Charlie Linton

Achilles International are an amazing organisation who link guide with blind and particially sighted runners, and they are looking for potential guides for future training sessions.

Goodgym (and parkrun) communities have been very supportive of this team over the years, so we are looking to see if we can introduce more runners to the world of guiding.

Paddington Rec Track Running

From this Thursday through to Spring, Achilles International will be hosting their weekly VI running group session at Paddington Rec Track, an open access 400m track, 5 minutes walk from Maida Vale Station.

How do I get involved?

We are looking for volunteers to come and help our runners from Maida Vale station, over to our meeting spot near Paddington Rec Track, and back again afterwards. TFL staff are on hand to assist with the runners journey to and from Maida Vale.

We are looking for guides to navigate the runners during the session (paces and distances will be discussed beforehand), and to look out for obstacles and hazards during the run.

Open to runners of all guiding experience

If you are not confident with guiding a runner at first, you are welcome to run with a guiding couple to watch their techniques and how it is done.

What do I do now

If you are interested, sign up here.

We will contact you on Wednesday, and link you to the Achilles International WhatsApp group to discuss our plans for Thursday evening.

Introduce yourself, and let us know your guiding experience, and we will work together to create an awesome group!

SOUNDTRACK FOR THIS REPORT We were seneraded with a frankly haunting rendition of this last night by some of our Goodgymmers. So I'm sharing the earworm with you as you read

11 Goodgymmers were all dressed up and with somewhere to go as they ran to lend a hand at the Traid shop in Wood Green.

Live Traid

We love going to Traid. This is a task that we've now got down to a T and last night was no exception.

We arranged to arrive at Traid earlier than usual to make sure we were as helpful as possible and that we did.

We wasted no time starting packing the old range of clothes away - not without a little jacket fitting here, and skimpy dress fitting there. The good folk at Traid didn't expect so many willing volunteers to turn up and seemed delighted at the speed at which we worked, if a little bemused about the behaviour of our tribe.

You see, Sarah was wearing a military-style jacket and started saluting the length and breath of this wonderful Wood Green establishment, all the while some Goodgymmers were singing their hearts out and - it says here - "throwing shapes." Gramps was setting a good example by trying a very revealing little outfit, and there was loud strategising about an online war with a rival Goodgym crew.

So you can understand why the Traid folk were a little taken aback.

All the same, our most sensible goodgymmer, Rosa (who happens to be Gramps's mother) shamed us into a semblance of good behaviour and it was early doors for us.

All's well that ends well, I suppose.

Join us next week for more shenanigans.

Louise (fresh from her 50th Parkrun! 👏), John and Charlie started off by weeding the plants from a raised planter so it is ready to be planted up as a herb garden. We saved the geraniums and threw the rest into the world’s squeakiest wheelbarrow to wheel it round to the compost heap.

Then we moved onto our second task - planting hundreds of bulbs around the sides of the garden. We planted crocuses, daffodils, irises and gladioli. So there’s sure to be a burst of colour to look out for in the spring!

After about an hour, Louise and John headed off (John running off to complete another good deed! 👏). Charlie stayed on a little longer to shovel and rake compost and manure on top of the bulbs to give them lots of nutrients to grow.

There will be more to do at this site on Saturday 5th February too. We’ll be doing lots more planting, and working on a pathway to make it more accessible. Sign up here: https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/helping-out-at-haringey-learning-partnership-8aa04931-8b77-4d45-af3e-e434e2eaafab