Trip to B. Square

Today's starter session task was a spot of gardening in Barnsbury Square.

17 of us had turned up at Highbury Pool by 11.45, a large majority of whom were first timers to GoodGym. Welcome all!

Although it was nice and dry it was also a bit nippy, so we postponed the pleasantries momentarily and to get warm quickly got stuck into some star jumps, swung our arms about wildly and played a top game of Domes and Dishes (Domes just about won, I think, but as usual there was cheating going on).

Slightly warmer and definitely breathing heavier, Simon delivered a super long briefing, explaining what GoodGym was all about and why it's so good (and gymmy, I guess) and why all 200 000 residents of Islington should become members.

With everybody raring to go, and GoodGym superstar Pritesh acting as tail runner we jogged the 1k round to Barnsbury Square Gardens. En route we received the best heckle ever: "RUNNING!". Genius! Once we stopped laughing we continued on our way and once there were met by Lucy and the park warden Fiona, who gave us a quick safety briefing on using tools correctly,

Gloves donned we set to work turning soil, collecting twigs and clearing paths. Plenty of chatter and happy faces and the odd friendly dog coming to say hello, but also lots of hard work. There was a brief stop for the classic Islington Biscuit Break and time to discuss THE DEBATE

First-timers to GoodGym Islington were not spared the requirement to deliberate carefully and use every ounce of their strength to persuade others of their beliefs. Today's questions was "What is the greatest film ever, and why?" Some great suggestions. Simon is going to watch them all and the best will be used for our next first of the month theme night. Here's what we reckon:

• Philippa: Little Miss Sunshine A great film and she loves Steve Carell
• Chloe: Mean Girls. It's her guilty pleasure
• Zainab: (500) Days of Summer. It contains unique personalities and quirky characters
• Katherine, Pritesh: Tried to guess Simon's favourite film. Thought it might be Chariots of Fire, but then realised we'd already had that as theme night.
• Ben: Magnolia. Julianne Moore is great. It's unpredictable, has good cinematography and a great script
• Joana: Fight Club. 1) Brad Pitt 2) IT BLEW HER MIND 3) A great soundtrack (Where is My Mind)
• Lucy: The Big Sleep. It is well before her time. Great chemistry between leads. The plot doesn't work but people forgive that because it's so good.
• Lucy (2): Monsieur Hulot's Holiday. Lots of sight gags. She associates it (irrationally) with working in France. It's a film you need to see more than once.
• Laura: Taken. It keeps you on the very edge of your seat.
• Kelly: Amélie. It's just really interesting and unusual. Set in beautiful Paris
• Ellie: Memento. Every time she watches it she notices something new
• Natalia: Roman Vacation (or is it Holiday?). It's a classic RomCom
• Pritesh: Top Gun. It just is! "Volleyball Scene" Oh yeah, Danger Zone (the song)
• Katie: Up. She cried. very pretty. Apparently it'll make anybody cry!
• Katherine: Forrest Gump. Just love it! very inspiring and includes lots of world events
• Annie: Lord Of The Rings. Another guilty pleasure. It's always on in the background
• Simon: Back To The Future No argument needed. Also, it's 2015. C'mon!
• Sylvia: ??? Either we lost the sheet or there was no answer. Tell us, Sylvia!

Before we knew it our 45 minutes were up and we cleared away the tools for a group photo. Lucy pointed out that we had done the equivalent of a massive 13 hours work. That's equivalent to 600 good deeds or something. Probably.

We thanked the friends of the garden for hosting us and jogged back to the pool through the growing crowds (something to do with a soccer game, I understand).

Time for a bit of relay action. We split into 5 groups and spent a couple of minutes running a 3-person continuous relay. Everybody put in loads of effort, but there was a tiny, tiny, tiny bit of slouching, so we practised walking tall with good posture and being all posh and stuff and then had another bash for 60 seconds. Much better this time. just enough time left for a final blast. A quick "elbow your partner in the hands drill" (official technical term) and we were ready to really get stuck in for the final minute's push. Arms driving, legs extending, lungs bellowing and hearts pumping we DESTROYED those 60 seconds.

A few stretches and we were finally finished. And set off with our dried fruit from Urban Fruit in hand.

Except that there was more. A new first for Islington: we went to the pub! This may almost definitely probably become a regular thing. We left a couple of GoodGym flyers on the table (along with more empty glasses) so it was practically another good deed.

It was a wonderful starter session and a thoroughly enjoyable day. Everybody did really well and we've made an impact on one of our green areas. Hope to see loads of you on Monday for the cupcakes.

Oh, and if you are reading this report and missed today, fear not, for there is another starter session next Saturday. Today's attendees are encouraged to come on and tell the newbies (yeah, that's not you anymore) what it's all about.

Simon