For Funk's Sake!

Karaoke may be Japanese for empty orchestra but there certainly wasn't anything empty about our Goodgymmers performance as 30 of them orchestrated a fun night in the wild lands of Haringey.

Top Of The Pops

It wasn't the most auspicious of starts for this month's Goodgym Social as our very own Goodgym Haringey decided to host a party night bang on in the middle of a yellow weather warning and as the hills of North London became impromptu waterfalls. As a small squad ran to Rowan's from the pre-party task, we all mused how many of the whopping 31 Goodgymmers signed up for the party would actually fight their way through the inclement weather to attend a knees up in Finsbury Park. The consensus was that we expected around 15 people to show up and we would have called that a good innings. Oh, reader, how wrong we were.

One by one, they all started arriving. Soggy, tardy, smiling - they all looked sublime in what was a washout of an evening elsewhere.

Drinks flowed, as did the chat, some people even braved the rather radioactive-looking burgers and before you knew it, 30 of us were sitting around having a jolly old time under the both metaphorical and literal Goodgym flag in the corner. Alas, it can't all be fun so just as everyone was relaxing into the night, GGHaringey's Gramps pounced on the innocent, unexpecting Goodgymmers with an indecent proposal they just couldn't say no - karaoke time.

Now I've heard there was a secret chord / that David played, and it pleased the Lord but the good ol' King had nothing on our crimson-tinged canaries as they sang song after song with gusto, enthusiasm, and -occasionally- even in tune. All tastes were catered for, with particular highlights including a life affirming group rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody and a somewhat poignant version of checks notes Tubthumping.

After two hours (!) of singing, it was time for a little boogie and GGHaringey's Latoya led the way to the dancefloor where the DJ indulged our now dwindling group with a few Latino-flavoured tunes. Magic stuff.

With thanks to John, Jack and everyone else who have revived the monthly socials and to everyone who came last night to help GGHaringey do our bit.

Next month's fun is taking place in Paddington - details here!