35 Goodgymers ran 4-6k to help Waterside Adventure Playground and the Single Homeless Project!

Welcome along to newbies Neil, Caroline and Michael - lovely to have you along!

In the news this week:

1. My last GoodGym Islington is going to be on Monday 12th August, I hope you can come! Sign up here. After 5+ years with GG I'm going to be moving to Sheffield to do a Masters in History. I'm sure going to miss you guys!
2. It's the GoodGym Olympics this Saturday at Parliament Hill Athletics Track, there is going to be tons of different events taking place. If you aren't signed up to compete definitely still come along to support. All starts from 1pm on Saturday.
3. Next Thursday (8th) is the August GoodGym Social - more details coming soon!

SHP Report:

Graham led a brilliant group of 15 people to help the Single Homeless Project on Grosvenor Avenue. As ever Regina was delighted to see us and had lots for us to do, including:

• A group of five picked up and took through bikes, metal scraps, old pots and other bits of rubbish from the back garden to the front for it to be collected and thrown out/recycled.
• A group of three led by Steve weeded the beds and around the planters.
• Meredith and Kat got stuck in smashing up planks with a mallet to make fire wood. They were helped by residents which was great.
• A team of four led by Frances swept the paths and pushed the woodchip back onto the beds.
• Lastly four people put front removed weeds, litter picked and did some cutting happy trimming!

After 30 minutes we'd got loads done, Regina was really happy! We were recruited with some free drinks - turmic sofa and apple cider vinegar - yum! Graham led the group back to base and did a fun fitness session on the way back.

Aidan's Waterside report here:

A great 3k run down to Waterside Adventure Playground where we met Sarah who has recently started at the Playground. The playground is free for all the community to use; one of our regular tasks here is to loosen up the wood chip to make it a softer landing for the kids to play.

They also have a sandpit with a water feature they would like to bring back to life. Sadly it needed a whole new lining, so tonights task was to clear out as much sand as possible. We also had another pile of sand which needed bagging and removing as it has been sitting in stagnant water.

The Sand People are easily startled, but they will soon be back, and in greater numbers."

Everyone pitched in and we speedily finished all, with Sarah very happy she can go back and say the sandpit is ready the next step in its revival.

No trip to Waterside would be complete without a quick climb around, having a childish moment. The moment is over quickly though as we need to finish our run and get back to base!

Sign up for next week here, we're all off help Caxton House help prepare for their summer festival!

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

First, a big congratulation to everyone who took part in Sofia and a extra applause to James and Sally who did the run with us yesterday even though they just did a long run the day before. We also had Laura turn up after doing a casual 80 mile bike ride with a big fall of the bike in the middle. Glad she was able to make. You all deserve a nice rest.

During the introduction, I realised we had quite a few new runners. So welcome once again. As a quick count with everyone saying their favourite food and drink (Mainly Cheese and Gin with a surprising Pina Colada vote), we were off to the Rose Bowl.

It was a short 15 min run with the beautiful weather giving the runners a reason to smile and talk about. It was great to see the current GoodGym runners talk to the new ones. As we entered the venue and had a look around, we knew that we were going to be in for a mighty task of weed clearing.

The teams were unevenly split in two with the smaller group tackling the face of building and the larger taking on behemoth edge of the bowl which looked like a full on weed invasion with the paths and other paved parts looking less than inviting.

As I was walking past trying to capture the perfect profile picture for some of the runners social media, the discussions I came across included:

-What some people work as which included office jobs and community jobs.

-Other runs that people do which i think i heard someone mention about their parents showing off their parkrun time to their son as a sign of encouragement.

-The UK citizenship test which one of the GoodGym runners has passed (Well done). The test consist of some pretty serious questions that could have an Nigel Farage questioning his Britishness. One of the runners has tried to take Citizenship test from around the world and and the UK one is one of the hardest.

-One of the groups was just working in silence with determined faces to complete the job before the time is up.

There was a pretty significant job that had been done. We can now see the pathway edges and also the hidden bit of pavement that was being covered by green hue of weeds but it looks like we might need another visit to finish the job.

On the way back I decided to do squeeze in an easy fitness sessions to make Paul proud. This included planks, sit-ups and leg raises.

Thank you all for enduring me. Hope to see you all again soon for a fitness session. Paul will be back next week.