First of all a big big welcome to our first timers this evening: Pip, Will, Christina, Amanda and Laura. Great to have you all along.

New Barnet trainer Pennie was on the scene tonight leading proceedings in preparation for the GoodGym Barnet launch tonight.

Following the briefing and the look of amazement on Pennie's face as the group pointed out that she had a whistle attached to her rucksack, we set off on our two tasks. Aidan and Patrick were in charge of taking a team up to Caxton House to carry on with what we started last week. Aidan describes what went down:

5 Goodgymers took the challenge of a longer and faster run. We set off just after Patrick's group but immediately detoured to do a lap of Highbury fields, with the noise of a Corbyn rally in the background. We started as we meant to go on, at a nice fast pace. Taking the usual route past Emirates where we enjoyed the late night sun and of course the gentle incline all the way to Caxton!

We made it there with a great pace, but sweaty and out of breath, and Rose put us to work. Today's jobs were a second coat on the benches we painted last week and continuing to de-weed the brick path. With Patrick's group close behind us (we had beat them there of course!) we soon had a sea of red painting the benches a duck egg blue and plenty of weeds flying in the air.

Still plenty to do at Caxton House, so I'm sure we will be back next week to see the lovely Rose again. For the run back we gained Dan who wanted to join and also suggested a sneaky detour to Emirates. Everyone had the option: 1/3 lap run or 2/3 spartlek and of course everyone chose the harder 2/3 option!

Great group run guys!

Aidan

And Pennie led the rest of us to Barnsbury Community Centre.

We spent a good 25 minutes on a variety of tasks: adding compost to hanging planters, watering the plants, getting rid of some nasty weeds and painting pallets.

Post-task Pennie took everybody through their paces with a variety of drills and exercises: high-knees, planks and a gruesome squat/tuck jump combination was on offer. Barnet are gonna get pretty fit!

We (almost) broke tradition and had a cheesecake instead of biscuits tonight (but cheesecake does have a biscuit base). It tasted pretty good post-run. We also debated whether cheesecake is cheese or a cake (thank you, Caroline). A few voted for cheese, Steve abstained, some said pudding/dessert, but the majority reckoned it was a cake. Yum

Pennie will see you tonight and we'll see you back in Islington next week.

Simon

On a scorching summer evening in Islington thirty-six wonderful runners (including 10 brand-new!) said NO to the temptation of an evening pub session or BBQ and said YES to an evening of firsts, meeting at Highbury Pool to get fit, spruce up local gardens, catch some rays and play games! And then went to the pub

While Simon was away on a well-deserved break Patrick had a chance to lead his first group run.

Mel arrived nice and early and then followed a flurry of new faces coming for their first run, returners and some travellers from down the road, John and Jackie from Camden. Patrick delivered his welcome speech and was delighted to see TEN new runners. There was a special mention (and a reminder to regular runners) about:

• Coach runs
• Missions
• Races: 4 x 1 mile relay and Regent's Park 10k - both on Sunday 7th August and it's possible to do both! There's even a 5k ParkRun on Saturday 6th.

In keeping with Islington tradition there was a debate (favourite childhood party game which would also set the scene for the fitness session) and the first Vietnamese biscuit: peanut, malt and sesame biscuit (bánh đậu phộng) brought home from Vietnam.

We then divided into three roughly equal groups:

• Patrick led a mercifully short 1km run down to Barnsbury Square Gardens,
• Graham and Steve took a group on a slightly longer 2km run starting with a lap of Highbury Fields
• Aidan and Kike took a group for a 1.5km run to the brand-new task down at Wilton Square Gardens

Here's a report from Aidan:

11 Goodgymers arrived at our new task at Wilton Square. Ready and waiting was the lovely Merje with her son Oskar.

All 13 of us got stuck in with some weeding, raking, chopping and brushing of the garden, we had plenty to being doing!

With Oskar helping with the weeding the stone paths were looking pristine quickly. Soon piles and piles of grass and leaves were appearing from the rakers hard work. On the other side of the fence the bushes were taking a beating thanks to some tough work with some secateurs.

Piles of chopped bushes, grass and leaves meant only one thing...lots of clean up work to do, but after that the job was done!

A beautiful garden nestled between the houses and plenty to do, one we'll be back to again! Until next time :)

Here's a report from Barnsbury Square Gardens:

We arrived in two waves at the very tranquil Barnsbury Square Gardens and were warmly greeted by Lucy and Carmela. As usual, our wonderful hosts were super-organised and had plenty of tasks and tools for us and refreshments for those in need of a break.

As we had only run a short distance we had lots of time to get loads done to include Rich and Vanessa tackling the rose beds, Nigel confidently separating the weeds from the flowers and Nicole on broom patrol. The rest of the group swept up and raked leaves (John did ask if the trees thought it was autumn!), loosened soil and did some edging.

After forty minutes we had really cleared up the gardens and bagged up the green waste. We packed up, received thanks from Lucy and headed back to Highbury Fields for our fitness session.

The new game

The groups from two tasks met back at Highbury Fields with great precision and managed to find space in the busy field to play adult Musical Chairs (Cones) for the first time. Does it need an explanation?! Patrick and Kike traced out the running perimeter and scattered the cones in the middle. Then Patrick put his DJ skills to good use and whittled down the group over successive rounds until there were two: traveller, Jackie and newcomer, Nicole.

After a long final round, Patrick stopped the music and Jackie heroically found the final cone and crowned herself champion! Well done Jackie.

After the stretch and cool down there was no clear winner of childhood party game though some mentions were: eating chocolate wearing gloves, scarf and hat; British bulldog; I have never and the cereal box game. Noone said musical chairs!

The last thing to do on a warm evening was to quench our thirst so we went to the pub!

That's me done for now. Simon will be back next week: sign up here

9 GoodGym do gooders ran to Ellis Court to clean up the gardens and litter pick.

Tonight saw Dan Fisher lead his first group run after he completed his run leader training, and what an evening for it. The sun was shining and Brent has delivered three NEWBIES. We welcomed Katie, Charlie and Jen and were soon on our way to meet the lovely Abraham or should we say Baberaham to do some gardening.

We arrived soon enough and were set our task of clearing two garden beds that had overgrown. Special mention to Clare who managed to take down the BIGGEST thistle we've ever seen. While clearing out the beds we came across two abandoned sledge hammers, the things you find in Willesden!

One thistle down and two hammers later we were off, waving goodbye to Baberaham we made haste to the hill where Dan had set us 3 sets of hill reps, working specifically on focusing driving the hips and arms. Once suitably sweaty we finished off the drills with some fast feet work and squats, and then a cool gentle run back to the Queensbury.

Well done Brent you smashed it, till next time..

Falling of the Rain

The rain may have scared a few off today, on this, the longest day of the year, the MIDDLE OF SUMMER! But, it actually got sunny just in time for our run and we had a cool 28 GoodGymmers whose skin was waterproof and who know that running is the only sport worth worrying about.

Tell Her (and him) About It

We welcomed first timers Isabel and Antonio, cheered Aidan for doing 100 good deeds, cheered Kike for doing 50 good deeds, cheered Danica and Aidan for running the Westminster City Mile and got briefed.

James

James came tonight. There is no announcement to make, but James is the name of a Billy Joel song, so we had to mention it.

A Minor Variation

So, we had planned to do our longest run ever at GG Islington (10k), but that task was unfortunately cancelled. Worry not, it's still the longest day of the year, and it's ....

The Longest Thyme

Competition thyme! Two tasks tonight and two groups each planting their own little pots of thyme under the instruction of the group's "Thyme Lord". We'll check back periodically and see which group was the best gardeners and who has the longest thyme!

Say Goodbye To Holloway

One group headed off to Barnsbury Community Centre for their evening of good-doing.

Uptown Girl(s) (and boys)

And a small group of girls and boys, led by Aidan, ran uptown to Whittington Park Community Association to help out.

The Giver of Screams

Caroline, doing a run leader course this weekend, led the Barnsbury group and wasn't shy about shouting a bit of encouragement.

All About Soil

One job at Barnsbury was to continue shifting the mound of soil that we started on last week.

New Fork Spate of Grind

Antonio grabbed one of Barnsbury's new forks and started breaking up the soil to make it easier to shift.

It's Still Rocky Soil To Me

Tough work shifting this stuff. Everybody's always surprised by how many rocks and rubble there is in it. BUT, we got it all moved and managed to move the container into its new home.

Big Pot

Well, lots of little pots. A team of four planted various herbs in multi-coloured little pots. Rocket, coriander and of course thyme.

Get It Right The First Time

We did paint the beds right the first time, but the harsh weather meant that the paintwork was getting a little patchy, so Isabel and Bella grabbed a couple of paintbrushes and did a spot of touching up.

The Sliver of Beams

OK, this one's a stretch. but the group at Whittington had to sand down a bench, which was probably constructed from wooden beams and there was probably the odd sliver of wood.

They did a great job. Check out the pics for before and after shots. Looks ready for some varnishing.

Baby Sand

There was also more sand-related activity as they had to move a kids' sandpit inside.

I Glove You Just The Way You Are

Or not. We had all those brand new gloves, but Graham thought he'd given them to Danica, who thought she'd given them to Simon, or something like that. Anyway, the poor Whittington contingent had to do a spot of weeding outside the One O'Clock Club with bare hands.

While over at Barnsbury we were sorted with a giant box of gloves. A team set about removing weeds from the centre piece and then planting some more grass seeds around it.

An Indolent Man

There were none of these tonight. Everybody got stuck in good and proper. Nice job.

You're My Home

Back at the pool we decided not to stretch for the first time ever on an Islington run and see what happened. Report back here.

We Didn't Start the Fire

Beth started the fire! In her oven! And baked FOUR types of biscuits in it! A coconutty one, a shortbread one, a chocolate one, and a plain one. Delicious. Beats stretching.

Hilly Poll

What's best? Short hills or long hills? So that everybody had an informed opinion each group did a set of four short reps and one long hill rep and we then voted on our favourite back at the pool. Short hills definitely won it. There were also votes for "no hills", "one very long hill", "downhill" and line of the evening from Jill: "a flat hill".

The Night Is Still Young

It was still light when we left! Aaah, they're drawing in now though.

Through The Long Night?

So that was a fun pun report on the longest day of the year. Maybe we could do a Billy Ocean themed report on the longest night. Maybe not.

Famous Last Words

See you next week Task will be announced shortly.

My Life

My life is great cos I get to do this for a job :-D,
Simon