Seven Goodgymmers journeyed deep into the heart of darkness as they battled with the temperate jungle that had taken over the Westbury Banks Nature Reserve.

Watch It Bring You To Your N-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-nees. Knees!

It was a 'welcome to the jungle/ we got fun and games/ we got everything you want, honey/ we know the names' kind of evening for our Goodgymmer tonight as they put pedal to the metal and partook in some heavy-duty gardening at the Westbury Banks Nature Reserve.

Let's call a spade a spade, that was a hard task. The Reserve has found itself without a lot of attention over the last few months, and it showed as the site was overgrown to such an extent that we had to start strimming from the gate to create a way into the tool shed! It turns out you leave nature alone and it explodes.... who knew!

Our Goodgymmers were undeterred and on they ploughed like total badasses, with Nasser in his sophomore task leading the way blazing a trail for the rest of us with his trusty strimmer.

Not far behind, Julie armed herself with a hedge trimmer and attacked the overgrown fields of stinging nettles with gusto, while Nurjehan and Niamh, armed with loopers, gave the taller trees a trim. Ed and Clare in the meantime, cleared Amazonic levels of foliage and debris and made sure it was all composted nicely at the back of the Reserve. Our hour came and went before you knew it, so we tidied the tools away, took some selfies, and made our way home, the stinging of the nettles burning strong on our naked legs. Definitely a win for the Hardcore Crew! 

New task next week - Come!!!

Seven Goodgymmers met for a good forking and nattering session at Tottenham Green on a lovely mild Spring evening.

Rake It Until You Make It

We had been invited to Tottenham Green to lend them a hand with the by now mythical renovations to the Nursery building that the Friends Group has been patiently waiting for going on... erm.. an eternity.

Alas, it wasn't to be this time either but lucky for us, Laura from the Friend's Group always has a plethora of jobs to complete. Tonight we were entrusted with turning over and transporting two big piles of compost (which we had helped create last year!) over to one of the flowerbeds at the edge of the Green, and also move an awful lot of sticks into a more manageable stick pile in the composting area of the Nursery.

With no time to waste, our Goodgymmers literally dug into the evening, armed with forks, spades, and in one particular case (hi Clare), one of our Goodgymmers embraced her inner ursine nature and attacked the pile with some bear claws, thus providing the unspoken third and most important option to the whole 'Man v Bear in the woods' discussion du jour - Be The Bear! #WomanPower #SmashThePatriarchy But also, #MenDoBetter

Anyway, we worked swiftly and efficiently, finding time to catch up with our lives, bother Charlie asking him to identify every little insect and bug we found, put Julie in a bin, and make plans for a social when our Alex is back from Glasgow for a bit. 

Before you knew it, our self-appointed time-keeping martinet Nurjehan was tapping her foot and banging on about it being 8pm so we said our goodbyes, but not without giving Laura a hand and taking some selfies.

As a I said, a lovely Spring evening

Join us next week as we help the folk at Moselle Meadow create a natural pond!

8 Goodgymmers dug deep as they helped the wonderful folk at Wolves Lane to transport a mountainous amount of soil from one side of the Centre to the other under a wonderful dusk sky.

A Barrel Of Laughter

It was party preparation Wolves Lane-style as we were tasked with moving a large mound of soil into tonne bags and some foundational beds in order to free up the track for easy access to the site. A straightforward mission for our team, who immediately armed themselves with spades, wheelbarrows, and pallet trucks and got on with the job at hand.

Gramps' mum, a veteran of Goodgym tasks, was in full Colombian whinge mood and her utterances in Spanish as she looked for opportunities to sit down were a constant source of entertainment. She even managed to rope in our resident Doctor Niamh for a mid-task massage.

In the meantime, you can't take Julie and Gramps anywhere without the two of them trying to put people in bags or bins, and there was some performative bag-posing worth of the Met Gala and an abortive attempt to ride the pallet truck - after a thorough risk assessment, mind.

The team worked tirelessly and by the time we reached Nurjehan o'clock, we were pretty pleased with our progress. We dust ourselves off and headed out into the sunset but not before making the time for some selfies and high fives.

Particular thanks to Dave for the fantastic timelapse vid!

A classic Goodgym Haringey night <3

Join us next week as we visit Tottenham Green for a multitude of tasks.

Seven Goodgymmers enjoyed a peaceful night of shovelling manure and wood chippings at the wonderfully tranquil Meadow Orchard in Crouch End.

When Push Comes To Shovel

After a whole day dominated by a sky that augured imminent downpours, it was in the end a lovely, sunny evening at the Meadow Orchard as our Goodgymmers assembled for an evening of tasks.

It was amazing to see Queen Khan make her glorious return after conveniently finding an excuse to spend a few weeks in bed during the cold months of winter - but we'll forgive her because she wasted no time in getting into the flow of things (much to Gramps and Niamh's chagrin who were terrified to stymie her recovery). Welcome back and all that!

Nurj, Niamh, Dave, Sam, Julie, and Charlie wasted no time in attacking a massive pile of wood chippings that had been left for the Orchard in the car park outside. Armed with shovels, plastic containers, and wheelbarrows, our Goodgymmers began transporting the chippings into site and spreading it in a variety of beds and storage piles. Our busy bees buzzed and like a well oiled machine, the pile grew smaller and smaller by the minute. So much so, in fact, that Katie from the Friends group took a splinter squad to help move a massive bag of manure into the beds as well. Sam and Julie shovelled it into place in no time.

We even had time to explore the site a bit, take pictures of tadpoles, imbibe some freshly brewed cuppas, almost break a hammock, and take some selfies in the glorious crepuscular light. All in an hour's work. Boom.

Chapmans Green has requested our help looking after some new plants and the by-now named Goodgym bed so we're going there next week - you should come!  

Thank you so much to everyone who came along to cheer today for the amazing runners doing such an iconic achievement.

More importantly we celebrate all of the amazing goodgymmers who undertook the marathon, it is an incredible feat to start one let alone finish one and you should all be so proud of yourselves!

Bit shout-out to Bethan Critchley jumping in at Mile 12 as a supporter helping runners around the course! What a superstar you are!

I've already listed the cheer party for next year. You can sign up here who knows, if you enter the ballot for next year perhaps it'll be you we are cheering on ;)