It is my pleasure to announce that 21 lovely Goodgymmers joined us for Simon Fitzmaurice's first outing as GoodGym Islington's new trainer, and ran to fix up an overgrown garden at the amazing Mildmay Community Centre. Great to see familiar faces, Goodgym tourists (Thanks Nurjehan!) and new participants (Becca, Caitlin and Gerry- welcome everyone) getting stuck in!

Shout outs to the Goodgymmers who helped out at the Crouch End Open Space over the weekend- the well-deserved picnic looked delicious. More information can be found here.

If anyone fancies a long social training run (not for setting PBs!) next weekend, Trainer Simon will be leading the Goodgym Monthly Long Run on Sunday, a route called "The Tour of the Docklands". 10km, 10 mile and 16 mile distances are available, starting from Greenwich and finishing in Stratford Olympic Park, passing loads of River Thames landmarks on the way. Sign up here if you want to get involved!

After a few warm-up exercises, and learning everyone's favourite biscuit preferences (I think Dark Chocolate Hobnob was the most popular...), our crew ran through Highbury Fields Park and past Newington Green to Mildmay Community Centre, and were greeted by Mus, the head gardener for this evening's task. Armed with secateurs and trowels, the team uprooted weeds and snipped back thistles and thorns from the main garden area at the site, whilst concentrating on staying upright on a steep slope! Lots of really impressive teamwork on display, and we ended up with loads of bags full of green waste by the end of our session.

The Mildmay Community Centre is a fascinating building- the whole place is fully sustainable and eco-friendly, boasting a roof full of solar panels for everyday energy usage, green gardening spaces and rain water receptacles to store water for the plants. Some really exciting projects are coming up, so we will be sure to return soon.

Just a reminder- next weeks task to Caledonian Park will start at a different location due to the Bank Holiday. Our start location will be:

The Arc Centre 98b St Paul Street London N1 7DF

(Nearest tube stations are: Highbury & Islington or Angel)

Have a fantastic week! Happy Running! See you soon!