Holly Snails, all we do is weed weed weed, prune prune prune...

It's Monday and the only day in which the Blue Borough (Lewisham) turns red. Yeah you know it's GoodGym day in Lewisham by the sea of red T-Shirts. Normally we all go on our group run but today was different it was my 50th and we had a mission along with our regular group run, which was at the community garden at Crofton Park Station.

Today's mission was accepted by Kim and Mridula but in true good gym fashion Kim sounded the alarm in the Lewisham WhatsApp group to see if she could find two more mission verified members to come along. In steps James and I who would be attempting the double, a few questions were asked if I was sure I wanted to attend the mission or the group run as it was a special one tonight. In true can do attitude I opted for the mission (50th) with the idea of finishing the mission then running over to Crofton to meet up with the others were I would be looking to claim my 51st. (GoodGym HQ can you let us know if this feat has been done before)

Ms B garden had out stepped the boundaries and a few of our GG colleagues had previously visited and done a great job of finding the pond that was built by her late husband as explained by Ms F (Ms B's daughter). She wanted us to help with some more weeding but asked that we leave the berries.

The garden was a bit over grown but the neighbour's holly had also joined the party and as green and beautiful as it looked we had to prune it back along with the other branches from the other trees that had invaded the garden and blocking the sun light. James, Kim and Mridula bagged up the branches as I went town on the invaders. We then turn our attention to the ivy vines and weeded some more.

There was a bench that the dowels had been broken, and Ms F went to Wickes to buy some brackets and screws to fix it, unfortunately by the time she returned time was up and the brackets could not be fitted on the bench as the holes for the screws on one side was too big.

With the best laid plan to complete the mission and join up with the main group, as we got stuck into the task, the plan started slowly drifting away....

We downed our tools and started tidying up including taking the bags to the front of the house for collection, there was a snail hanging out on the bag that Mridula wanted to repatriate but he/she was taken to the front of the house so I guess repatriation was completed.

Ms F was "berry berry pleased" with the job we had done and thanked us all individually.

I can see another mission coming on as there are a few more bits to be done before her mother returns from the hospital. Man Vs Bench sign me up!!

Despite not being able to meet up with the others at the group run, we all left feeling satisfied with the work we had done and went on a jog to Hilly Fields hoping to catch up with the group fitness session, again we failed but we caught up with them back at our base where I received a warm and beautiful cheer including a guard of honour in recognition of my 50th.

Steven brought treats from his American tour and of course I too brought chocolates but as we all take our fitness seriously I made sure there were also fruits on offer.

Biggest thanks and gratitude to GoodGym Greenwich and honorary Lewisham member Mridula who baked doughnut cakes for me, they taste so great and a massive thanks to the staff of Glass Mills for not eating them and keeping them in the fridge, it must have been torture. They taste very good.

I now await my black T-Shirt, I'm in that club now. I'm coming for my wings.