Concrete Jungle

It was a glorious July evening, and twelve GoodGymmers took a break from watching the Olympics to came along to enjoy the sunshine, do good and get fit. Some of us walked, some of us ran and some of us made our way along the marvellous riverside by two wheels to the Ham and Petersham Sea Scouts.

Over the past few weeks, we had been helping the Sea Scouts to repair and lay a footpath which was worse for wear. JP and Harry had done a great job at finishing off the hard work on Saturday's Community Mission, but Russell still had plenty of work for us to do, and had four tasks ready for us to get stuck in to.

Heat, Feet and Concrete

Newcomer Rob joined Suze to finish filling in a final pothole on the pathway. Supported by Julian, there were literally sparks flying as Suze showed off her pickaxe skills and Rob learnt how to mix up cement. Bob the Builder, more like Rob the Builder!

Push and Shovel

Adam and our other first timer Lynn were put onto compost duties. A big warm pile needed moving from the compost pile across the grounds, and the duo did a wheely great job in the allotted time.

On the fence, or stick to what you know?

JP and Steph were the ones feeling strong, and Sea Scouts Chris took them off to help with some 'heavy lifting', which involved moving a load of fence barriers, manouevering the trolley and loading up lots of wood, sticks and logs.

Path of Least Resist-ants

Chris, Harry, Maena, T, Monika and Lucy were with Russell for what he referred to as 'industrial weeding'. This was not just any weeding, as the name suggested, as he took us through a jungle of trees armed with spades. Once we were deep in the forest, Russell explained the plan was to clear the long grass and pampas to make way for a new woodland path. This was sweaty work, a marathon rather than a sprint. There was also a hammer throw event (but with newly shifted grass instead of hammers), gymnastics with the beam and bar, hurdles over tree roots and diving into bushes.

Just under an hour had passed, and it was time to finish up for the evening, and make our way back home into the sunset.

Well done to Teresa and Susannah for their big cycle ride down to the Isle of Wight over the weekend, and for cycling along tonight too! A big welcome to Robert and Lynn who came along to their first ever GoodGym sessions today, and to Harrison for joining in his first group run. Hopefully we will see you all again soon, although we can't guarantee this weather every week, sadly!

And finally a big thank you to everyone for behaving for my first official session led, and not causing a riot whilst Liz is away!