The end of the month has come around quickly and 10 Good Gymers were on hand to attend the monthly session at Mycenae House, one of our favourites (not least because they’re always very generous with cake).

We were met by Fiona, the amazing coordinator of the many taks occurring at the house that morning, and she soon put us to work with a couple of tasks: first up we had some cut material to move to the dead hedge before the main event of clearing all of that perennial Good Gym enemy, green alkanet, from one of the reserved spaces. But being Good Gym we’d got that task done quicker than you can say itchy skin so another task had to be found. We were soon split into two teams, one cutting back some holly trees to increase ground coverage and one team moving the cut foliage to the dead hedge.

And finally it was time for cake.

Phew, it was hot work at the Community Hospice this morning, but we got loads done!

We met in the Hospice canteen and welcomed Richard to his first GG session.

Jason, the Head Gardener, had two tasks lined up for us and we split into two groups.

Team Firethorn pulled on heavy-duty leather gauntlets and got stuck into cutting back an overgrown and fiendishly prickly Pyracantha 'Firethorn' hedge. They also sawed down an out-of-place and unloved Yucca in the long flower border, before chopping everything into manageable pieces and barrowing it all over to the compost heap.

Meanwhile, Team Moonbeam worked in a different flower bed, planting Coreopsis verticillata 'Moonbeam'. The dry, stony soil put up a determined fight as we dug their new homes. Thankfully, being small plants, we didn't need to dig too deep to make room for their roots. Once planted, they were given a good watering before the team headed over to join in the hedging fun.

Time flew by, and Jason was very happy with what we'd achieved. The hedge had apparently been sitting on his to-do list for a couple of years, so it was especially satisfying to help him finally tick it off ✔️. It's always great when we can make such a visible difference!

With the jobs complete, we collected up all the tools and ferried them back to the shed before heading our separate ways.

Well done everyone, such a good vibe and a fantastic job done!

Look out for Cecilia's video on our Instagram and Facebook feeds soon!

This was our second session of letterbox leafleting to spread the word about the Community Hospice's brilliant Open Garden Festival taking place in a couple of weeks 🌻🌾🌿.

Tonight our target area was around one of this year's first-time participating gardens, and with five pairs of trainers hitting the pavements and driveways, our pile of flyers disappeared quickly.

As always, the task was about more than just getting the job done. Along the way we swapped stories of recent parkrun tourism in the Netherlands, Norway and Denmark, debated all things feline, and enjoyed the kind of friendly conversation that makes GoodGym such a sociable way to stay active.

Mission completed, and with 1.5 kilometers-worth of steps logged, we headed to the pub for a well-earned drink before heading home.

Cheers, and have a great weekend everyone!

After a scorching hot few days in London, 12 GoodGym-ers were grateful for a minty fresh breeze at the Community Garden at St Alfege's School in Greenwich. An ice (coffee) breaker & game of shark attack and we were ready for a short run from the Naval College to this oasis of calm in Greenwich's busy town centre.

Our tasks were as expected at this time of year: basil-ically tackling some stubborn weeds while preserving the other plants/herbs 🌱 Plenty of volunteers meant the task was shared out nicely, but everyone worked dill-igently with no chiving allowed, digging, sweeping, watering & currying heaps of vegetation to the stack.

O-Kale...so the thyme parsley-ed quickly enough, and soon we had to be tarragone...for a quick post-task social which made for a lovely end to the day.

Thanks all & hope to cress paths again soon 🙂