Eight Goodgymmers suffered under the heat but did not wilt as they lent a hand at Chapmans Green for a spot of reclaiming the walking path from the always overenthusiastic North London nature.

GGH High Five

It'd be remiss not to congratulate and commiserate all Haringey Goodgymmers in equal measure as they united to observe in forbearance the fifth anniversary of their attempts to rescue a semblance of competence and triumph from the jaws of inefficiency under the rule of the rather tattered and blundering Gramps. Well done to all of them for putting up with me for this long. Truly a testament to the strength and endurance of human nature! <3

Onto the task at hand. Because Gramps is fond of things like this, he had arranged tonight's task at Chapmans Green, where he had led his first ever GGH task five years ago, and Rob from the Friends Group did not disappoint.

The Green has exploded with the warm, moist weather and the walking paths have been devoured by a multitude of weeds. Rob walked us through what should be saved and what should be pulled and before you knew it, our Goodgymmers had jumped into action.

It was a very warm evening, though thankfully the burning sunshine had eased a tad. Nevertheless, it was a sweaty and tiring affair. .

We pulled thistles and other weeds to our hearts content while we had a good natter. Beautiful timelapse of the action courtesy of Super Dave here.

With around 10 mins to go, Nurjehan abused her position as the appointed GGH timekeeper and tricked Gramps into an early finish with the pretexts of giving the team a rest from the heat, but it was instead so they could ambush Gramps with cards, sweets, and sashes - punishment by showering him with love and attention knowing full well he can't cope with it. They know him just too well. <3

We then made time for selfies and hugs, and made plans for our forthcoming BBQ this weekend. Boom.

*Are pork chops ok for vegans? *

Five Goodgymmers rolled up their sleeves and pulled up a multitude of weeds from the playground at Chapmans Green on this stormy May Day.

The Famous Five Go Playing

We met Alex from the Friends group at Chapmans Green who had a few options of tasks for us. Needless to say, as soon as we heard the rubber mulch at the playground needed a bit of maintenance, we jumped and grabbed onto that task with greedy hunger.

We hopscotched our way into the playground and before you could say Fireman Pole, we were on all fours. Weeds were coming through the mulchy membrane - a situation that if not dealt with regularly will affect the integrity of the fall-breaking material - and no sooner had Alex given us some tools than we were right into the swing of things.

We merry-go-rounded our way through the whole playground, pulling up weeds and chewing the fat until Gramps seesaw what the time was and called an end to the proceedings. Proving he's no longer a Spring Horse, Gramps ungracefully clambered up the playhouse to join Clare and Charlie, while Nurjehan and Veronika opted for a more grounded approach for our group photo.

Alex offered us a tour of the meadow to finish the session but we had to leave before an untimely slide into disrepute as Nurjehan had started to shout at everyone about the size of her hole as we inspected the progress on the orchard - cf. here.

On that note, we all left, making our way home before the torrential thunderstorm. 

Come next week for not one but two different tasks: Tuesday is back to nursery at Tottenham Green and Wednesday it's party time at Wolves Lane. Fun!

#MayDay #UpTheWorkers #Solidarity #NothingToLoseButOurChains  

3 runners and 1 cyclist appeared Chapmans Green to get into some serious weeding.

Alex reached out to us before the task, reminding us to bring along head torches. But with the clocks going forward at the weekend, we had plenty of light through to Nurjehan-o'clock.

We started the task with a brief tour of the old bowling green, which GGH has helped to transform. It's turning into a lovely orchard. Crab Apple jelly coming this autumn. Then out to the public park, and over to the Allium, Marigold, and Lavender bed, we planted up previously. It was being taken over by grasses, and some sort of creeping vine from beyond the pale.

Hand rakes were particularly effecting at gathering up large bundles of the creeper. The soil was clearly very fecund with amount of weeds that had sprung up, and the amount of worms hiding just below the surface. Bodes well for those spring flowers soon! Before too long we'd filled 4 bin bags full. And Alex could start covering the ground with some weed preventing mulch. With the locals admiring our handiwork, we waved goodbye and headed off into the (now conveniently timed) sunset.

This was a repeat visit to Chapman's Green where a few months ago we dug over this bed and planted lavender and geraniums - but not before pulling up a lot of weeds. The weeds were starting to make a comeback, so it was Goodgym to the rescue again. Just Sarah and Julie made it this time around. As they worked they chatted with task owner Alex. Nettles and dandelions were pulled up, along with clumps of grass that had managed to get entangled in the lavender. In what seemed like no time at all the bed was looking a lot tidier, and it was time to go home.

Double trouble for GGHaringey as we completed not one but two tasks last night, and two of our old skool Goodgymmers hit landmark numbers. Boom!

Forking Big Number Celebration Corner

Unstoppable running machine and BadGym extraordinaire Julie smashed her way through the 150 Deeds mark the only way she knows how: bashing the ground and hanging out with her hoes in North London. And she got herself a drill for her troubles too. Absolute rock star!

And good ol' Gramps has reached the ripe old age of 200 deeds. Bah humbug! <3

Bedfellows

We began the night at Traid on Wood Green High Road where Nurjehan, Niamh, Francesco, and Gramps congregated for this old fave. We came, we saw, we sorted, we tried skimpy things on, we "bought" things even though we'd forgotten to bring any money, we conquered. Boom.

We then walked to BHY where we met with Latoya, Sam, and Sarah and we ran to our second task of the evening at Chapman's Green.

When we got there, Rob from the Friends group welcomed us with the news that our task for the evening was bringing back to life a long-lost flowerbed in the middle of the park.

Our Goodgymmers wasted no time, weeding, delineating the bed, digging up and turning up the soil, chucking sods about, planting over 50 lavenders and 50 geraniums, and tidying up after ourselves as we went along. We did such a lovely job and were so close to finishing when we hit 8pm that not even Nurjehan 'it's-forking-8pm-time-to-go-home-or-else' Khan had any complaints when we overran by a few minutes to get the job done.

A lovely, sunny evening.

We then retired to the meadow for selfies, drilling, and a natter.

Boom.

10 unholey Goodgymmers dug their way into punny shenanigans as they lent a hand at Chapmans Green tonight.

Musical Interlude 

"Don't forget your shovel if you want to go to work. /Oh don't forget your shovel if you want to go to work./ Don't forget your shovel if you want to go to work/ Or you'll end up where you came from like the rest of us/ Diggin', diggin', diggin'"

It doesn't hit the same when it's not Niamh singing, but here's Christy Moore's version

Kudos Corner

Everybody make some noise for Karen who joined us for her maiden GGHaringey run - talk about a baptism of fire! I hope we haven't scared you away, Karen.

And someone we managed to scare away is poor Frankie who's running away from London for reasons that she claims have nothing to do with Goodgym. Sure. We'll miss you and come back soon!

Holy of Holies

Let's call a spade and spade and admit from the off that most of my notes from tonight are frankly unprintable. Forks, foxes, big holes and a bunch of rowdy Goodgymmers led to a smorgasbord of punnery and smutty banter.

All the same, let's see what we can salvage for this report.

The night started harmless enough. Our task owner was running a bit late so we opted for a little fitness session ahead of the task. We first tried some cariocas but there weren't many takers for this one so someone suggested the very popular "that-thingy-that-Islington-Simon-Does-With-The-Walking-And-The-Running." World renowned, that.

Our task owner arrived as we were just finishing up and he opened the gates for Chapmans Green for us.

What a lovely space the Green has become. We have now been visiting for over three years and it's great to see the progress the Friends group have made with the space. Tonight we were helping to prepare the ground for an orchard-planting session next weekend, which involved digging up 12 holes to an arm-deep depth. With those instructions, Alex the task owner handed us a bunch of spades and the ingredients for some very unsavoury banter.

To be fair to them, our Goodgymmers did an excellent job. They dug and dug and dug. But they also chatted as they dug. And the chat? My god, they dug a metaphorical black hole with their chat. Poor Alex from Chapmans Green took it all in good humour and before you knew it, he was trying to get us out the front door in a hurry. I wonder why! :)

All in all we had dug 12 tree pits and left them ready for the orchard-planting session on Saturday.

Boom.

Selfies here, selfies there and we then said our goodbyes and we all ran in different directions into the night, feeling a little bit more/ less (delete as appropriate) holy.

Join us next week for more fun.