited storage space), our three squads executed:

📦 Operation Storage: A military-precision evacuation of the shelves. The space was cleared, swept and scrubbed in controlled phases before items were strategically redeployed back into formation; a masterclass in spatial logistics.

💄Donation Sorting: Interception of a massive influx of makeup, systematically categorising items including lipstick and nail polish and boxing them up ready for the Christmas distribution period.

🧽 Kitchen Recon: Cleared drawers and shelves, scrubbing every surface to leave things fresh and inspection-ready ahead of an upcoming wedding.

Mission accomplished - a swift, highly organised operation that left the space deeply grateful. Well done team and welcome to Camila, Sarah, Usaama, Su and Robert on your first GoodGym session. We hope to see you again soon.