“I don't care about the presents, underMEATH the Christmas tree”

A good sized group or what!

A wonderful sized group gathered on our hotel steps last night for our final run of 2019. We welcomed first time TH runners Laurel and Chris (thank you for your wonderful contribution to tonight’s run, and we hope to see you very soon). Yes, the December drizzle kept no one away as we whizzed through our warm up, shuttling through sweepy leg squats and high knee palm-taps before forming two groups for tonight’s double-task delight.

Two-tasking it for our final run of 2019

Lieke led a team of 6 over to the Parkview Estate where Catherine was waiting with tools and instructions on how and where to plant the new delivery of fruit trees, as she and other members of the Residents Association work tirelessly to transform this beautiful spot into an environmentally friendly, edible estate. I meanwhile took a team of 20 over to Meath Gardens where brilliant Joanna and Jane were waiting in the cold patiently for us and were brilliantly prepared! We had such a lovely variety of tasks to choose from: staking trees, planting trees, moving mulch, shifting woodchip…Lots and lots to do, and the large team were kept very busy right up until 8pm.

Our final visit of the year to The Fitness Tree

And so we said our appreciative goodbyes, posing for pics, rolling eyes, and jumping for joy before making our way over to our favourite fitness tree for tonight’s fitness session. Steve, our resident running chief (thank you Steve, you have breathed new life into our drills) led our running tonight, with Leo and Isabelle heading up the hare team (the runners wanting to take it a bit easier for a variety of reasons), who headed out for the lap of the park with a good headstart before Steve led the greyhounds, tasked with catching them up. The runners arrived back at the tree panting but ready for the tree’s signature move, the beloved Bulgarian split squat before moving onto the tripod push up, standing crunch, plank with sweep & kick (eugh, what a way to see out 2019 – well done, everyone), and then we made our way back to our beautiful hotel, where we’d kindly been given a large room for the night and were able to enjoy Sarah’s homemade mince pies, Chi’s Dead Man’s Fingers rum, Laurel’s game-changing chocolate stolen, and lots of lots of nattering and laughter. 2019 – you have well and truly rocked.

Our truly dedicated Task Force

A big shout out tonight to our incredible task force: to Lieke for leading the Parkview task, and other Community Missions this year; to Leo for some great pics and leading some fabulous Community Missions this December, to Isabelle for managing our growing social side of things (we’re getting there!) and heading up tasks, and to Bryon for being on board with everything, always in the background and leading some great Community Missions too.

Thank you to our beautiful Borough

It’s been an incredible year at Tower Hamlets: we’ve made more new friends in the Borough, and had some wonderful times, from our evenings at Parkview and Meath to enjoying the Council’s brilliant #BigCleanUp, to our game changing nights of 5-aside in Shoreditch with the wonderful Get Fit Feel Inspired team.

2020 looks set to be a great year – we are SO LUCKY to enjoy the company, drive and determination of some of our Borough’s most dedicated individuals and organisations, who see community as something more than a hashtag: a word that means coming together like no other, for smiles, sweat and for the long haul. We here at GoodGym Tower Hamlets feel blessed and unbelievably appreciative, and can’t wait to see you in 2020.

Have a wonderful break, everyone.