A bright, winter day, sun ice-sharp through branches. Two signed-up Goodgymmers gathered near the Summerlee Avenue gate to meet the Friends of Cherry Tree Wood, where, lo and behold, we discovered two more lesser-spotted - but no less great! - Goodgymmers, Andras and Ruslan, along with around ten other volunteers.

With such a good turn out, we promptly split into two groups, with one group staying put near the gate, clearing brambles and extending dead hedge fences along the edge of the grassy area on the north side. The other group headed south to the shaded, already-existing forest garden (not the one we helped with last month[link]) to clear brambles from around the base of the saplings.

After barely an hour, team one joined the south team, having completed their task, and promptly swept through the remaining brambles with ease, and we were all done in under 90min! So we went for coffee at the nearby cafe for some cheery conversations and warmth.

A group of Barnet goodgymmers got together near Henlys Corner in North London, at the site of a proposed Tiny Forest, to be planted by the council and environmental charity Earthwatch.

A Tiny Forest is a dense and rapidly growing native woodland in a small area. It will provide a protected habitat for wildlife, capture carbon, filter the air of harmful particulates and reduce flooding and soil loss. You can find out more about the benefits of a Tiny Forest on the Earthwatch website.

This Barnet tiny forest is scheduled to be planted this winter. GoodGym is going to play a big part in this project by engaging the local community to help with planting, fencing, weeding and generally looking after this Tiny Forest over the coming years.

Our first support mission was a straightforward litter pick. We fanned out across the site and got to work, uncovering a treasure trove of trash!

It was a lovely, sunny summer evening and after the litter pick we did some exercise in the fading sun. The group got very excited about the Tiny Forest project. We are all looking forward to taking part in this exciting environmental initiative.

Eleven excellent goodgymmers ran 5k to pick up litter and keep our open spaces looking tidy.

meeting at the Phoenix, we were joined by Anna who was touristing from Camden and Joanna for her second good deed. welcome!!

it was also our Halloween run aka BadGym which means: spooky fancy dress. we had glowing pumpkins, pumpkin headwear, a zombie, a chainsaw, a shark, and a witch. thanks to Sally in particular for all the dress up supplies and to Vicky in the zombie costume for 100% the most terrifying costume we've seen in GGB.

We are grateful for some funding from NEIGHBOURLY which has enabled us to purchase litter pickers, torches and gloves to help keep Barnet tidy. For our first use of them, we ran to Glebelands, a mixed use open space in North Finchley.

Once there, we divided into teams and got picking. There was loads of litter, particularly in the bushes, and the team did a great job grabbing loads of it. Abi and Sally took particular care of the snails they found grabbing onto some larger bits of litter 🐌

After that we posed for photos: instruction one "look wholesome" (mixed results imo), instruction two "halloween" (judge for yourself).

For our fitness session, we made use of the guided fitness path recently installed by the council in Glebelands. Signs at 50m intervals instructed us to: do star jumps, fast feet, body turns, and single leg balances, with running between. The balancing was fun and a good reminder to work on single leg strength which is very important for runners.

after that we had an easy run back to the phoenix for high fives and stretches. well done team.

next week we're going to st Mary's Church to help tidy the outside space.

D

🎶 https://youtu.be/SOFCQ2bfm 🦇

Seventeen super Goodgymmers ran 5k to post flyers to help promote the Syrian Kitchen 🇸🇾

Meeting at the Phoenix we were joined by Clara for her first ever group run - welcome! Also by tourists from Haringey and Brent respectively Kapil and Beth - thanks for coming!

It was a massive weekend of running for GoodGym so there were cheers for Rob, who completed the Amsterdam Marathon, Abi and Beth who ran the half, Jodie who ran the Hertfordshire Riverside Half, and Katie who ran the Great South Run down in Portsmouth. Give them all a cheer!

Tonight we were helping promote the Syrian Kitchen. they are a brilliant charity that raises money for refugees by putting on supper clubs up here in Barnet with traditional Syrian food cooked by the refugees themselves.

after a quick chat and warm up we headed off to start flyering. dividing into two teams, Katie's team taking one side of the road and Shaun's the other.

we posted loads of flyers throughout East Finchley and stretching over into Muswell Hill. we kept moving at a good pace to stay warm and got through all the flyers in no time.

as we found ourselves in Muswell Hill, it seemed appropriate to have a hill session. Using St James Lane in Muswell Hill, we practiced some running technique using our arms and driving knees before some hill repeats. the hardiest bunch did three goes running hard up the hill, with a slow jog back down each time for recovery. there's no avoiding hills in Barnet and it's a brilliant way to work on becoming a stronger runner.

After that brilliant effort we had an easy run back to the Phoenix for high fives and stretches. well done team.

Next week is litter picking! see you then

D

Fifteen keen goodgym runners ran to Stephens House and gardens to help the gardener Peter. We gathered outside the Phoenix to warm up a chat about our favourite tv programme. We said hello to new runner Anoosheh and congratulated Agnes on her recent half marathon. (Also announced lots of community missions if you can spare an hour or two.) community missions It was a lovely mild evening for a dark run to the task. Taking the back alleys through east Finchley we stopped to do paired exercises, a short sprint up a hill and a sit hold at a convenient brick wall. We also managed to deliver a few leaflets to promote the task venue before eventually arriving at the park. Peter then set us up into groups for litter picking and raking up leaves, in and around the playground, these were then transported for composting. We then had a little time to run down to the house to do some warm up exercises and a hill sprint. Before we left we did the now traditional yogic breathing to re-energise for the 2km run back to the Phoenix. Thanks for coming and doing good it is appreciated! Peter sent the following text ‘Thanks for last night. Great guys doing a wonderful job’

Ed & Andras are now on ten good deeds and Kat has don her first community mission. Give them a shout out!