Last night, a group of eager GoodGymmers earned their community service badges by tidying up the outdoor area of a local scout hut. With the space being underused and overgrown, it was our job to make sure it was in tip-top shape!

Warming Up with Some Badges of Honor 🏅

Before we set off on our mission, we kicked things off with a lively warm-up. And to add some fun, we shared what our own personal scout badges would be – and lets just say, they were deliciously varied! From cheese eating to flapjack munching, it is clear that we have varied tastes and skill sets! Some of us had niche talents, like dog grooming, or the coveted town crier badge. Of course, we also had some practical talents in the mix – shout-out to those aiming for the Excel spreadsheet badge, a real hero in any modern taskforce. And let’s not forget the classic carrot crunching badge!

We gave a shout Out to Paul! 🎉, who was fresh off the back of the Vitality 10K on Sunday! Despite his race efforts, he still joined us to lend a helping hand. 🏃‍♂️👏

Let's Scout It Out 🏕️

Once our imaginary badges were awarded, we marched over to the scout hut, where we found the outdoor area in need of some TLC. Armed with loppers, gloves and bags we got straight to work. We cleared away litter and debris from the pathways, pulled up weeds, swept the area, making it safe for little people, and dispatched overhanging branches. With everyone working together, the transformation was remarkable. The outdoor space was soon scout-ready, ready for whatever adventures lie ahead for the small community heroes.

Mission Accomplished! 🎯

With the outdoor area looking better than ever, we wrapped up our session feeling pretty pleased with the change. Another mission completed, another good deed done. As always, it was great to chat, laugh, and get stuck into the task together. The scouts will now have a clean, safe outdoor space to enjoy – and we can all feel proud about that.

We had time to squeeze in a leg based workout before we headed back for stretches, with exercises including crab walks, squat/oblique crunch combo, pulsing lunges and more - making sure to dodge the buses at the same time.

Next Week: Our next Monday GoodGym adventure will take us onto the streets of Wandsworth in aid of Foodcycle, a charity which helps those struggling with food insecurity. Don't forget about our upcoming community mission at the GoodGym garden which we will double up with optional parkrun and coffee. There are plenty more badges to be earned!

Until next time, keep running, keep doing good, and keep dreaming of that cheese-eating badge! 🧀💪

There was lots to celebrate last night, from Catherine's victory at the Great North Run yesterday to welcoming Ammrs to his very first group run - give him a big cheer!

Unfortunately not everything went quite go to plan, as when we turned up to Battersea Park's lovely therapy garden, our task owner for the evening was nowhere to be seen! However, that did not stop us getting to work. After a quick phone call for the code to the shed we got stuck in to a spot of weeding along the paths.

The garden is used as therapy for adults with a variety of conditions such as autism, physical disability, mental ill health and learning difficulties. It also offers various programs such as vocational training and support to enable unemployed disabled Londoners to overcome their barriers to employment and access job opportunities, and helps stroke survivors improve their mental and physical health by working with horticultural therapists. There are workshops for adults whose mental health means they need an environment designed to minimise stress and anxiety and also women only gardening programs.

It may not have seemed like we had loads of big jobs to do while we were there, but with the garden being used for such impactful activities on a day to day basis, helping keep it weed free and welcoming really does make a difference. And we also got to admire the huge courgette flowers and opium poppies!

After half an hour of work we found a nice spot in the park for our fitness session, which last night focused on upper bodies. Our traps, lats, biceps and triceps all got a thorough workout - and we even got joined by a beautiful dog keen to get involved!

It may feel like Autumn is drawing in, but we've got plenty to keep you warm over the coming months! Why not join me for a plog along the river tonight helping collect polluting litter? Next week in Wandsworth we're going back to Paradise cooperative garden and then on Tuesday we have a great task at Trafalgar Square handing out food and sorting donation for rough sleepers. Hope to see you there!

There was just the slightest sense of seasonal change in the air as we met for our group run last night in Wandsworth. Maybe the back to school feeling was because the summer heat wave seems to be behind us, or perhaps it was because we were heading back to Sacred Heart for the first time in a while for our evening's task.

We started off the session with our usual warm up, and this week we tried to think of movie stars with whom we shared our initials. Among us last night were Julia Roberts, Liam Neeson and Patrick Swayze!

We ran down to the school and had a bit of an adventure trying to find the right entrance. Luckily Jared the Head came to rescue us and explain the jobs for the evening.

There were two main tasks - sanding and undercoating the planters, and dismantling the one that was in a state of disrepair. We split into teams and got started. It didn't take long for us to finish taking off the flaking wood and start getting the paint on. Meanwhile the wreckage team were busy breaking the wooden structure to bits and transporting the wood and its contents across the playground.

Jobs done, we waved goodbye to the school and headed next door to the park to do a mobility and strengthening session. We knocked out lots of different moves aimed at stretching and conditioning our muscles before running back - just in time as the heavens unexpectedly opened! Great job tonight everybody.

Next Monday is a bank holiday - we'll still be having a session but it will be earlier int he day so that you can make the most of your day off! Sign up here for all the details.

On Saturday there will be a community mission to help out at our GG garden with an optional 5km together beforehand - the details of which will be in our whatsapp group so if you haven't been added and would like to be then let me know.

Breaking news!

Last night, not only did we turn a whole eight years old, our group session pushed us over the 10 000 good deed mark! What an amazing way to celebrate.

And celebrate we did! On the hottest day of the year, a huge 21 of us met to do good and get fit on the anniversary of our very first group run. It seemed right that we should be going to our own GoodGym garden, a space where we've been growing fruit and veg to donate to the kids program at the theatre.

So after a warm up where we did, you guessed it, 8 reps of various exercises, we went round the group and said what we wanted to do when we grew up when we were 8 years old. Answers ranged from footballer, to two dentists and even Xena Warrier princess!

We set off for the garden, and were delighted to find that there were loads of crops ready to be harvested, including potatoes and some delicious looking kale. We also collected loads of the fallen cooking apples, weeded, staked and strung up our runner beans (appropriate for us!).

The produce we grow will be used to donate to the children's sessions at the theatre, which is run as a charity, and to other community food organisations. We are also repurposing what would otherwise be underused land and increasing biodiversity, so it's a win-win-win situation!

Job done we headed over to the common to play some very silly but hopefully fun ball based fitness games. We started off with human hungry hippos, before testing our squat and reflex skills before having a plank off whilst balancing the balls on our backs. There were some interesting tactics on display and luckily we had the VAR courtesy of Paul to go back and watch game play. Shout out to Kevin and Jordan for collecting the most, with Hugo and Suresh in a close second! In the plank off it came down to six of the strongest cores - well done Catherine, Beth, Hugo, Elif, Sophie and Jasmin!

After all that fun and hard work, it was time to head back to the Omnibus bar for some drinks, chats and incredible food. Everybody outdid themselves with the goodies, but it was Catherine's masterpiece of a cake that had us all talking. It was an amazing creation, and what made it more delicious was that is was baked using blackberries forged from Wandsworth common - what could be more GoodGym than that!

We had a wonderful speech from Jordan, who put what GG means to us all into words better than I could hope to here. So to echo him, there are so many memories we've made over the past 8 years. There have been lots of new faces and we love that our group is welcoming and inclusive. We have achieved so much together and made some beautiful friendships. So here's to the next 8 - and beyond.

Apparently 8 years is a bronze wedding anniversary, but I think every single one of you deserves a gold medal!

Next week we'll be back for more doing good and getting active, when we'll be painting playground planters. Hope to see you there!