Sofa so Good

Wow 21 GoodGymers came to do a mission for an isolated person, help Skip Garden with various tasks and ran between 4-7km.

Mission Report by Jess Cowan:

Neil, Will, Tom and Jess sprinted off on an intrepid mission just round the corner to Jess’s coach Steven.

Steven has two sofas, one facing the TV which he liked to sit on. But all the springs and cushions had collapsed, making it really saggy and uncomfortable. Meanwhile the other sofa was in much better condition, but faced the wrong way so didn’t get much use.

Rock 'n' Roll Sofa

A quick bit of lifting and the sofas were swapped over, so Steven can now sit in comfort and his lovely cat Ellie can have the other one. Much better! We had a nice chat with Steven about his love of rock ‘n’ roll, his karaoke skills and favourite Elvis songs, before saying goodbye and heading up to the Skip Garden to join the rest of the group.

Skip Garden Task Report by PB:

It's been a bit chilly this week but a large group of us were still there to do good and get fit! After I talked about Celebration Drinks at Run Hackney we headed off as a group to the amazing Skip Garden. This project is a moveable vegetable garden right in the heart of one of Europe's biggest redevelopments. We met Chief 'Gnome' Paul and he explained what needed to be done:

• Power the compost machine
• Lift two very heavy and huge 3m planters
• Transfer four trollies of logs

The compost machine was powered hard last night, this is used by the project to help maintain and grow flowers, plants and vegetables in the garden. Well done to all involved, after all these months Tom Benson got a go on the machine and "rocked it".

Lovely smells!

Sooo heavy lifting, it's regularly a big task at GoodGym and we had some of our strongest helping out with this one; chiefly Patrick, Will, Joao, George and Neil. Their task was to lift two huge planters to a new position to make room for a sweet potato plant to be planted. There was a lifting belt, brilliant coordination, quick legs and a big gym work out. Seriously I've not seen something heavier lifted by so few people before, incredible work!

Use your Gym!

The final task was collecting logs from Rotunda Bar and Restaurant, these had been used for their winter display and they've donated them to Skip Garden to use for workshops. Becky led a group of 10 runners to pack, collect and trolley over the logs.

With everyone collected back together orderly lines were formed and the Skip Garden supply of logs was packed full. We said our goodbyes to Paul and headed to the canal for a 3km or 5km run in the sunset along Regents Park Canal - beautiful!

After a final stretch we headed to the pub for a well earned drink. Thanks to the taskforce, run leaders and everyone as always for being amazing in getting involved.

See you next week where we'll be painting for the Tenants Association and helping Kentish Town City Farm, sign up here.

Happy Running PB