30 amazing people joined me in Camden as we headed to Antrim Grove allotments for the last time this year and ran over 7km too!

We welcomed first time runners Niamh and Rosie Y and talked GoodGym's 10th birthday plans as well as the usual health and safety and general intro!

With that done and much bug spray sprayed we split into two groups with Rosie A leading the more keen runners and myself taking the more sedate group. We took different routes but ended up at Antrim not too far apart. We were split out into various task from weeding, to digging, to chopping and the remainder joined Kat outside to do some conditioning exercises!

With the light fading fast we swapped people over to do the fitness work and before we knew it it was 8pm and time to head back. We posed for a group photo in the dark (turns out my camera's night mode is terrible) and then we said our goodbyes. We split the group again but both took the same route, Rosie A leading a primrose hill posse and me taking the rest around the hill. Once back to base we stretched and then some headed to the pub and others home.

Next week we are celebrating 10 years of goodgym - there will be cake!

Cheers,
Pritesh

21 incredible people joined me in Camden to run 8km and help at Antrim Allotments!

As GG HQ work hard to find you the right replacement for Paul, little old me will be looking after you and trying to bring some balance to the force over the next few weeks.

The king is dead, long live the... interim king

It was a week of new things with me in charge, meeting Helen the new chair at Antrim and the following runners joining GG for the first time: a big GGC welcome to Anna and Paul!

After confusing everyone by turning right out of the Crick we did the usual briefing, warmed up and went through the news:

• Congrats to all that took part in the penultimate GG Big Six race of the year at Bath Two Tunnels. Don't forget the final race is in September in Edinburgh. Details here!

• GG is turning TEN! Come to the party at City Hall and tell us what GG means to you here!

• Finally get the 5th September in the diary, it's the date of the next GG social. Also get the 8th November saved as I hear its going to be a special social!

On to the night at hand, with one task tonight we ran in a big group with Louise middle-marking and Abi and Rosie back marking (thanks!). Its a decent route to Antrim but hills are unavoidable! We worked hard and everyone put loads of effort in. Once we arrived at Antrim we met Helen the new chair of the allotments and she showed everyone the tasks! The allotments were looking particularly lush but there were still patches that needed work. The order of play today was mainly weeding and clearing with a healthy dose of digging too!

We had a strong 20 mins of hard work sadly the insects were hard at work too and sadly not many escaped with out bites. Must remember that citronella spray next time! Before we knew it the time had passed and so we returned our tools, said goodbye and posed for a group photo!

We took a different route home and split into a Rosie group and an Other group. The other group took a more leisurely pace but also conquered Primrose Hill (sorry Abi) whilst the Rosie group hurried home at pace.

After a stretch outside the Crick we siad our goodbyes and headed home, as ever a trusty, or should that be thirsty group headed for 'impromptu' drinks at the Somers Town Coffeehouse.

Thanks and see you all next week - task is being confirmed but you can sign up here!

Pritesh

25 Goodgymers ran 7km to help Antrim Allotments with loads of tasks!

Welcome along to newbies - Jess, Lina, Dario and Tom - lovely to have you join us.

In the news this week:

1. Sign up for the GoodGym Olympics by TODAY - pick your events and represent #TeamCamden
2. Next Saturday is the Night of the PB's at Parliament Hill Track, go along to cheer and if you want volunteer to go here.
3. A huge well done to Liz who hit 200 Good Deeds last night! That's an amazing amount of good in just over a year. This includes over a 100 missions which is very impressive!

After the intro we warmed up and then headed up the hill for 3.5k to help the wonderful Antrim Allotments with an array of tasks, these guys are always ready for our arrival which is great! We've been able to make a huge impact over the last four summers at the allotments, this is since the committee took control of the plots form the council. This means the general maintenance of the area and clearing of old plots is their responsibility (and where we come in).

Our tasks this week were:

• Clearing and bagging dead wood and weeding - enabling an extension of a plot
• Cutting back ivy from the gate area
• Thomas and Jess dug a hole for a raised bed
• Ten people weeded and clearing an overgrown plot
• Abi dug out and moved plants
• A team of five cleared bindweed/morning glory from an fence, and brambles from the base of a tree

Over 30 minutes we got these tasks and more done, enabling the allotments to continue growing and building. While everyone worked away mini tarts and oreos were handed out as part of celebrations for Liz's 200th Good Deed - yay! To finish off at Antrim we took a group picture and said goodbye to the committee & plot owners.

Enjoying the run down hill home we were back in no time, stretched out and headed to the pub for Liz's celebrations!

Next week we are helping St Mungo's and SPCA - sign up here.

PB out

22 GoodGymers ran 7km to help Antrim Allotments with an array of gardening tasks!

Welcome along to Suraj whose first group run last night - lovely to have you join us.

In the news this week:

1. On Saturday 3rd August it's the third annual GoodGym Olympics, represent Camden and have lots of fun with GG!
2. Good luck to Lydia, Katie, Steve and Pritesh doing Races in Edinburgh this weekend. Plus Thomas whose taking on his first triathlon and Hiren a 10k!

After warming up (including some nice marching drills) we headed up the hill to help Antrim Allotments and the committee there. Many of the plot owners are too old to look after it all themselves so that's where we come in. Plus there is lots communal patches that need looking after.

Upon our arrival we were quickly split into some groups:

• Hiren and Caz cleared ivy from the entrance fences
• A group of four bagged up lots of weeds and debris near the sheds
• Simon and Sally did a brilliant job of clearing an overgrown area on a plot out the back
• Chris cleared ivy from the back wall
• A team of four did a great job of edging off plots along the main paths
• In several other places groups cleared and weeded areas to help the local residents - awesome!

Piers, and the other plot owners were really appreciative of our quality and quick work - well done everyone! After a group picture we headed down the hill home and to the pub.

Sign up for next week here, we are going to help the wonderful Scope Charity Shop on Camden High Street.

PB out

18 Goodgymers ran 7km to help Antrim Allotments with lots of gardening!

Welcome along to newbies - Grace and Zameer - great to have you along!

In the news this week:

1. On Tuesday 30th April there is a Volunteers Appreciation Dinner at the American International Church (C4WS) - we've been invited for all our hardwork making the beds for the homeless each Wednesday over the Winter Season. The dinner is from 6.30-8.30pm. Sign up here ASAP if you are interested so I know numbers.
2. Team Track is back! At 6.30pm every Thursday at Regents Park Camden & Islington runners do a friendly track session. Kat Kelly (Camden Taskforce) is in charge and I set the session plans. Go along and have some speedy fun!
3. London Marathon is this Sunday! GoodGym will be out cheering outside Somerset House (GG HQ) which is at the 25 mile point - full information here.

Once we were warmed up we headed up the steady up hill towards Belsize Park, everyone did great with the big hill to finish! We met Will and Liz there who joined us to help the wonderful Antrim Allotments, it was the first time we've been able to help them this year due to the light.

The local residents and committee at the allotment took over the management and maintenence of the allotments a few years ago, this means our help with the communal areas and with various plot owners (particularly the older residents).

Hayfever inducing!

Our tasks included:

• Creating a bee and butterfly garden -
  
• Weeding and digging over an old ladies garden
• Levelling ground in two places, behind the shed and in the corner - these are communal areas!
• Mixing compost into the soil + weeding for new plot

Over 30 minutes we made a huge impact in our community! We'll be back at Antrim next month so can continue where we left off.

Sign up here for next when we'll be helping Kentish Town City Farm.

PB out

On a surprisingly sunny Sunday morning, seven GoodGymmers met up to perform some gardening tasks for Antrim allotments.

Over the last few years the Antrim Allotment Association has taken more responsibility for looking after Antrim allotments following council funding cuts. This means helping to look after plots of people who might not be able to do all the heavy work themselves and also taking care of community areas. If the areas are not maintained, plot holders who are less physically able are likely to lose their plot, which would reduce their opportunities to be physically active.

We were met at Antrim allotments by members of the Antrim Allotment association, who had identified a large variety of small jobs for us to work on.

As part of a follow on from some previous community missions, several of us worked on digging out a large amount of clay forming a banking at a boundary of the allotments. It was incredibly sticky stuff, requiring two people per shovel: one person to dig out the clay and hold the shovel above a rubbish bag, and another person to scrape the clay off the shovel and into the bag! As another task, we moved bricks (baked clay is definitely the classiest type of clay), debris (including part of a terracotta pipe) and bags of compost around and occasionally off a plot holder’s plot. The most difficult part of this job was trying to make the wheel barrow go in a straight line when the ground clearly didn’t want it to. Space is clearly not flat when you have a large mass you want to move through it. For another plot holder, we pulled weeds and trimmed ivy to help with a general tidy up of the area.

Chat generally flowed as we worked, including a surprisingly long discussion about whether or not venues that take a photo of your ID when you enter are classier than those that don’t (and what that says about those of us that do frequent such venues). About an hour or so in, we also had a cake break to enjoy some decent homemade vegan chocolate cake and have a general chitchat as a group 😋

Jobs done for the day, we headed off to a local pub just so we could grab some of its famous mac and cheese and a soft drink or two, and also so that Abi could educate us with Google on details of our name Saints. Our favourite facts of the day were that Saint Abigail is also known as Gobnait, and that Saint Clair is the patron saint of eye disease and laundry. These facts are begging to be written on someone’s CV. We managed to make our final goodbyes and leave the pub just 10 minutes or so before the hail, lightning and thunder started. Hopefully this isn’t in response to our Googling of Saint names but, just in case, perhaps we won’t be doing this at the next one… 😅