14 runners crossing a borough (again) to clear hedges & weeds at Surrey Docks Farm.

Finally, the rain cleared and the mugginess came back for us to run across into the shadow of Canary Wharf to the lovely farm. After bobbing and weaving down Rye Lane and waiting for a lot of green men, we eventually, and rather sweatily, made it to meet Gemma. She had already gotten to work with a chain saw on the hedge along the Thames Path and we were to clear it.

Lots of glove matching and hoeing later and we were filling wheelbarrows with green stuff. Zoe took the challenge of jumping on the compost heap to crush it down.

Trampoline time!

After almost no time, we had to pack away. Luckily, we got to walk passed all of the animals we'd seen last time. The tallest goats in the world were hiding. too much height pressure the beautiful calf was looking much more grown up. Esther, the pregnant sow was due to give birth on Monday. We watched with baited breath for her to...

go to the toilet...

No piglets tonight but it was still lovely to see all of the animals and work somewhere so amazing in the shadow of the concrete jungle.

A few press ups, tricep dips and wall sits later and we were back at Old Spike.

A decent crew of us made our way over to The Rye pub for some food and much needed fluids.

Lovely stuff GoodGym Southwark. Until next week.

28 GoodGymers ran 5km, did some fitness drills and shifted 3 tons of soil!

In the news this week we talked about GG monthly drinks next Thursday and had a Race Chat focus with New Forest 10 Miler, Regents Park 10km (August Edition) and Cardiff Half Marathon in October. Well done GG Camden taskforce for leading on these races!

Mr. Horse himself Tom Benson has written the run report this week:

Last night we returned to an old Camden GoodGym stomping ground. My major dilemma before the run was whether to take a jacket or not as the conditions on the ride up were keeping their cards close to their chest, would it be too cold, rainy, I won’t lie I just couldn’t tell. However I took the solid advice of Megan and I’m pleased I ditched the jacket as we had quite a work out.

Major dilemma

Aside from my clothing dilemma, the task in hand was returning after a long absence to James Wiggs GP practice, where we were tasked with the following; we had three one ton bags of soil that needed shifting, small tree roots needed pulling up and a strange grass like weed that had appeared to have embedded in the soil needed putting back in its place (basically needed pulling out). In short we were clearing a space in their garden as they wanted to transform the current space into a sensory garden for the patients to come and use, lovely stuff.

Everybody's shovelling!

Melissa, from Free Space Gallery was there to give us a warm welcome and armed us with spades, forks, gloves and wheelbarrows to get the job done. As there were quite a few bodies we split into two groups one going off with Paul to do some drills while the others got on with the task. In true GoodGym style there was no messing about and straight down to business, and once both teams had completed the drills we still had some soil to shift.

Hats off to newcomers Bernard and Andre who were on shovelling soil duty and kept the soil coming to ensure we got it all shifted, well done everybody. Just before we completed the one and half mile run home, Melissa showed us a space that 2 years ago GoodGym Camden came for a task which we dug up and made ready for planting. In the two years that followed the foundations we laid have allowed the space to turn into a lovely garden for the Practice.

Liv Rowe's Yoga Stretch of the week!

On our return Liv gave us another cracking set of Yoga stretches to help us warm down. Afterwards a gaggle of us found time to sink a jar or two in the local boozer and talk about many things including combining normal potato chips with sweet potato fries for the ultimate pack of frozen chips - McCain's Sweet and Plain* (it’s like a chip version of sweet and salted popcorn, it’s a winner I tell you…..happy trays). *Other frozen potato providers are available

Next week we are painting fences for Kentish Town Tenants Association and helping Skip Garden with various tasks, sign up here!

PB out.

20 runners ran 4km and helped both Alara and Skip Garden

It was a rainy humid day but we ignored the weather and got on with doing good! In the news this week we said well done to the Great Bristol 10km crew and discussed the amazing Night of the PB's this Saturday - come along it's going to be awesome and FAST!

We welcomed three new people to GoodGym Camden; Callum, Sophia and Jessica - lovely to have you on board!

This week we had two of our regular tasks, Alara and Skip Garden, both with really tangible good to be done and a short run each way.

Skip Garden run report written by PB:

After an active warm up we said goodbye to Team Alara and the 12 of us did a fun game involving jogging, high-fiving and sprinting back in a square in pairs. Once our heart rate was raised we headed off to Skip Garden, past Granary Square and the Dishoom queue. We met Gwen from Global Generation and she explained our task for the evening; lay two tons of pebbles over the garden in preparation for summer events, including the chef's wedding on Saturday!

TWO TONS!

We shifted some wooden flooring and tables out of the way and then split into three teams: shovellers, movers and rakers. After around seven minutes work the team coordination and hard work was in full swing, however we had a turn of event... RAIN! It poured but we don't stop for anything, we laughed and powered on. I am pretty sure I heard Liz say "This is exactly what I want to do right now!". Also we found out Frances' waterproof coat isn't very waterproof, news to me!

Waterproof? What's that?

Back to the task; we worked our way from the garden entrance, passed the kitchen and to the skip laying the pebbles. Nice work everyone!

Alara run report written by Steve Lee:

While one team headed to the Skip Garden, another group made their way to the Suma urban orchard. It’s a delightful space unexpectedly nestled amongst warehouses including, very importantly, the one that makes their muesli, which the team gratefully received some freebies of at the end of the task. Speaking of which, there was a big ol’ hole to dig to create a new pond, and some weeds to clear to help the plants thrive. Steve C introduced the less experienced among us to a mattock masterclass.

Mattock Masterclass!

Separated by a mile or so, the two groups were united in seeking cover from a deluge before heading with soggy shoes but sunny dispositions to regroup at Granary Square for some time trials as the sun made a welcome comeback.

Time Trial:

Once collected back as a group we practiced our arm technique with SOCKET TO POCKET before heading to the starting line. The 850 metre time trial around Granary Square is a great way to test our speed each month and this month was no difference with Will coming in at 3:04, Bryon at 3:08 and Chris at 3.15. If you'd like to know your time just contact me and it'll be provided.

After catching our breath back we headed back to Somers Town Community Centre for a stretch and post-rain chat.

Next week we are off to Free Space Gallery to build garden beds, sign up here.

PB

27 GoodGymers ran between 3-5km to paint and garden.

After tropical weather recently the sun was shining and the evening was set for doing good. We collected together with the news this week:

• Polly has hit 50 Good Deeds and earned her black t-shirt!
• Everyone did amazingly at Run Hackney on Sunday - well done!
• There are DRINKS tonight at the Joker of Penton Street, come along
• Also GoodGym Croydon starts next week, tell your Croydon friends and get them to support!

We had two tasks again this week. Firstly we were continuing painting for Kentish Town Tenants Association, they are a community group who help improve the lives of those living locally, especially those who are elderly and isolated. Secondly we did some gardening at Cecil Sharp House, this is proclaimed as the home of English folk music and does lovely events from ceilidhs to weddings which require the grounds to be tidied.

Home of English Folk

After an active warm up and some talk about socket to pocket the group split and we headed off in opposite directions to #DoGood and #GetFit.

Cecil Sharp House Report:

After a lovely 1 mile run through the streets of Camden we arrived at the spectacular Cecil Sharp House to do some active weeding and gardening. We'll be heading to this task monthly for the rest of the year to help keep the place ready for events and community work.

Interesting tools

When we met the task owner Susannah she explained the importance of having us come along and already expressed gratitude for us being there. There was orange & blackcurrant squash on offer before picking various tools, including some interesting ones! The team scraped, weeded and swept the front and back gardens. Lucia seemed addicted to sweeping continuously falling blossom, Steve seemed to have lots of garden chat as always and George got the technique of using the interesting tool down. We stayed until the task was done with everything looking lovely and tidy. Well done everyone!

Jess's Painting report:

The other group sprinted off to help the Tenants Association finish painting fences for local residents. We’d made a great start last week, and Vaughan was happy to see us again.

Black paint beard

After a nice run there we got to work quickly, sprucing up the shabby fences with a slick coat of shiny black paint. Some of the group managed to give themselves a new coat of paint too - special mentions to Jackie for her very thoroughly painted arms, and John who accidentally (we think) gave himself a rather striking black paint beard.

Laurence Llewelyn Bowen has nothing on us.

Shout out to the many snails and other insects we came across - hope they’re enjoying their surprise new home makeover. Laurence Llewelyn Bowen has nothing on us.

Finally our time was up, and after a quick scrub with white spirit for some of the paintier members of the group, and a refreshing round of orange juices kindly provided by Vaughan, we sped back through Kentish Town to the community centre, just in time for PB’s stretch session.

As always brilliant work everyone! See you next week, we'll be going to Skip Garden and Alara, sign up here.

Remember drinks tonight and our taskforce member Frances is organising a 10 mile trail race in July, go along and enjoy the picnic afterwards.

PB out.

A crew of 12 ran an amazing 7.5km in 40 minutes up to Surrey Docks Farm to help sort out some overgrown flowerbeds.

Creative license over distance was unintentional but panned out well as everyone absolutely nailed it!

The last few weeks have been all about weeding and people being able to finally plant things that won't get frosted to death. This week was no different. Aside from all of the animals, the epic run and the delicious sunshine. And did I mention the babycham bucket?

Our group assembled and welcomed Amy along for the first time. Gorgeous sunshine in Peckham meant that we were bobbing and weaving our way up Rye Lane a little but made it clear in no time. As Beth mentioned, it felt like a mini tour of some other tasks at Peckham Platform and Galleywall Nature Reserve but onwards we went. All the way passed Surrey Quays Station and towards proper docklands areas.

We were welcomed to Surrey Docks Farm by Gemma who promptly got us water as it was such a warm and lovely night. She showed us some of the animals there, a calf who was born in October, pregnant Esther the pig and some very, very cute lambs. After we'd gotten over the sight, we set to work clearing some overgrown flowerbeds that are to be raised and used for community allotments. This is as well as making the unused areas less of a buggy runway and more engaging and nice to look at.

The farm is used as a learning experience for children and to engage the local community. It's a welcome sight in the shadows of Canary Wharf and the hustle of the city.

We cleared mint, potatoes and lots of nettles as well as some hefty rocks and made progress, as ever, in no time. Well before we wanted it to be, time was up and we got a quick feed in with the pigs and the calf.

Sun setting, it was time to race down Rotherhide New Road for some to run the full distance and others, taking a leaf out of GoodGym Westminster, to catch the overground back to Peckham.

Luckily, we made it back at not too dissimilar times ready to stretch off and discuss food.

For the second ever GoodGym Southwark social, we were meant to be off to Forzawin but due to our massive and wonderful group, we ended up on a table hunt and found just the thing at John the Unicorn. Beth and Michael celebrated by being the first people to ever order the Babycham bucket. Despite the suggestion, I'm not sure babycham will become a 'thing' for us to have everytime but it's always good to have a throw back. Menu aside: Salted shortbread is not the one

Well done runners. That was a lovely evening well spent and excellent effort on the distance covered.