Seven GoodGymers showed up in the cold, autumnal weather to join the usual gang, including Otis the dog, at the pet cemetery, and leaves was yet again the key word for the task.

With our usual dumping ground soon to be removed because it’s become a suspected rat residence, we bagged up mountains of leaves and wheeled them away on a trolley. The rats’ days of rent-free living are soon numbered.

The rain had the decency to wait until we left, and before we did, some of us harvested a little thyme, which is now presumably adding flavour to a nice and warm autumn dish while the rain pours down outside. 🍁🍂

Last night, 12 of us gathered at Charlton House before running or walking our way to Charlton Manor Primary School for an evening of community spirit, paintbrushes and several spiders.

After a short run, some of the runners met up with our walking crew at the school, who were already armed with paintbrushes and getting stuck into freshening up the walls of the Mary Seacole classroom. No hanging about here!

Meanwhile, another small but mighty team tackled the lost property cupboard. We made some decent headway, sorting the mountain of mystery belongings into different crates and uncovering what felt like a thriving spider community along the way.

As they say, many hands make light work, and with everyone mucking in, we got plenty done.

Thank you everyone - we'll be back later in the year to give the outdoor equipment a fresh lick of paint, so watch this space!

Coming up

🌳 This weekend: Alongside our usual parkruns, we've got two lovely community missions:

🌱 Spreading woodchip on the woodland walk at Horn Park: https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/spreading-woodchip-on-the-woodland-walk-at-horn-park

🐾 Helping clean up at the Old Blue Cross Pet Cemetery: https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/clean-up-at-the-old-blue-cross-pet-cemetery-4b4c6df7-1980-40e8-ab7b-12ef394e39b9

🏫 Next Wednesday: We're heading to Woolwich for a run to help out at Glyndon Community Centre: https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/helping-at-glyndon-community-centre-fe52fe5b-49c1-4ed6-a817-a3de5d46ff9a

🌿 Next Saturday: Join us for a group run to Mycenae Gardens for some garden maintenance: https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/maintenance-at-mycenae-gardens

Until next time, wonderful people! 👋

Rachel

Four Goodgymers, and our friend Bernarda, set out on a very autumnal morning to clean up Anchor & Hope Lane and Bugsby's Way, SE7. Always plenty of litter here - and this time the fallen leaves meant some searching for what lay beneath!

It's no longer unbe-leaf-able how many bottles and cans are thrown in this area and Ivor soon had two bags filled with recyclables. In one hour, we filled 7 bags and also cleared up a fridge door and a large builder's rubble bag. Thanks to all who turned out on a cold, but sunny morning! Bags leaf-t by the usual bins for Greenwich Council to collect.

Four Goodgymers joined forces at the Strand to serve hot vegetable biryani, some biscuits and hot drinks to the homeless. In no time all the food was gone, maybe because less food was distributed before our arrival. It took us less than 30 minutes to empty the big container of hot food.

12 GoodGymers met outside Woolwich station for a warm-up & ice breaker discussing apps we rely on, before Walking the Line/Running up that Hill to Dee's Childcare. As one of our regular tasks, often involving building play equipment, we're not Lost Boys in this venue, so soon got stuck in to the various jobs assigned to us.

Beginning with Heathers (the planting of) and finishing lopping away at some (Poison) Ivy (where Julian, Marta & Pieter embraced their inner Edward Scissorhands!), we also got to plant daffodil bulbs which we can't wait to see next spring, a Memento of our task this evening. The Secret of Our Success was, as always, the A Team that is Greenwich Goodgym, and Mission: Accomplished (never impossible!) we parted ways at the Crossroads.

So whether you're watching this report on Disney, Amazon or Netflix, great work everyone & catch up soon 🎬