42 GoodGymers ran 5k to help Rose Bowl Community Centre with gardening and lots of heavy lifting!

I love you guys and will thoroughly miss being your Trainer, it's been a fantastic two years of good-ing, fun times and biscuit eating! Thank you so much for the farewell run, pizza and beer. I really appreciate you all coming to a PB Islington record run #PB4PB - plus of course thanks for the presents - so very nice of you awwwwww

Welcome along to newbies Amy, Kate and Gilbert - lovely to have you along!

One bit of news - go along to help CREOS this Sunday for our monthly Community Mission.

About last night

After a rather long intro we warmed up and then split into two groups for the run to the Rose Bowl Community Centre, one led by James and the other by Graham! Meanwhile the good-cycle gang (Steve Lee & I) cycled to the task. Upon our arrival Dawn and Ceri were the most prepared ever, they both thrive off large groups of people so they loved us! They tasked us with the following:

• Clearing the ivy, leaves and debris from the court/play area
• Lifting various items out of the container - bikes, metal poles, DJ decks and more. These were then sorted for either keeping or throwing.
• Clearing as much bamboo, leaves and weeds as possible near the back gate
• Cutting back the ivy along the back wall - a very satisfying job!

Over 40 minutes the garden of the community centre was buzzing with activity, various shouting and everyone being careful to not stand on tools. We even found some wings which we attached to Graham and then he presided to fly away back to Alexandra Palace....

Whatever you say Dawn, whatever you say

Overall we collected up three huge sacks and ten bin bags of garden waste, made everything look beautiful and sorted out a huge container full of stuff! Awesome! After putting all the tools away we took a group picture and then headed back to the Emirates for my final time trial with you guys and biscuits galore.

Once again thank you so much for being an awesome community of runners, GoodGym has always been more than a job to me. I'll miss you guys!

Make sure you come along to support Simon Fiztmaurice (New GG Islington Trainer) from next week, you'll be off to help Mildmay Community Centre - sign up here.

PB out for the last time.

21 GoodGymers ran 4-6k to help the Single Homeless Project and Rose Bowl Community Centre!

Welcome along to newbie Tim whose first time it was! Plus welcome back to Patrick who used to come when we met at Highbury Fields.

In the news this week:

1. Well done to both Claire Rees-Sewak and Claire Choe who hit 50 good deeds last night - an amazing effort from both of you - be proud! Black t-shirts are on there way!
2. Next Monday after the group run we are going to have a picnic - please bring goodies to share. Full details here.
3. We've got two community missions coming up - setting up a community fete in Newington Green on Friday and helping Crouch End Open Spaces on Sunday 21st July.

SHP Report:

Another week of helping the wonderful Single Homeless Project and another location up at Shaftesbury Road near Crouch End. A team of 12 of us were on hand to help Regina with the following:

• Clipping and cutting back overgrown bushes
• Sweeping the paths in the front and back garden
• Weeding and then piling it up to be composted
• Litter picking

Over 30 minutes we got everything done and Regina was really happy! We had some spare time so we treated ourselves with a longer run home via the parkland walk and the railway line trial. Finishing 10 mins early where we stretched and ate SQUIGGLES - arguably the best biscuits from the southern hemisphere that for one night only were in the northern hemisphere!

Rose Bowl Report by James:

Nine of us ran to Rose Bowl, a youth centre offering music, art and drama-based activities, sports and even circus skills training for young people in the local community.

We were met by Dawn, who knows us well as she used to work at Waterside Adventure Playground where GoodGym has visited several times in the past. First up Al, Meg, Abi and Patrick took some old car tyres away from the garden area we’d soon be prettifying and transported them upstairs inside.

Next Claire, Amelia, Patrick and Al rid the outdoor area of weeds and Frances got handy with the strimmer. Dawn would spontaneously scream with excitement every time she saw our progress. She was so grateful! Meanwhile Meg and Steve between them made about 2,000 saw strokes to create 50-odd wooden medallions, which looked oddly like biscuits to our one-tracked Islington minds.

SQUIGGLES

The out-front team then moved a big wooden arch and two big pots to a different area, to clear space for a table to go. Meanwhile Abi and James headed out the back to the football pitch area where they weeded all around the perimeter then swept everything up and collected it in waste bags.

We then checked our watches and, yep, it was exactly Squiggle o'clock. Only one thing to do at that time of day. Even Dawn treated herself to one of these tasty kiwi morsels.

Next week we will be helping Holloway School and having our picnic!

PB out

20 Goodgymers ran 4-6k to help Ramsey Flowers Group and Mildmay Community Centre!

Welcome along to Haus, Amelia and Heather whose first time it was last night - woop woop!

In the news this week:

1. Well done to Graham who did Finsbury Park 5k on Friday and Sally who did the Maverick 15k on Saturday!
2. This Saturday is the Night of the PB's - more details here and sign up to volunteer here.
3. We've got a couple of Community Missions coming up: helping CREOS and Notting Hill Genesis

Mildmay Community Centre Report:

A group of us ran to Mildmay Community Centre where the very well prepared gardener took us out to the garden where we'd be working. After everyone eventually found a left and a right glove we got to it - weeding around the edge of several planters, removing ivy from a fence line, and clearing the ground around a rare apple tree then surrounding it with fresh compost.

Weed-free

There was talk of a competition to see which of the planters could be rendered the most terrifically weed-free, but in the end it was pretty obvious that we'd all put in a winning performance. Nice work team.

Ramsey Flowers N1 Report:

Ten of us headed to Ramsey Flowers N1, which are a local group who look after the area behind the Rose Bowl - including St Paul's Walk. We met Becky who gave us a few tools and bags, and then tasked us with wedding and sweeping the park area.

We focused a lot on generally cutting things back and tidying up the borders of the flower beds. During our tidy up we saw Dawn and people from Rose Bowl, they are lookikg forward to us helping next week. Over 30 minutes we got tons done, bagging up 7 bags of weeds and debris.

Next we took on a conditioning and sprints game, took a group picture and ran home. An all around great evening of Goodgym!

Sign up for next week here when we'll be helping the Single Homeless Project and Rose Bowl.

PB out