24 Goodgymers ran 4km to help the Story Garden lift tons!

Thanks for coming along, no newbies but lots of regulars and recent joiners :)

In the news this week:

1. Go along to the Community Mission today helping Camden Helpline - see details here.
2. Sign up for the GG Olympics here, you haven't got long to enter your events to represent #TeamCamden
3. Also people are going to do the Scottish Half Marathon in September, see full details here.

Well what a night, we were back at the new task - Story Garden - a community garden that is currently under construction. It's changed so much in a week and will keep on changing over the the next year, it opens as part of the Somers Town Community Festival in July and then Skip Garden will move over to the site in October.

Martina gave us two tasks last night:

• Moving those huge Oak sleepers (big planks of woods) - these will be used to make 10 planters which community projects will adopt to look after.
• Shifting through soil and stones to find large stones (not concrete) which will be used to make paths - kinda looked like we were preparing to make a Roman Road.

As described by Thomas shifting the oak sleepers was some of the hardest work we've done at GoodGym Camden - lots of heavy lifting! Involving 2 or 3 people lifting each one (unless your Hanry). Over 30 mlinutes we moved at least 60 of them. Caz described all this rubble and wood lifting as quite a biblical task, a short time after that the heavens opened and rain descended upon us.... Luckily we were running by this point and it didn't get too heavy.

We did a nice 3.5k loop + the 800m time trial at Granary Square - lovely! After a slight early finish we stretched and headed to the pub.

Next week we are helping Antrim Allotments (6k overall) - sign up here.

PB out

20 Goodgymers ran 3-5k to help Cecil Sharp House and the Story Garden!

Welcome along to the newbies - Rea, Sofia, Amy, Eleanor and Tilly - lovely to have you along!

In the news this week:

1. Community Mission this Sunday helping Crouch End Open Spaces, it finishes with a free picnic - full details here.
2. There also a Community Mission next Thursday helping Camden Highline - more details here.
3. Join GG Camden Facebook Page here and the Unofficial Unofficial GG FB group here.

Story Garden Report:

Eleven of us headed around the corner to the Story Garden, we've never had a task so close! Upon our arrival Martina gave us a health and safety brief and told us how Global Generation (who also manage Skip Garden) have recently taken over the site. A community garden will be built over the next few months and then everything at Skip Garden will be brought over in October.

Our task this evening was to move loads of planks of wood, big and small. Taking them from one pile to another, in preparation for them to be made into planters which will be all around the garden.

Alternative plank competition

We worked hard in the heavy rain taking the planks of wood in pairs and solo across the site. Martina was very impressed that we kept working in the rain and really appreciated the amount we moved in 40 mins!

After a group picture we headed on a 3k run or walk, and then all finished off with a group stretch.

Cecil Sharp sum up by Abi:

Led by Steve, 9 of us set off on a drizzly 2km run to Cecil Sharp House, a place we visit once a month to help the gardening team maintain the grounds. Amidst the drizzle, we swept up needles the yew trees had been shedding onto the paths and set about eliminating weeds that were growing inbetween paving slabs, up walls etc.

In a short time, and accompanied by some upbeat violin music, the place was looking a lot neater. We then embarked on a slightly longer run back via (but not over) Primrose Hill before each heading either home or to the pub to dry off.

Sign up for next week here when we'll be helping St Mary's Flats, Marie Curie Hospice and maybe the Story Garden again.

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

31 Goodgymers ran 6km to help Kentish Town City Farm pack up from their May Day Celebrations!

Welcome along to all the newbies - Carolyn, Abby, Lucy, Ollie and Shelley - lovely to have you along!

You can read and if you'd like sign the farm petition here.

In the news this week:

1. Join the GG Camden Facebook group here.
2. GG Monthly Social tonight in Peckham, come along for drinks and more.
3. Well done to Will Bourchier for hitting 50 good deeds last night - Will has been a committed GG Camden member for over 3 years. Well done Will!
4. Great work to Katherine who completed London Marathon last weekend, her first, in sub-4 hours - woop woop!
5. Team Track - every Thursday at 6.30pm at Regents Park Track Kat leads a friendly track session. I set the sessions and you guys for them. Join in. #TeamTrack

Okay lots of news. Back to last night - after warming up we headed 3k to Kentish Town City Farm to help them pack up from their May Day Celebrations. They raised over £5000, the best event they've had in 47 years!

We met Mel who explained what we needed to do but also that the Trustees are trying to bring in redundancies and close some of the programs. To read more and to sign the petition go here.

Gazebo fun

Our task this week was to take down all the chairs, tables, stands, boxes and more from the top field to the bottom of the farm for storage. Half the group did that, while the other half took down the gazebo. We had some initial problems with height but it all worked out in the end.

Once we were finished we hugged the goats and took a group picture before heading home.

Sign up for next week here when we'll be helping Cecil Sharp House.

PB ou