24 Hackney GoodGymers ran 6k to help the Canal & River Trust keep the River Lea clear. Plus an awesome GG10 Birthday celebration social.

For GoodGyms 10th birthday week was great to have such a top group out to play!! Welcome to our Hackney first timers and Sophia for her first GG run!!

We set off running our way towards the River stopping off on the way to grab a #GG10 picture on the Havkney side of Victoria Park gates. Making our way 3k to Old Ford Locks we got straight into the lodge and found all the tools they had. Booms, grabbers, cutters, bin bags were all used to the fullest as we cut back, picked up and swept away any number of contaminates that were in or soon to be in the magical River Lea!

With the light closing in fast it was really head torch territory and we cleared the stretch of river up nicely while keeping an eye out for cyclists rolling past.

With bags filled we washed up and chucked away the litter before getting back to stride and powered ourselves back to base with the thought of a great refuelling social ahead!

Stretched out and bouncing down to the social we were very well fed while we celebrated #GG10.

Off to Hackney Parks next week for another adventure!

See you there

Joel

With the (seemingly) ever-present trainer Joel on a well deserved break, it fell to little 'ol me to look after the marvelous Hackney crew on their latest Abney Park adventure.

After sorting out the necesary paperwork for the lovely Sasha's DBS check (anyone interested in doing one to go on missions and/or coach runs, check online and bring your paperwork to a group run for Joel to check!) I had the pleasure of meeting a whole bunch of new faces to the Goodgym family - do give Meryem, Juliette, Friederike, Amanda & Georgia a cheer or two as well!

Formalities over and done with, including the always taxing head-count, Amy led the team over to Abney Park, where we found a couple more Goodgymmers waiting alongside task owner Quentin, who explained our task for the evening. A last minute change due to circumstances meant we were starting on spreading woodchip along some path ways a month earlier than planned, since the lovely English summer weather (read: rain) meant the fresh woodchip was deteriorating quicker and as such had to be spread sooner! Que a crack squad of Goodgymmers tooling up with rakes & shovels & wheelbarrows to attack the pile of woodchip and create some Perfect Pathways in the Park under the watchful eye of Quentin - title pun!

Realising time was flying past while having fun, we packed away the tools, said our goodbyes to Quentin and followed Amy back to base, with Eva making sure everyone got back to the E5 Bakehouse safely. A few stretches and everyone made their way home again, happy after a nice run & work-out.

Next week Hackney master Joel is back, with an office move for Hackney Pirates - please do sign up on the right of the page!

Thanks for having me,

Peter

20 amazing GoodGymers ran 3k to Wilton Estate Community Garden to dig, weed, water and untangle the ever expanding gardens.

After Super Saturday at the GG Olympics everyone was on a GoodGym high! Great to have our first timers and intrepid tourists along for a sweet session in one of the longest running tasks in GoodGym history!

With only a short distance to cover we took the long loop around to get in a well constructed 2k of running into our legs so we were warm and mobile for some big time gardening!

With the garden under a new committee there was lots to do and we split up into crack units to take on each task.

Weeding long flower beds, dead heading, replanting, epic amounts of watering, chopping back and digging over and the unbelievable levels of untangling the binding that had been growing around the fences!

Brown big after brown bin was filled and we were 6 deep by the end with a push to clear up we left the site clear, tidy and much smarter!

With time tight we zipped back on the short route to make sure we grabbed our stuff before the Bakehouse closed for the evening!!

Thanks for coming along and hope you are able to join next week where Peter is leading the squad to Abney!

See you in 2

Joel