31 GoodGymers ran 4km to help TRAID and The Masbro Centre

There was a real chill in the air tonight but this didn't stop a record-equalling 31 GoodGymers coming along to get fit and do good in their community on a special TWO-TASK TUESDAY!...with Chi briefly in attendance we did have a record, but sadly work called and in true Chi style he did his smooth disappearing act!

It was lovely to welcome Aine and Will along to their first H&F group run - hope you both enjoyed it!

Once gathered outside, we first congratulated this month's 'good deed machine', Helen on her 100th good deed and ensured she was dressed appropriately for the run...with her '100' wings of course! So much good done for the community, looking forward to seeing you repping your shiny new red GG tee with wings. Well done Helen! 💯🙌🥳 .

AND, apologies that I forgot until the end of the evening, well done to Mr ‘Speedy Jonzales’ Jonny Knight on his 50th parkrun! 5️⃣0️⃣🙌🏼.

I guess that's why they call it the news...

1. January Challenge 2020 - With 113 good deeds racked up so far we've officially beaten our 2019 good deed total of 107!! Great job team! 🥳 Will we beat the 1,627kms run/walked?! You check on H&F's progress in the GoodGym leagues here.
2. GoodGym H&F Starter Session - Saturday 25th January at 10am - Not just for those who are new to GoodGym! Please come along after Fulham Palace parkrun and lend a hand weeding the historical moat at Bishop's Park. Please click here for all the details and to sign up.
3. Up & Running 10k - Meet at Chiswick Bridge at 8.45am for a 9am start.
4. Ragnar Run - weekend of 19th September - 1 more person is needed for the 10 man team. Please speak to 'Speedy' for more information.

Following a quick-warm up which included high knees, jumping jacks, spotty dogs and a fully mastered brain body warm-up combo with different moves for each number, the team split into two groups. With Helen completing all the poses for the 'gram both teams set off in the direction of Shepherd's Bush.

Task 1 - TRAID Shepherd's Bush

Catriona led 10 runners on a short run up to TRAID Shepherd's Bush. TRAID is a charity working to stop clothes from being thrown away - they believe clothes should be resused and recycled to reduce the environmental and social impacts of our clothes.

Hopefully this isn't too fabricated

Once inside, the team set about moving clothes from the clothing racks to boxes and stock the old display clothes into lots of cages 👕👚. Check out Lucy in action!

Some of the clothing was superbly modelled as they worked away, Matt with a cream dress (definitely your colour!) and Katie with the red trousers was a personal favourite!

With such efficient team working the job was completed, all that was left to do was to take a lovely team photo infront of the 'fully clothed' cages. TRAID's Store Manager was very impressed and thankful for the extra pairs of hands tonight. Good job team!

Task 2 - The Masbro Centre

The rest of the group headed up to the Masbro Centre, a slightly scenic way so as to get in those kms! With Tom and Alice neck-and-neck in the distance rankings for the month both were very amusingly at every opportunity trying to get in those extra few steps over the other.

Despite a slightly longer route, it wasn't long before we arrived at The Masbro Centre, which is the hub of all the Masbro Community Centres. Masbro offer a total community service from early years to older people – with arts and cultural events, sports and fitness classes, adult learning, help with gaining employment, and much more!

Sweep thrills

Tonight we had been tasked with giving the back garden, front garden and car park area a bit of a tidy-up of leaves, plants and weeds. Once we'd got some light, bin bags and a few tools the team gloved up and set to work. Helen set to work sweeping, and the rest of the team began some manual weeding and leaf collected. There was also a few bits of wood that needed a quick chop. Arba and Aine bravely held the wood, though turned away in fear as Biscuits began to chop with his shears. Thankfully, no fingers were lost, and no eyes harmed 😬.

With so many pairs of hands the back garden was completed within minutes, although Arba, head of quality control noticed one patch that had not been cleared of leaves up to standard. Once these leaves had been bagged the team walked through the wonderful inside of the Centre around the 5-a-side football pitch to the front garden and car park area.

Sweeping up appearances

Helen and Bev formed a powerful sweeping duo as Helen swept with the broom while Bev used the dustpan and brush to collect piles of leaves 🍁🍂. Cookie went deep into the depths of the garden area to weed and pull out the dead plants, while Luis and Rosie moved benches to ensure every inch of the car park was covered. Matt and Phoebe carefully nursed the rather split bin bag, continuing to fill it with the last few weeds.

We called it a night and with the other team arriving through the gates managed one big team photo around Helen and her wings. Tools returned we set off back to base with Cookie leading the way.

Drop it like it's squat!

Back at base, I decided to let Helen have the final say on tonight's fitness session....to be, or squat to be? The decision was one of the team's old favourites, 'Sally Squats'! 3mins 25seconds of squatting, what's not to love?! In what resembled a strange camp-like gathering, we formed a circle around 3 phones co-ordinated to start the song Flower by Moby at the same time. Everyone went very quiet as we all felt the burn! Top work team. Check out the song here if you'd like to get in some extra squat practice!

We finished with a stretch off and some well-deserved banana bread made by Helen, with bananas saved from the City Harvest Community Mission at the weekend. Absolutely delicious. Thanks Helen!

Next week we're heading to Eloise’s school, John Betts Primary to lend a hand with a whole range of INDOOR jobs! For all the details and to sign up, click here. Have a great rest of your week and weekend. Hopefully see you next week!

An incredible 17 GoodGymmers braved the thunder and lightning to make their way to the Better Gym for our group run to Askham Court.

We had some quick announcements during the warm up:

• Well done to everyone who volunteered at Ealing Half last Sunday (and to Jonathan's flatmate's sister who ran it)

• Andrew is organising some orienteering this Sunday on Hampstead Heath, get in touch if you want to come along

• It's Catherine's last group run before her big adventure around the world. We'll miss you Catherine, have an amazing trip!

With the rain abating briefly, Andrew and Jonathan C led the way to Askham Court Sheltered Housing, back marked by Matt sporting his lovely new black GG tshirt, and stopping, of course, for a wall sit in Beth's honour. Residents Mirko and David dished out the jobs. This was mostly chopping back bushes and dealing with some prickly thorns, but also weeding the patio area, carrying some benches around and having a general tidy up. As the rain got increasingly heavier, we briefly downed tools for a soggy mid-gardening fitnesses session. Some squats, star jumps, spotty dogs and a lesson in flossing from Jonny K to keep our body temperatures up during the task.

We're always well treated at Askham Court and today was no exception, with some water and Lindt chocolates to fuel us for the way home. Yum.

Massive well done to everyone for coming out in this weather! Next week we'll be doing some promotion for United in Hammersmith and Fulham's Winter Warmth campaign - a charity for which our very own Helen is a trustee :). Sign up here

We had cake-off in H&F last night as 31 GoodGym'ers made a piece of cake of weeding and cleaning at Springvale Tenants Hall

It was our 3rd birthday celebrations in H&F last night which meant alongside our run and good deed for our community tonight there would also be three additions: cake, games, and well more cake! What made it extra special was that it was a record-breaking night in H&F with a massive 31 GoodGym'ers!

It was lovely to welcome along Joshua for his first H&F group run - you choose a good one to begin on! Thank you for coming along and lending a hand with all my wonderful regulars, and tourists from Wandsworth and Lewisham tonight!

With everyone donning one very fashionable party hat 🥳, or in Catriona’s case about four(!!) we headed outside for a quick round-up of this week’s news...

• Tomorrow (5th Sept) is the next GoodGym social at The Court on Tottenham Court Road, all details are here.
• GoodGym is turning 10! 🔟🎉 There's a big party at City Hall on Thursday 12th September and there will also be a BIG day of missions on Saturday 21st September - more details coming soon!
• New FREE Local Run Group - Meet at the Stable Yard in Holland Park at 5.45pm for a 6pm start 🕕. The Sept dates are as follows: Weds 4th, Thurs 12th, Weds 18th & Thurs 26th. Each run will be approx. 5-10kms. No sign-up is required, there is also bag storage ✅ & toilets ✅.

Three running 3️⃣🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️

Before we headed off on our short run over to Springvale Tenants Hall we had a quick warm-up to get the pulses raising, after some exercises that tested everyone's co-ordination skills, we had a special honesty quiz on all things H&F. Some fun facts we all learnt was that this was our 175th group run, the 1st H&F group run was on 6th Sept 2016, there were 27 runners at the 1st run and 11 runners have celebrated their 50th good deed on a H&F group run (well I think it's 11!). For those that chose the incorrect answer there was the punishment of jumping jacks and squats.

After one final burst of fast feet we headed off towards our tasks tonight at Springvale Tenants Hall with Bex and Sarah backmarking. As it was a short run tonight we had a bit of fun on the way there as we looped back on ourselves through Brook Green to get in a few extra metres!

Weeds, three afraid, be very afraid!

When we arrived at the Hall we were greeted by the lovely Berni and Tom, and some very high and might weeds! With everyone in and gathered around Berni ran through the list of jobs for tonight:

• Weeding in the garden area between the path cracks 🌱
• Weeding and sweeping at the front of the hall 🧹
• Weeding and chopping of ivy outside the garden area ✂️
• Sweeping of leaves 🍂
• Removal of cobwebs 🕸️

There was lots for everyone to get stuck in to! And luckily tonight there were lots of hands to make light work of all the jobs.

The good knife

While we had a few of our favourite pointed weeding tools to help us weed between the lines, Berni also had the genius idea of using the cutlery knives from the kitchen. They were on point as they helped everyone to get to the roots of the weeds and it wasn't long before there were piles of weeds that had been removed from where they were very much not welcome!

Amazingly, the party hats remained on everyone's heads, with Catriona doing a particularly good Lisa Simpson/Garden Gnome impression and Chi rocking the alternative shoulder hat...

The powers that three declared that the weeds shall not path! 🛑

As ever, 40 minutes flew by and it was time to down tools and complete the final tidy-up. Phoebe and Joshua ensured absolute perfection on the front path before they joined the others inside for some treats that Berni had kindly provided to the group as a big thank you.

Check out the difference!!...

Before heading off we all gathered for some group photos infront of the red GoodGym t-shirt Berni has displayed up in the Hall next to a number of photos from our previous visits over the past year, what a lovely gesture!

We've never ab'd it so good!

Filled with the first round of treats we all gathered outside and headed off towards Brook Green for tonight's fitness session, With 'Mr Abs on Tour', Chi in attendance the group were treated to a hardcore 5-minute abs blast before a slightly more chilled game of 'plank the parcel' which essentially become 'squat & pass the parcel'...

There were sweets, challenges and cheesy party tunes galore as the two parcels made their way around the circle, with everyone seemingly picking on Mo and Catriona each time, and they definitely were not competitive in their plank off! An honourable draw!

As the nice light summer nights are now sadly behind us we ended the game very much in the dark, but with lots of amusement as we ended on none other than S Club Party! Well done to the winners, Catherine and Alice.

Cake the bit by your teeth 🧁

There wasn't much between the group and all the post-run cake celebrations. In what I think was record-quick time we made it back to base and were stretched off ready to either head to the pub, or home.

In the pub the celebrations continued with bakers Catherine, Bex, Tom and Jonathon all offering out fabulous cakes, naturally we all had to have a piece of each. The night was completed with some oops upside your head, retro polaroid snaps and flexed muscles! Most importantly, Alice ended the night with her favourite bottle from the Olympics, enjoy the apple goodness!

How to cake it in H&F 🎂

Thank you for an absolutely brilliant evening, and the most amazing array of delicious cakes that catered for all...Bake Off eat your heart out! Here's to the 4th year of getting fit and doing good in H&F! Thank you for your efforts each week and for making Tuesday my favourite night of the week.

AND...a big thank you to everyone who baked, bought party hats and helped with the fun and games.

Next week, the wonderful Ana is leading you to Flora Gardens to lend a hand with some painting, please sign up here. Have a lovely rest of your week and weekend! See you in a couple of weeks!

A fantastic crowd of 26 GoodGym'ers turned out for two task Tuesday in H&F!

With two tasks lined up this evening it was great to see such a huge team of GoodGym'ers gathered ready to run and do good in their local community. It was lovely to welcome along Phoebe and Lizzie for their first GoodGym H&F run - thank you for coming along, hope you enjoyed it!

With the scaffolding still up in our regular warm-up spot we once again headed to our rather cosy makeshift warm-up spot. Before we got our pulses raised and blood pumping we had a quick run down of this week's news...

Have I got news for you...📰

1. There are a limited number of £10 community entries for the Big Half in London on Sunday 1st March 2020. If you are interested in a £10 place, please drop me an email for the details.
2. This Sunday is the monthly Morden Hall 10km and the monthly GoodGym Long Run - Tour of the Docklands.
3. Rough Runner comes to Finsbury Park on Saturday 7th September, you can volunteer on the Saturday for a free place on the Sunday!
4. Would you like to help in the event of an emergency? CAMERA (Coordinating and Mobilising Emergency Response Activists) project are looking for volunteers, all the details here.
5. Ealing Half Marathon 2019 volunteers needed! Sunday 29th September, you'll receive a free bacon butty and race place for next year as a thank you! For all the details, click here.

After a little warm-up involving skips, ankle taps and fast feet we split off into our two groups for the evening...

Josiah Braithwaite Community Garden led by Catriona

A lucky 13 GoodGymmers headed up to the Josiah Braithwaite Community Garden, which is a garden for the Centre's visitors who are elderly members of the African, Afro-Caribbean and Asian communities with Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease. The Centre also runs a gardening club for families in Shepherds Bush living in temporary and overcrowded accommodation. Our task tonight was to tidy up ready for this Saturday's gardening club.

A labour of glove

To kick us off, Tom and Katie got very excited about their favourite weed clearing gadgets and set to work on the patio. Catherine and Naveed cleared out the greenhouse, emptying old soil out of pots ready to be re-used again. Sarah was nominated by the group as glove-sorter, Mo as plant waterer, Alice cut down some old signs from the fence outside, and everyone else got to work weeding, sweeping and dead-heading. After 30 minutes the garden looked spick and span, Susannah did some quick calculation about how much time we'd saved her (7.5 hours!), and we took a photo around the giant flower with triple Jo(h)nnies hiding at the back. Then back to base a different way for a stretch off.

Plogging led by Andrew

Andrew led the other 13 GoodGym’ers towards our first litter picking stop of the evening at Lillie Rec Park. When we got caught by the lights there was no-one stood still as we filled the time with jumping jacks and squats, and of course our weekly wall sit. On what I think would be described as the scenic route we arrived at the park and set about our mission to clean-up the park. The group spread out into smaller groups around the park so as to maximise our coverage. Andrew, Lizzie and Phoebe covered the children’s playground and discovered a t-shirt amongst numerous sweet wrappers, while Lucy and Steph claimed they picked up 397 cigarette butts from under the park benches! After 15 minutes there were 6 full bin bags that were responsibly disposed of in the park bins. And one final find by Matt of a dog tag.

A litter pick of this, and a litter pick of that!

Park clean-up complete we set off down and along the river next to the beautiful backdrop of the sunset towards the Crabtree Pub. The Crabtree Wharf is a beautiful inlet on the River Thames where litter-ally all the floating rubbish washes up and accumulates. This evening was the worst we’ve seen it! The team had a BIG challenge here. There were litter-ally hundreds of plastic bottles and bottle tops, about ten tennis balls, some less tasteful finds (the less said about these the better), a stuffed seagull that Maddy tested out for flight potential, and the biggest find of all, a marine radio! It felt like every possible piece of litter was down here with us. As the team filled bag after bag of litter, Chi helpfully handed out more bags from above and acted as a go between to the industrial waste bins by the pub - it very much resembled Rapunzel! We posed for a quick team photo with our loot (bags filled with litter!) and the stunning sunset before we called it a night. The transformation the team achieved in just 20 minutes was striking! I lost count of just how many bags that were filled but it must’ve been at least 30!

Litter picks completed we began our short run back to base along the river. With Chi ‘Mr Abs on Tour’ in our presence we were treated to a 2 minute abs blast of push-ups, tricep dips and a plank by Hammersmith Bridge. We pushed the pace for the final few metres before we had our stretch off back at base.

Great work tonight everyone. Thank you for coming along and for all your hard work.

Special shout outs to...📢🙌🏼

• Everyone who raced at the Two Tunnels festival at the weekend - brilliant running and support by all and SO many PBs!!🥳. AND, a big well done to GoodGym H&F's running joke relay team...who are definitely not a running joke but in fact super speedy as they came 1st in the mixed 50km relay! 🏆
• Maddy and Rob who were superhero sidekicks at the Superhero Tri (the one and only disability sports series) on Saturday in Windsor 🦸.

Phew!! What a week! Well done all. Next week we're flyering for the wonderful charity Family Friends. Sign up here. Have a lovely bank holiday weekend. Hopefully see you next week!