I Wheel the Earth Move

Meeting outside King’s Place for greetings and intros at 11am, the team were on top form this Wednesday morning.

We were making our way to two tasks, for various activities, helping out committed, useful local community groups.

After a short, rain-filled warm-up in Granary Square we divided into two teams for our two tasks…

Task 1 - "Getting Ziggy With It" - Simon and Ivo's Group Run to Thornhill Square Gardens

Writes Simon "After our group warm up with the entire Saucony crew, I led the team down to Regent's Canal (just as the heavens opened). Dodging puddles, we jogged passed Barnard Park Adventure Playground (one of GG Islington's regular tasks), before descending to Thornhill Square Gardens.

We were lucky enough to have Ivo lead our running round for a few cool down laps of the park (located within a beautiful Georgian Terrace, just off Caledonian Road), before meeting Anna McKane, the local volunteer coordinator (and expert gardener on the estate).

Armed with shovels, rakes, spades and wheelbarrows, Anna handed our team a variety of projects throughout the park.

Task 1 involved cutting back a collection of overgrown branches and tree stumps using clippers and saws, before building a ziggurat structure with interlacing logs and sticks (the finished project will create a strong column for new ferns to grow, and a bug hotel will be introduced within the structure…). Leftover branches and leaves were collected and added to the dead-hedge borders around the perimeter of the park (to protect newly planted bulbs from dogs and pedestrians).

Task 2 saw us filling up wheelbarrows full of topsoil, and distributing it onto a collection of new wildflower patches. Our plan is to give these spots the best chance of flowering before winter comes.

And Task 3 involved clearing the overgrown weeds and moss from the cracks and crevices surrounding the main pathways around the park. All of the green waste was then collected up and gathered for composting.

Our Saucony crew did a smashing job over the course of the afternoon, and the park certainly had a massive overhaul in a short amount of time: many (productive) hands make light work.

On our return route to Granary Square, the team enjoyed an additional running exercise, a Paarlauf (pair running) interval session on Barnard's Park football pitch (each of our runners were paired up, and engaged in tempo effort runs, mixed with recovery-paced jogs, while running in alternate directions of a circuit!). 4 minutes of total running certainly helped to raise the temperature for our run back.

Task 2: Pete and Laura’s Group Run to Caledonian Park

Pete and Laura took a second team over to gorgeous Caledonian Park to help Miriam from the Caledonian Park Friends Group shift 3.5 tonnes of top soil from one side of the park to the other…

Writes Pete, “Because of access issues for the large delivery trucks, any top soil needed for the park can only be dropped near the café. In this instance, that’s quite far from its final destination. It takes a huge amount of people power to get it shifted to the areas where it’s needed.

The top soil we moved today will help improve the soil in the community garden - the beds have become pretty tired. Plants that have come to the end of their natural life or have suffered this summer due to the drought will be removed; the soil improved with the new top soil, and a new planting scheme put in. The new soil will help them get well established, helping them to retain more moisture and nutrients - and consequently look fantastic!

The Caledonian Park Friends Group work hard all year round to help keep the park looking great for the local community to enjoy, and the wildlife to thrive.

The team’s help today with a big physical task like this helps heaps. Something that took the team an hour today might take weeks of regular volunteer hours to get done. Having had this blitzed by the splendid Saucony squad, the group are free to focus on other tasks in preparation for the Autumn.”

After that incredibly active couple of hours, the teams met back at Granary Square for a final stretch, before making our way back to Kings Place for some well deserved lunch.

An incredible morning’s work, you should all be very proud.

Well done to the whole team, and a big shout-out to:

Simon, for sourcing our tasks, and ensuring wonderful Wednesday workouts all round! And for a fab report, some great pics.

Pete, for all his input with the planning, over many weeks; a great report, and some brilliant pics.

And to Ivo, for co-leading the Group Run, along with some great running drills.

Until next time.