Just because the task cancelled, doesn’t mean we stop… oh no,.. this week we helped ourselves… by getting fitter and stronger and spreading the Goodgym name across Lambeth to recruit more members for the New Year.

Inspired by the speed of you all, Maya has written a lovely little account in the style of Usain Bolt… and if you want to sponsor her then you can do so here http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/StHildasEast

"Heer me naw. Looads a people be commin to da run in Papa park, Brixtan. Big up da team for cummin along on a daak coold wintas evenin. Both da task we was gunna do be cancelled last minate, so my main gal Rebecca be puttin us tru our paces and takin us to da common in Claphaam. 1 mile we ran der, each wid a flyer spreddin good wurds about da good gym cru. Owa job was to try convince udda runners to join us on owa weekly tasks. Wen we got to da ponds in da common we den had to do a sprint man, yeh, around da pond wid d geese n everyting. Rebecca timed us and den we tried to beat owa time da second time around. It wos tuff ya kno? Dis was followed by circuits in da park wich reminded me of da good ol days wen we did dees everi week man. Owa run back was pritty smood, and to mek everyting betta we den had tree cakes to gorge on innit. Testee! As if dis wernt enaf, sum of da cru wen down to da rhum baa to warm owa cockales afta. A wandaful time was ad by all".

Migrating back East from her home in the west, coach Ellie's wings spread far and wide to rejoin the awesome family that is Hackney GG.

Meeting as usual in the E5 bakehouse, the crew trickled in under cover from the last of the rain. One by one, the Girl Power posse packed the rafters. Ellie, Antonia, Annetto, Sophie, Jo, April and Kate were only accompanied by one fair gent this week - Christian, who held it down proud for the boys!!

After a brief housekeeping the team were ready to hit the Hackney pavements hard achieve whatever the task was that lay ahead.

This week it was: Emptying the Decorative Soil Boxes on Narrow Street, to make way for the resurfacing, modernisation and general beautifying of the area.

This amazing community project has happened as a result of several partnership organisations coming together to improve the community for the people of Hackney. That partnership is made up of - Hackney Council, Wilton Estate Community Gardens, Cordwainers Community Garden, St Mary's Secret Garden and The Stroke Project on Well Street!!!

So, with raincoats zipped, we hit the road, journeying through London fields for a quick equipment grab from Wilton Estate, before hot footing it, with wheelbarrows and spades, towards Narrow Street and the task.

It has to be said - Nothing is funnier than watching the madness of GG red tees hurtling through Hackney centre brandishing all array of gardening tools to the horror of the locals! Hillarious.

Before long we'd arrived at point 2, where the fab Anne from Hackney Council was there to greet and explain the task ahead. Getting stuck in straight away the team rolled up their sleeves and began the work.

We began with Vigor - Shovelling soil, filling giant white bags and identifying good from bad (our technique was.... Crunchy? not Crunchy?)

After 40mins of graft the team were out of puff, but with still more work to be done, we shall see them again next week. A swift run back to the equipment drop and an even swifter tail back through the Fields and we were back for a stretch to close the night.

Great task, amazing team and a GoodGym Hackney done for the night!!

Another magnificent night last night chaps. 37 of us… really good. We took a whopping 93 kg of food to the task.

We also celebrated Maddy and Jitendra doing 50 good deeds and getting their highly sought after black T-shirts (Jay, yours is on it’s way)… well done guys!

We also kicked off the GoodGym Lambeth Great British Bake Off sweepstake. To recap the rules, the Tuesday after your contestant goes out you have to bake something from the theme that week…. We will have cake for 12 weeks… I am most excited.

OK, on with the report. I have decided to make this week’s report PUN-tastic… see if you can spot the theme.

We were all JAMmed into Papa’s for a PEACH (slices) of a task. We knew where we were going because we’ve (baked) BEAN to Vauxhall Food Bank many a time so it was a case of getting on the road with our food and getTINg going. Running up Brixton Road, on a mission in Lycra I felt a bit like Anneka RICE (pudding)…

Once we got there Faith weighed up all the food we’d taken and we had managed to take 93kg of food…. That’ll give us muscles.

Get TIN (s)!!!

Next week I’m away so I will PASTA baton onto Axel who will be leading the tasks.

See you in two weeks x

21 runners ran 5km focus on hip position to shift a tonne of Compost for Dalston Curve garden.

This session focused on hips. Good hips means good running.
We had to shift a mound of earth for Dalston Curve Garden. Home of Becky Greenwood's Pizza oven.

We jogged over to Dalston at a nice steady pace lead by Mark. Mark has great hips, and a nice light running style.

When we arrived they were not quite ready for us so we strengethed our cores and hips on the sand, in front of a band who played us some delightful music.

purple tunnel of "buddleja"

By this point we had a lovely load of spades and shovels ready for us to start shifting the mound of earth hidden behind the purple tunnel of buddleja.

Those not digging did more work on their hips, strengething with some flutter kicks, planks and mountain climbers on the sand.

"Space for a van"

By the time the reps were over the mound of earth was moved leaving ample space for a van.

"hip partners"

We headed to Hackney Downs for some more hip interrogation . We got ourselves some hip partners who kept their eyes on our hips to give us some feedback.

HIP INFO

If you're interested in little bit more hip stuff, here's a short video of Americans talking about good hip position, and here's a longer article about why it's important.

MISSION REPORT

While the rest of GoodGym Hackney headed to the Curve Garden, Ros and I did our best Charlie Dimmock / Alan Titchmarsh impersonations at a Groundforce-style mission in Stokey.

"rolls of astroturf"

We ran 4km to visit the friendly Rachel, who was ready to meet us in the front garden with rolls of astroturf and a selection of paving slabs. It soon became apparent Ros had been a Landscape Architect in a previous life, as she talked Rachel through her “vision for the space”.

"climbing into the brown bin"

We set to work clearing the space of garden waste, with Ros climbing into the brown bin to maximise capacity. With light rain falling, we laid the astroturf, pinning it in place with carefully arranged slabs.

"a very generous round of applause"

We all agreed the finished article was a lovely sight – and if Groundforce were rebooted, Ros would be top pick. We said our goodbyes and made a speedy run back to meet the others for a very generous round of applause and some much needed stretching.

20 Runners ran to dig up roots for a community garden in Hackney. 2 went to clear an older persons garden.

"some mid road planking"

Well, well, well. Firstly, the taskmaster enforced some mid road planking. With 22 men and women strong, we moved at breakneck speed weaving through the backstreets of Hackney towards the idyllic Wilton Estate. Greeted by the lovely Debbie, she dished out a multitude of tools as there was lots to be done. The plants were gasping from the summer sun, so a group of good gym'ers carried endless watering cans to relieve them of their thirst.

"count to 3 whilst sprinkling"

The correct way to water plants is to count to 3 whilst sprinkling. Whoever knew?!

Witness the fitness, the root digging system, one hope, one quest. Meanwhile, there was a small army of strong armed gents swinging their pic axes, spades and sharp implements to remove the toughest of all roots.

"ripped"

Miraculously no one was damaged during this challenging task, aside from the roots, clearly, which were ripped from the ground successfully. Whoops and high fives followed, victorious. There were however, other troublesome weeds and ivy lurking in the gardens, attempting to rule. But, not for long. We were on hand to tear them from the ground. We piled them high into a bag large enough to fit at least 6 good gym'ers.
Witness the fitness, the root digging system, one hope, one quest.

"casual hustling"

After our quest was done, we summoned up the power to run to Hackney Downs for some casual hustling, relay style. We hustled so hard you could hear the beats of our feet on the ground. Then, basking in the glory of our achievements we ran back to our start point, E5 Bakery. Excellent work team, until next time. Witness the fitness, the root digging system, one hope, one quest.

Mission report

Antonia and I (Paul Bown) both volunteered for the mission to help Catherine in Clapton clear an overgrown bush in her front garden. So we headed north on Mare Street, were directed around a Police cornered off area and weaved around the busy streets of Hackney. After 3.3km we'd arrived and were mission ready.

The situation was that ivy, vines and bushes had become overgrown in Catherine's front garden so the council had requested her to cut it back off the street and take the routes out. However due to the fact Catherine had a stroke a few years ago she is reasonably immobile and unable to do this.

"good tempo pace"

Armed with shears and black sacks we were able to cut back around 1/4 of the ivy growing into the street (at least 1.5 metres deep) before we had to set off. We got rid of the bin bags and then said our goodbyes to Catherine. Our return run was at a good tempo pace as we needed to make sure Anthonia got on her train home.

37 runners and Molly the dog met at Papa’s on a magnificent Tuesday evening – it was a night where we completed 4 big tasks, covered the length and breadth of Lambeth, celebrated Rebecca Nellis’ big 100 good deeds, ate some cakes and drank cheap fizz. It was perfect.

Unfortunately we didn’t win the lottery, but the round up of the night’s events tell me we are very much winners.

Team Papas

So the Papa’s park crew might not have run anywhere but don’t be mistaken by thinking this meant they got off lightly…. far far from it. These brave souls were rewarded for their excellent sanding and painting skills with 15 minutes of full body circuits. Burpees, press ups, squats, lunges, dips and sprints were banged out non stop. Legs wept and waved white flags begging for a ceasefire whilst upper bodies gave up hope and emigrated to Turkey . An impressive display of technique and grit ensured that these guys are one step closer to getting stronger and faster and injury free. It’s not just about running folks, make sure you train your muscles folks to condition that tank of yours. Just as we were finishing Jitendra turned up with the most wonderful cakes I have ever tasted (and I know my cake) instantly winning my “Man of the Match’ ,. Bravo

Team Myatt’s - errrr... In lieu of an actual report from anyone, and based on the photos I believe that the Myatt's team lifted some serious wood.... (not a euphemism).

Team Olive - By Beth

Lovely Dyfed (he remembered me from last year and even remembered that I'm 'some sort of doctor or scientist') definitely deserves a good deed, no way we would have managed to get it done without him.

After jogging just around the corner with Dyfed and his dog Molly, Laura and I arrived at Olive's house. I was really looking forward to seeing what it was like after coming almost a year ago to help chop down a massive bush that was taking over the whole garden. Pleasantly surprised that it was still under control we got to work. While Laura and Dyfed chopped branches and pulled up weeds, I did my best to bag it all up. I had the usual panic about two-thirds of the way in, with big piles of greenery in the middle of the garden I wasn't sure that what we were doing was actually helping but once we were done and had filled about 20 bags it was clear we had made a big difference. All that was left was to head back to Papa's for some bubbly and delicious madeleines in celebration of Lambeth's first wings, congratulations on reaching 100 good deeds Nelly!

Team Nature Garden - By Alex

On a warm balmy evening, five GG'ers tootled up Brixton Hill to visit Palace Road Nature Garden where they met the very calm Gerry. Splitting into two groups the lads took it upon them selves to move logs, and lay down some wood chip next to the pond. The ladies, wielding machetes, took to clearing nettles and prickly plant things from the path. Gerry pointed out the muriel on the back wall, which is well worth a look! And before we took out leave, we had time for a cheeky photo with him too! On the run back one runner had to stop and walk, but in good ol' GG fashion no man was left behind; and a rescue service on bike was soon to their aid. Meaning we all got back in time to celebrate in style!

Last night had more going on then an episode of Eastenders… we had 34 runners, three tasks, one mile time trials, killer circuits, cake, a black t-shirt for50 good deeds, a marriage proposal and even two old school friends reunited by pure coincidence at GoodGym Lambeth….

Whilst 16 runners stayed at Papa’s to help paint the fence of our wonderful meeting point they were not let off lightly with the running… each were sent out to run a mile (well just over) as fast as they could… a great effort was put in… there’s nothing I like more than seeing people come back looking absolutely spent.. and some very speedy times too. They were then rewarded for their hard work of painting and running with 10 minutes of brutal circuits afterwards… I just keep giving.

Here’s what went on at the other two tasks;

Brixton Youth Centre - Beth

We had two tasks to do at Brixton Youth Centre this week - one was the usual, brush and bag up the leaves to make the place look a bit more tidy and the other was to move all the stuff out of a garage, give it a sweep and put it all back a bit more neatly. It turned out this was the perfect task for new runner Kevin who’d actually bothered to read the bit on the website where it says you might want to bring a head torch. You’d be forgiven for thinking there might not be much need for it in June, but when Sarah shouted from inside the garage 'is there a light in here we can use?' Kevin became the hero with the flick of a head torch switch! With tasks completed we set off back to Papa's for circuits, painting and cake. Congratulations on reaching 50 Benson!

Holland Park Estate – Emma

A small group of us ran a little further down the road from Brixton Youth Centre to help Ameena with the Holland Park Estate gardens. After admiring the meadow that is now where we dug up all those weeds a few months ago, we were split into groups do some small weeding tasks (damn you, bindweed, we knock you back and you spring right back up again!). Once the bindweed had taken a good beating we moved onto some new tasks, weeding and digging areas on the edge of the main estate, near the road. Soil was turned, weeds were weeded, loads of really tall rapeseed was pulled up and some of us even managed to fit in planting new plants! Satisfied that we had done some good, we ran back in time for a spot of painting and cake made by Beth and Sarah. Delicious!