Despite the recent mild weather, today brought us a grey and cool morning. Nonetheless, five keen GoodGym-ers met at the Roots4Life community hub, joining lots of their regular volunteers. For anyone who hasn't heard of it, Roots4Life is a brilliant charity set up to address the physical and mental health challenges that come with malnutrition and social isolation.

After a welcome from the task owner Cat we set about the first activity. This involved carefully digging up (poisonous) daffodils that had been planted in the raised beds alongside the garlic and potatoes. We made light work of this, and soon had all of the daffs transferred into individual pots ready to find new homes away from the vegetable patch!

After this, things went downhill (literally). At the other end of the site a trench had been started ready to plant some hedgerows. Unfortunately, as the land is under the water table, it had become rather flooded. So the first job was to drain out the worst of the water using watering cans, buckets, mugs... pretty much anything we could get our hands on really!

Once this was done, we planted the seedlings in a neat pattern, while trying to avoid sinking into the bog ourselves. Varieties included blackthorn, crab apple, dog rose, elder and wild cherry, in the hope that the hedgerow will become a foraging and cooking educational experience, as well as providing a vital habitat and food source to wildlife. There was then another bed near the community hub which also needed planting, but thankfully that was a lot less boggy, so it didn't take us long at all.

Finally, there was just time to have a quick cuppa and a slice of bread and butter pudding to bring our energy levels back up before saying our goodbyes. In total, almost 180 saplings were planted this morning so a really brilliant effort all round - well done everyone!

A grey Sunday afternoon saw 7 GoodGym-ers gather for a tidying-up Community Mission at the hidden gem that is Ballast Quay Garden in Greenwich. A garden on the banks of the Thames with fantastic views over the docklands and Greenwich, Ballast Quay Garden is a tranquil spot in a busy area in East Greenwich, featuring plenty of greenery, sculptures and an impressive fig tree whose crops are in high demand by the local wildlife. After a quick briefing by our host, Diana, we set to work clearing leaves & litter, chipping away at those pesky but hardy inter-paving grasses & weeds, and trying very hard not to annoy too many earthworms. The time flew by as we compared notes on recent GoodGym tasks, upcoming events and how amazing the garden is in summer, to the tune of clippers whooshing along the Thames and waves breaking on the beach. The ultimate test of our work was an inspection by Tom, Diana’s dog, who wasn’t in the mood to pose for photos but did get lots of fuss from all involved and has definitely become quite the Greenwich GoodGym celebrity. Thanks to all involved and have a great week!

This wintry Wednesday night, a merry band of Goodgymers made possibly their last trip to the Prince Philip Maritime Collections Centre. Meeting at Charlton House, we shared our estimations of how far we’d get in a zombie apocalypse (and judging by responses, readers of this probably shouldn’t count on us). Jen had us warmed up in no time with games involving fun facts, compliments and shoo-ing of imaginary sheep.

We followed Fearless Leader Julian, one of the few in South-East London undaunted by the fact every street between Charlton and Kidbrooke looks the same, to the Collections Centre. Upon arrival we found out we’d be replacing ceiling panels in a room where kids can get hands-on with history (I’m copyrighting that phrase for a future educational company, just to say). And these weren’t just any panels, they were gold-gilded panels! Now that’s been established, I can now pepper the rest of the story with gold-puns. What a golden opportunity. an open goal dying to be scored.

The always friendly, funny and inspirational Matt showed us to the room, and the golden hour began with an explanation of how to take down and replace the ceiling panels which I’m fairly sure three of us understood and the rest, me included, nodded at attentively. Gold stars to those with the clipboards, and we soon all caught up.

The team taking down panels had to label them (A1, A2, A3 etc.) so they went back in the right place. My apologies to this team, who whilst busy working out the labels, had me cracking jokes about their size which only confused matters further.

The room was a treasure trove of curiosities from a golden age of seafaring. Including a Horseshoe Crab which, folks, is arguably the most successful animal ever to walk the earth, as it still looks like it did back in the age of the dinosaurs. Why evolve if you’re already perfect? The gold standard of all the species, if you will.

Once finished for the evening, we said our goodbyes to Matt, who is making the incredibly selfish and unhelpful move to Amsterdam to join his partner. A golden opportunity if ever he saw one. Not only does he have a heart of gold, but he’s truly worth his weight in gold too. He’ll be very much missed. A big thank you if you’re reading this, Matt.

See you all next week!