This evening, Claire, Katie and Adam joined Area Activator Simon for a run over to wonderful Rose Bowl Youth Centre in Canonbury, taking a spin past Highbury Fields on route. The Rose Bowl is a super active community space, operating as a youth club, social centre, food bank and a recording studio! Upon our arrival, we met with Dawn (the project coordinator) and Natasha and were lead put to the main play area of the youth club.

Our task for the evening was simple, but an important task for active people in greater numbers! Wielding rakes, gloves and plastic grabbers, we sought about collecting as much foliage and fallen leaf waste from the playground as possible, and attempting to compost a good portion of these leaves where possible. The kids in the area play on the football pitch a lot, and it was great know that were making the outdoors more available to them!

We successfully filled up 3 really large builders merchants bags within 30-40 minutes of team work, with was very impressive for our small crew. On our journey back to The Emirates Stadium, we stopped at the "M" entrance gate to host our December "Goodgym Islington Emirates Stadium Time Trial" (last one of the year). Our runners did a smashing job of running the 700m stretch, especially after an evening of hard graft- Well Done All!

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NEWS

Compton Square Gardens Open Volunteer Morning

On Saturday 3rd December, the residents of the neighbourhood gardens by Union Chapel will hosting their monthly open volunteering morning (starting from 10am, so perfect for a post parkrun mission).

Sign up here:

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/compton-terrace-gardens-volunteer-open-morning-december

Next Group Run- Highbury Quadrant Estate

We will be visiting Frannie from Octopus Community Network next Monday as part of our group run, and lending a hand with loading soil and shingle into newly constructed flower planters.

Sign up here to get involved!

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/group-run-highbury-quadrant-soil-shifting-new-date

Canonbury Square Gardens Group Run and Christmas Social!

On Monday 12th December, we will be celebrating our final Goodgym group run of the year with a trip to Canonbury Square Gardens in Islington.

And then a trip to the Victoria Tavern on Holloway Road for pizza and refreshments!

More info here:

TASK:

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/group-run-christmas-special-at-canonbury-square-gardens

SOCIAL:

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/december-social-the-victoria-tavern-holloway-road

In between sporadic rain showers, Area Activator Simon caught up with a top crew of Goodgymmers (a mix of regulars and new starters- welcome Michelle!) outside the Arsenal Community Hub for our weekly group run. After a count-off to introduce each other (and to show off our favourite firework sounds to celebrate Diwali!), we ran approximately 1 mile together towards Elizabeth House Food Hub on Hurlock Street (utilising some hills on route!).

Upon our arrival, we found that Ernestas, Natalie and Natasha were already helping the super busy food bank crew with their half term operations. Elizabeth House Food Hub has been set up to act like a supermarket of donated produce that can be affordably purchased by the immediate community. During the holidays, more families and individuals require additional assistance with deliveries, so Goodgym Islington were asked whether would lend a hand. Half of our runners paired up together to deliver these essential parcels to households across the borough. The rest of our team assisted with cleaning and closing up the tables used for the food bank, and with loading any additional produce back into the kitchen (after some quality control). We finished off the evening with some recycling, and breaking down food boxes for collection.

The Elizabeth House Food Hub core yeam were absolutely thrilled with the amount of work completed within such a short amount of time, and asked is to definitely return in the future! Well done all!

Our final event of the night was the introduction of our monthly "Emirates Stadium Time Trial"- a personal test run with your fellow Goodgymmers to see how quickly we can run the 700m loop of the Emirates Concourse. It was so great to bring back this "Paul Bown" tradition to Goodgym Islington again.

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NEWS

Highbury Quadrant Soil Shifting

On Wednesday 26th November, Area Activator Simon and Ernestas of Highbury Ward will be helping Octopus Community Network with filling up some newly constructed flower planters around the Highbury Quadrant Estate.

Sign up here to get involved:

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/highbury-quadrant-bonus-shingle-and-soil-shifting

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VI Guide Running at Emirates Stadium with Achilles International

Every Thursday, Achilles International will lead a group run for visually impaired runners and local guides at Paddington Rec Track or The Emirates Stadium. This week, we will be returning to North London for our session. Open to potential guide of all abilities, and for anyone up for a group run!

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/come-and-guide-run-with-achilles-international-emirates-stadium-session-0f94bb20-d637-4871-ad0b-60f023004982

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Halloween Hampstead Heath Headtorch Group Run

On Friday 28th November, AA Simon will be leading his annual Halloween headtorch run around Hampstead Heath- starting at the Bull and Gate Pub in Kentish Town, and looping around the gorgeous trails of North London. Costumes and trail shoes are advised, but not essential! Social group running pace will be the aim for the evening- please bring your own headtorch if possible.

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/ghoulgym-halloween-headtorch-run-hampstead-91d1a716-63e8-4785-8a51-376d43bdf009

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Caledonian Park Junior parkrun Half Term Holiday Help

On Sunday 30th November, the lovely event directors of junior parkrun in Caledonian Park have asked if any of our Goodgym crew would be available to help with course marshalling, time keeping, tail walking or barcode scanning for their free weekly timed run for 4-14 year old runners. Volunteer numbers from parents and usual assistants tend to be down due to the half term break, so any help would be awesome!

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/volunteer-at-caledonian-junior-parkrun-half-term-help-b670c7e2-0349-494a-9129-de06bbc8ca2d

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Penn Road Gardens Volunteer Open Morning

After Junior parkrun, the resident volunteers of Penn Road Gardens will be hosting their monthly open morning for composting, mulching and garden maintenance near Holloway Road. A wonderful way to spend a Sunday morning with a potential Goodgym double task!

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/penn-road-gardens-open-morning-october