Who would've thought when Sarah and Dave et al laced up in July 2015 for the first Goodgym Haringey run ever that we would still be running around, doing good/ getting fit/ causing mischief 8 years on the trot. Mad skills, team. Happy birthday to us!

Welcome!

Clare braved the North London rain to join us for her first Haringey Goodgym run and she was a natural. Come again!

Wet Wet Wetbury

Can't feel it in my fingers/ Can't feel it in my toes/ The water's all around me/ and so the feeling goes...

Birthday Fun

We met up under the rain at Blue House Yard for our birthday run and there was some pass-agg mithering about the length of tonight's run as there were rumours Gramps was going to take everyone for a surprise 5k. Of course he didn't and after a lovely 2k run (as advertised ) we arrived at the Westbury Banks Nature Reserve, where the Nature bit had exploded during the warm, wet weather we're having and needed a bit of a trim.

Enter Goodgym Haringey.

Louise C (nominally from GGYork but actually from GGLondon-wide fame) jumped at the opportunity of managing the trimmer and led the group from the front, making headway amid the most heavily-forested parts of the Reserve.

Beelined behind her, John, Charlie, Francesco, Louise CW, Natasha, and Nurjehan worked quickly and in style weeding, chopping away, and collecting things for the composting bins. Dave and Clare concentrated on giving the Reserve a hardcore litter pick, and finally Sarah took charge of the photography for the night (and the punnery work - kudos for all the puns herein tonight).

Just before 8, wet as an otter's pocket but with beaming smiles still adorning their faces, our Goodgymmers called it a night. After some selfies and high fives, we moved down the road to the dry refuge of the Westbury Pub for birthday fun and drinks.

A good night was had by all.

Join us next week for more fun and games.

Rest well <3

7 Goodgymmers immersed themselves in the calm of an oasis in the middle of the city as they helped fight the brambles at the Meadow Orchard Project in Crouch End.

Congratulations! And Celebrations!

Make some noise for our Super Charlie who's cruised his way to a cool 200 tasks in a quiet but assured manner. GGH hearts Charlie!

Hot off the press: Everyone may have spotted in this week's GG newsletter that our Nurhejan sneaked into the GG National Top 10 for Distance Covered in June, coming in 9th place with a very impressive 319.35km. Bravo! <3

And last, but not least, best of luck to our Sarah who's racing in the Maverick Ultra this weekend, and our Julie who's embarking on another 10 in 10 (yes, ten marathons in ten days for you and me!) this Friday. Run well!

A Spike-tacular Task

It's always lovely to have a new task but it was a particular pleasure tonight as we visited the Meadow Orchard Project for the first time - what a truly magical place. Set behind a tarmac-heavy car park, this nature reserve is a beautiful community space with food- and herb-growing gardens, mud houses, and a beautifully maintained and protected meadow.

Our job for the night was to help trim back some of the overexcited brambles that in the warm weather wave their way through the orchard trees and the trails at the Reserve.

Armed with heavy duty gloves and ever more heavy duty banter, our Goodgymmers got on with the prickly task at hand.

Kate, our host from the Friends group, had to leave us for a bit because she had to go and welcome a choir who were using the meadow for one of their choir practice sessions!

It was one of those magical evenings that Goodgym offers up sometimes. The beautiful fading sunshine, the dulcet tones that drifted our way, the wavy grassland dancing in the evening wind, the sight of Franscesco  slowly coming to the realisation that he should have indeed worn long sleeves - a magical evening indeed.

We tidied after ourselves, took some selfies, and left very quietly to avoid disturbing the lovely choir as they sang the night away.

Join us on Sunday for mini-Olympics fun. Or next week for more fun and games!

Grape turnip today!

On a sunny and hotdog afternoon, 6 GGers declined BBQ parties, picnics in the park, a day on the beach (you get gist) to attend our first Sunday mission at the Food Bank Aid Hub. Kuddos to ALL of you who volunteered none stop between 12 and 3pm.

We did meat at the hub and kicked off with a round of intros and some must H&S house keeping . We had two missions; to get 3 deliveries ready for collection tomorrow and to sort out the incoming food deliveries from the likes of Sainsburys, Waitrose and Morrisons.

Like a well rehearsed ballet company, one by one our volunteers started crackering on with the task at hand. Dancing up and down the Hub aisles with the occasional plié when lifting up boxes to maintain a correct back posture. Pirouttes to prevent near volunteer-to-volunteer crashes and pearfect first arabasques to reach out for the higher food items. They meticulously oranged fruits, vegetables and other provisions, transforming the hub into a veritable feastival of organisation. BRAVO, what an outstanding performance from Rupesh, Antonio, Francesco, Laura, Philip and Cloud

*The shout out corner: *

• Rupesh has worked as a model before and kept it quiet until Antonio took a picture of him in action. You don't need to have met Rupesh to spot him on the pictures below....it's that obvious!
• Philip for completing his first ever mission with GG today! Double drum roll as Barnet is not even his "home ground" borough!
• Laura for completing her second ever mission, first one being yesterday! That's a strong start and we hope you beet it up!
• Francesco for crossing the Harringey border and promising (or so we have heard) that he will be back again!
• Antonio for the amazing pictures and contribution to this report!
• To Lodo; the 7th volunteer, part of Food Bank Aid, who had no other option but to blend and bond with us. She did such a fantastic job that by the end of it we thought she was a GGer!! Maybe she will read this report and join us? We hope so!

The community spirit today was fantastic, we communicated effectively, we supported each other and together we got everything that was asked of us done with a smile. We even had thyme for a well deserved 5 minutes T break halfway through!

Whilst it's bean a soul feeding task, lettuce remember that today's contribution will feed the belly of many local families in need. Kindness goes a long way.

Donut worry if you think you've missed out on the grapest Sunday mission....You can sign up for our July mission at the Hub!

As always, keep the grape work up and ....

Peas & Loaf