21 GoodGymers ran 4km to help Age UK at a NEW TASK sorting & cleaning the Drovers Centre

Welcome along to Aisling and Peter whose first time it was last night - lovely to have you along!

In the news this week:

1. The GoodGym Monthly Social is this Thursday at The Slaughtered Lamb in Shoreditch - gonna be a good one!
   
2. On Saturday (9th June) GoodGym is taking over Mile End Parkrun with pacers needed! See all details here!

This week we had a NEW TASK in GG Islington - we were off to help the Age UK Islington Drovers Centre in the Caledonian Park area. As Rachel explained this centre is used for people who are 50+ to come and do activities. There were lots to help them sort out, tidy up and clean up the centre.

Getting into diferent groups we did the following:

• A group of 10 gave the kitchen a MASSIVE big clean, washing and cleaning everything in sight. And importantly emptying all the cupboards, cleaning them out and then finding the right and new home for kitchenware.
• A team of 5 moved 20 chairs into the basement and helped rearrange the area down there.
• Another team of 5 emptied a cupboard of everything from gardening tools to a Lord of the Rings on VHS was in there! Corrr! This cupboard clearly had not been emptied in years so we sorted the pile it into four sections - charity shop, rubbish, recycle and keep.
• There were sorting and clearing jobs going on all over the place

To finish off we formed a chain and passed everything we in the keeping pile back into the cupboard. Over 35 minutes we got so much done and Rachel from the centre was really thankful.

Sign up for the next here when we have another NEW TASK helping Blackstock Triangle Gardeners help prepare for Islington in Bloom.

PB out.

12 GoodGymers helped Thornhill Square Gardens on May Day with some gardening!

Thanks for coming everyone, it was a warm one but there was some good to do!

In the intro we talked about all the amazing GG Olympics - there is gonna be running, funning and even an Olympic Torch Relay! GG Islington need a big time this year :)

After our intro we headed to Thornhill Square Gardens via a new route, finding a park we've never seen before - cool! We arrived after a 2km run to see what Anna had for us to do - it was lovely to be listening about the local community group in the warm weather and not freezing our socks off on a dark evening. Armed with tools we got going:

Ernie and Danny: Pulled up thristles, roots and cleared an area of debris to prepare the area for some cubs to plant bluebells today. Rhona and Patrick: Weeded the pathways, making a transformational difference in such a short period of time. Frances, Kike and Roz: Planted various flowers and plants in one of the huge beds we help to maintain - pretty! Chris, Alison and Graham: Chopped back thorny plants and dug out countless roots - bigger job than we had in mind. Alex: Did an array of weeding and digging - getting everywhere around the garden.

Huge impact

After 40 minutes we'd made a huge impact in our local community, making the park look sexier basically. Before we headed off we played meet and retreat around the square with team Chris and Patrick winning the prize - PRIDE

Going home a slightly different way we enjoyed Graham's biscuits nom nom nom

Sign up next week when we will be helping Sunnyside Community Gardens - I am away in Bucharest so Polly who's GG Hammersmith and Fulham's Trainer will be in charge.

PB out.

15 GoodGymers ran 5km and painted & gardened for Caxton House!

Thanks for coming along last night guys, it was a lovely Spring evening of GOOD fun! Welcome along to Davita, Maxim and Josephine plus Justin who joined us from GG Newham - thanks for coming guys :)

In the news this week:

1. Well done to Steve Coman who ran Manchester Marathon last Sunday in 3.56 - amazing work!
2. This Sunday is the London Marathon and GoodGym has various cheering squads out and about - have a look here.

After a quick warm up in the sunshine we headed north for 2.5km to help Caxton House, this fantastic community centre offers a number of education, fitness and arts projects; and provide a key link between like-minded organisations and the local community.

This has been a regular task for GoodGym Islington for three years, they love us and we love them. Upon our arrival at the task we found out this week we were sanding and painting the outdoor benches (to Steve's disappoint) - you see the thing is Steve is a painter & decorator and doesn't think we have enough time at GG to do a good enough job. Well as ever we did what we could in the time. First off we sanded the benches to create little scratches, then Ben laid down the plastic sheets, Alex taped up the edges and Steve (with a wiping team) dusted off the benches.

Painting Squad!

Now it was paint time, armed with brushes and little pots of duck-egg blue paint everyone did a great job giving the benches a few coats of paint. This area is well used throughout the summer months so this is a perfect time to do it!

As people finished painting their benches we took on the following garden tasks:

• Digging up weeds, thristles and bamboo at the front
• Clearing an area of weeds and sticky blue plants
• Trimming back ivy and dead branches

Once we'd put all the weeds and debris in the bin, and headed round the corner for x3 hill sprints focusing on arm drive.

Alix led a lovely monthly trip to the pub for some Thai food & a pint - join us next time :)

Sign up here for next week when you are off to Waterside Adventure Playground and led by Lucy (GG Southwark Trainer)

PB out.

20 GoodGymers ran 7km to help St Lukes Community Centre chicken pens & food!

Welcome along to newbies Duncan, Corinne and Frankie whose first time it was last night!

In the news this week:

1. We are having our monthly social next Monday at the pub after the group run - come along!
2. A massive well done to Chris Ellaway who reached 50 good deeds last night! Amazing - he has been coming to GoodGym for over a year and has made a massive impact in Islington and Camden - well done :)
3. This Saturday is the April Monthly Long Run - 9 miles, two speeds and pizza finish!
4. It's the GoodGym Olympics on 30th June and GG Islington will want a big team out there to win big! Get practicing with you egg and spoon.

Spring sprung last week but April showers were upon us last night. After a quick warm up we headed south via Liverpool Road and through the busyness of Angel. The staff we glad to see us at St Lukes Community Centre, when we arrived.

This is a fantastic modern Community Centre provides a space for local people to gather and socialise, and for them and other organisations to deliver services and activities for the local community at little or no cost.

Our tasks for the evening were threefold:

1. Frances led a team of 6 to put all the chicken food and chicken bedding inside black rat proof boxes. Splitting the piles into three - green food, yellow food and bedding - the team worked well and piled it all back into the shed.
2. A squad led by Alex filled three planters with compost until 2 inches below the border of the planter. They then mixed the compost thoroughly with forks and leveled the top. These planters will soon be full of SPRING PLANTS!
3. Kike led a group to fill the chicken cage with a layer of woodchip to a level of 10cm. This job involved having several people in the cage while the others emptied the bag into it. Nice!

Good chicken!

After sweeping up and packing away the cardboard into the recycling we took a group picture and headed home for a stretch and a bourbon biscuit!

Sign up for next week here, we are off to Caxton House to do various gardening tasks!

PB out.