Holy Trinity Lamorbey Church has lovely grounds that are enjoyed by parishioners and public alike.

Last summer we made a couple of visits and cleared most of a very overgrown flower border - pulling up a weed membrane and removing unwanted plants and brambles. The area has now been planted out by the parishioners and it looks really great 🌱.

This evening we were back to finish off the final patch that we'd run out of time to tackle last year.

Some of us met early for a lovely walk around nearby Lamorbey Park, getting some extra steps in while catching up, while others headed straight to the church.

It didn't take long for everyone to get stuck in. Working together, we collected litter, wrestled up the last stretch of stubborn weed membrane and cleared away the remaining weeds, finally bringing the project to a satisfying conclusion.

But we weren't quite finished. The church had also asked if we could pop across the road to their hall, where bushes had started poking through the railings and out onto the pavement. Fifteen minutes with shears and loppers and we soon had everything looking neat and tidy. Much better to have the pavement back to full width!

With the cuttings and weeds added to the church's compost heap and their tools packed away, our reward arrived in the form of refreshing ice lollies – definitely appreciated on a warm summer evening 🍦🍦🍦.

Just as we were about to head our separate ways, someone suggested a quick drink at the micro-pub opposite. It was an unexpected but very welcome way to round off another productive evening of doing good together.

Two groups of good gymers headed over to Luxmore Gardens - a walking group led by Marta and a running group led by Sarah. Once there, we first had a lesson in watering plants when the soil is very dry (answer is: very slowly!). Once Joseph had managed to open the manhole cover so that we could access the water, we proceeded with watering lots of the plants which hadn’t been watered for a few weeks, including some newly mulched roses. After doing some pruning and some more mulching, our job was done. Just in time for a quick group photo by the newly watered cherry trees and we headed back to Glass Mill. Next week we are back at Seniors, see you all then!

An abundance of Goodgymers (14 of us!) met at Plumstead as the dark clouds rolled in.... but our luck was in and we had a fine, fluffy-clouded day. Our walking route took us along the Ridgeway which follows the Southern Outflow Sewer, part of an 82-mile London sewage system opened in 1865. It was a big deal at the time and the Prince of Wales attended the opening of one of four new pumping stations ('Cathedrals of Sewage') at Crossness. Although there was rather an abundance of litter and fly tipping on the first part of the route, it's a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation (SNIC) and we saw some butterflies and dragon flies but no hedgehogs or rare carder bees. An abundance of conversation and laughs along the way too!

The next abundance was blackberries - a handy snack along the secret path to Crossness. There was an open day on at the pumping station and the lovely man at the gate let us into the grounds to see the courtyard and get a sense of what goes on although you need 2-3 hours for a proper visit on one of Crossness' Pumping Days.

On the return leg, we stopped for abundant plates of food at friendly Thamesmead Social - a lovely cafe on Southmere Lake. This was where the 'abundance portal' (which maybe had been transmitting its vibes across SE London already) is to be found... who knew? We dispersed in various directions at this point with some of us walking back to Abbey Wood station to get the Elizabeth Line home - with thankfully abundant trains on a Sunday!

Lovely Thursday evening and great turnout this week at the Emirates. The usual suspects around but also new VI runners and guides including Sarah from GG Greenwich. Her 1st guided run with Kevin who was also new as a VI Runner. She loved it. Veronika, Simon and Steph Ducat were present and gorgeous stuck in their roles as usual.

When our planned task fell through at the last minute, 11 GoodGym Greenwich runners and walkers proved that adaptability is one of our greatest strengths. Rather than call it a night, we grabbed the litter pickers and headed around Charlton for an impromptu community litter pick.

Before setting off, our icebreaker question was: "What's your favourite thing about Greenwich?" Answers ranged from its beautiful parks and riverside walks to the markets, history, community spirit and, of course, GoodGym itself. It was a lovely reminder of why we're all so keen to help keep the borough looking its best.

The evening was also packed with milestones. A huge welcome to Cathy, who completed her very first GoodGym task, hopefully the first of many! Meanwhile, massive congratulations to our Norwegian pun-King Ivar, who celebrated an incredible 300th GoodGym task!

We split up to tackle litter hotspots around Charlton, collecting bags full of cans, bottles, wrappers and plenty of the usual unexpected finds. Every bag filled was another small but visible improvement to the neighbourhood.

A big thank you to everyone who embraced the change of plans with such positivity. Another lovely evening spent amongst the rubbish!

Until next time!

Rachel 😁