19 GoodGymers helped St Mary's Flats and Cecil Sharp House with some gardening!!

Welcome along to Anna, Tom and Jill whose first time it was last night - lovely to have you along :)

In the news this week:

1. This Saturday GoodGym are taking over Burgess Parkrun with us providing pacers and all appearing in red! We'd love for you join us!
2. Also this Saturday (in the afternoon/evening) is the Night of the 10,000m PB's at Parliament Hill Track on Hampstead Heath. This annual event is an amazing display of British and European running with some the fastest racing around 25 laps while the crowds cheer on in #Lane3BeerNCheer - elite running, music/circus and beers - come along!
3. Next Sunday there is May's Long Run going from Battersea Park to Richmond Park - gonna be awesome!

Cecil Sharp:

This week we had two wonderful tasks in our beautiful Camden. A team led by Rosie and Kat headed to the Home of English Folk Music Cecil Sharp House to help maintain the gardens. We've been helping Susannah the Head Gardener there for nearly two years, she is always so appreciative of our efforts and the impact we have. Like a lot of places Cecil Sharp had it's funding cut from Camden Council so the charity now survives on using it's spaces for events.

Folking around

A team of 10 got really stuck into the gardening; clearing the weeds between the cracks with the best tool in town and sweeping up the pathways. Over 30 minutes the team had made a massive impact.

St Mary's:

Meanwhile nine of us headed the long way to help St Mary's Flats, we've helping Jon and the community group there for over four years - it's always good to return. Chris and Alysson got to work forking the ground around a tree to loosen it up before planting some ivy and flowers with compost. The rest of the team cleared two gardens of weeds so the residents can use them in the summer, Tom even found some potatoes!

After we'd packed up and taken a group photo we headed for a run along Camley Street, the canal and a progression run around Granary Square before heading home.

Thanks to Rosie's the post-run biscuits - yum!

Next week we are going to be helping Groundwork and Castlehaven - sign up here!

PB out.

27 GoodGymers ran between 4-6km to help three tasks in Camden - Cecil Sharp House, C4WS & American International Church!

Welcome along to Linda, Lizzy and Kara whose first time it was last night - lovely to have you join us!

In the news this week:

1. Well done to Sarah Rajabalee whose 50th Good Deed it was last night, she's been coming to GoodGym Camden since March 2016, has ran half marathons and contributed massively to Camden being a better place!
2. On 12th April we are going to Skip Garden for our 5th Birthday Party - see details here - gonna be fun!
3. So you know how last week was the biggest task of the year, well BIGGEST TASK OF THE YEAR Part Two will be on Wednesday 28th March lifting the turf for Southbank Rooftop - sign up here - need 50 people please!

Right last night we had three amazing tasks, helping three amazing charities:

1. Cecil Sharp House - monthly gardening trip
2. C4WS - making beds for the homeless
3. Skip Garden - moving logs for this amazing organisation

Cecil Sharp Report by Katherine:

Frances led a group of 8 to our monthly task at Cecil Sharp. The group headed into the walled garden to work on the patio, trim a bush and tidy the lawn. Unfortunately the wind meant the lawn had to be done a second time due to the leaves being blown everywhere...”did we not get all the leaves in the Autumn?”.

ALPS

The group then headed up to Primrose Hill to take on the ALPS (Arms, Legs, Posture and “Surprise, you’re going up the hill a fourth time”). After a quick stop at the top for the view, the group headed back with their improved running technique.

C4WS limerick by taskforce (led by Kat):

There once were 8 runners from Camden

They ran in pairs, not tandem

They made beds at speed

To get their good deed

8 runners, all women from Camden

Skip Garden Report by PB:

A group of 10 of us headed to Skip Garden to help Global Generation with a people power task, meeting Gwen between the fairy lights we split into three teams to move a ton of logs - movers, draggers and stackers.

Armed with good will, trollies and wheelbarrows we got the task done in no time! Imagine how long that would have taken one person!

Band Work!

Saying our goodbyes to Gwen we did a lap of Granary Square before doing some conditioning, including - step ups, tri-dips, squats, jump-squats, single-leg squats, resistance band work, planks and mountain climbers.

Once Rosie's group has joined us we did a quick fitness session of x3 90 seconds, accelerating your speed with 30 seconds to go! Boom!

Next week we are helping Sheltered Housing, leafleting for the Farm and making beds for the last time this year!

PB out.

24 Goodgymers ran between 5-7km to make beds for the homeless and deliver leaflets for Green Gym

Thank you to everyone who came along last night and welcome to Claire whose first time it was - lovely to have you along.

In the news this week:

1. GG Camden is 5 years young in April, we are going to have a birthday party at Skip Garden on Thursday 12th April. It's gonna be good - come along!
2. Well done to Frances who hit 250 Good Deeds last night, that's a lot of GOOD!
3. Also a massive well done to Hayley who recently hit 50 good deeds - awesome!

Beds Report:

14 of us headed for our winter task at American International Church to help C4WS make beds for the homeless. Everyone did really well covering two rooms of 15 beds.

Technique as ever is important with bed making, Claire thinks the inside out quilt approach is worth it - makes the end part easier!

Everyone loves the cat!

After completing the task, saying good bye to the cat and taking a group picture we were off. Once we reached Russell Square we got going with our fitness session a reverse pyramid - increasing our speed as the time of sets decreased and then back up. Everyone did really well and completed 11 minutes of tough interval running.

Leaflet Report:

Pritesh led a band of 8 north to Kentish Town to leaflet for the charity Green Gym about their amazing conservation volunteers at Montpelier Gardens. The team spread out nicely covering 5-6 different streets, closes and crescents until the job was complete. Nice one - 200 leaflets done!

On their way home they headed via the canal and Granary Square for some fitness fun!

Sign up for next week here we are gardening for Abbey, making beds for C4ws and hopefully a 3rd task.

PB out.

31 GoodGymers ran between 5-8km to help Camden Society paint and C4WS make beds

Hey, hello, whatup - that was fun wasn't it! Brilliant night of great people, fun fitness and GOOD tasking. Welcome to newbies - Matt, Amy, Emily, Zahava and Imogen who joined us for the first time last night - lovely to have you along!

In the news this week:

1. There is a GoodGym Monthly Social next Thursday at the Square Pig in Holborn, come along it will be full of puns, fun and Pritesh...
2. Well done Beth Hoskins (who started at GG Camden and is basically one of ours) who was the first person ever to reach 500 Good Deeds in GoodGym, she was sent a letter by the Prime Minister and Huffington Post wrote a cool article about her

After an active warm up in the cold January air we split into our teams and got 'gooding'. Chris took a team of 10 to help C4WS at the American International Church make beds for the homeless, over January and March each year we send a team of 10 people weekly to help the shelter with this task - saving them lots of time and effort.

Camden Legend Sophie Hedges wrote a cool haiku about the task:

American Church

Bed for the night, basic right

Fold corners with care

We are going to have a different member each week do a haiku about the bed making - it's an incredibly important task but it's hard to write 10 normal reports on it. Chris' team made quick work of the beds and then ran up to Kentish Town to join us for a last minute cleaning job - smashing 8km overall!

Camden Society Report by PB:

A team of 20 ran to Kentish Town to go help Camden Society, it was 2.5km up there and everyone kept a good pace to our NEW TASK. The Camden Society runs services across London and Oxfordshire. With a reputation for creativity, innovation and enterprise they generate new opportunities for people with disabilities to achieve greater equality. All their services are person-centred, supporting people to develop their lives in whatever ways they choose.

This fantastic charity have 10 sites across London, including 8 cafes, their Head Office and a site which sends out our GoodGym t-shirts! These are all run and serviced by people with learning difficulties - amazing!

Steve is actually an artist

Our tasks for the evening were as follows:

• John and Laurence cleaned the shop windows; front, back and around
• A team of 5 cleaned and scrubbed the walls, doors and services on the downstairs kitchen
• A team of 4 sanded and painted the hallway
• A team of 3 sanded and painted and disabled toilet

Amazing work all! We stayed for 45 minutes and got tons done. Now joined by Team Chris we ate some flapjacks, took a group pic and headed home for a stretch.

Sign up here for next week, three tasks - Abbey, St Mary's & C4WS!

PB out