Seven Goodgymmers enjoyed a peaceful night of shovelling manure and wood chippings at the wonderfully tranquil Meadow Orchard in Crouch End.

When Push Comes To Shovel

After a whole day dominated by a sky that augured imminent downpours, it was in the end a lovely, sunny evening at the Meadow Orchard as our Goodgymmers assembled for an evening of tasks.

It was amazing to see Queen Khan make her glorious return after conveniently finding an excuse to spend a few weeks in bed during the cold months of winter - but we'll forgive her because she wasted no time in getting into the flow of things (much to Gramps and Niamh's chagrin who were terrified to stymie her recovery). Welcome back and all that!

Nurj, Niamh, Dave, Sam, Julie, and Charlie wasted no time in attacking a massive pile of wood chippings that had been left for the Orchard in the car park outside. Armed with shovels, plastic containers, and wheelbarrows, our Goodgymmers began transporting the chippings into site and spreading it in a variety of beds and storage piles. Our busy bees buzzed and like a well oiled machine, the pile grew smaller and smaller by the minute. So much so, in fact, that Katie from the Friends group took a splinter squad to help move a massive bag of manure into the beds as well. Sam and Julie shovelled it into place in no time.

We even had time to explore the site a bit, take pictures of tadpoles, imbibe some freshly brewed cuppas, almost break a hammock, and take some selfies in the glorious crepuscular light. All in an hour's work. Boom.

Chapmans Green has requested our help looking after some new plants and the by-now named Goodgym bed so we're going there next week - you should come!  

The GoodGym crew were thrilled to join the Achilles International all abilities sports charity in Battersea Park for their amazing pre-London Marathon meet up in Battersea Park. We had runners visiting from the New York, Melbourne and Belgian chapters arriving for race day, along with our weekly attendees and friends and family. The energy was electric, and we thoroughly enjoyed our newly developed run location (big wide drives, loads of fellow running enthusiasts- we might have some potential new guides!).

Well done to Audrey and Luc for joining us for their first Thursday session.

And good luck to Andy and Andrew on their race on Sunday!

https://www.achillesinternational.org/

Our next session will be on Thursday 25th April, at Stratford Olympic Park:

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/come-and-guide-run-with-achilles-international-olympic-park-stratford-route-76bc23e4-2512-4471-8eb1-ad848b322de8

4 Goodgymmers hankered after welly boots and head torches as they lent a hand in the dark at George Meehan House for a spot of lawn surgery.

The Beast At The Gates

Our four Goodgymmers arrived at the gates of George Meehan House for an early start to meet Luke from GrowN22 who needed a hand sorting out the flower meadow in the Wedding Gardens of George Meehan House. They arrived, all smiles and high fives but that quickly changed.

Enter The Beast.

Mylo, a Cerberus trapped in the body of the cutest Dachshund you have ever seen, guarded the gates and his human Luke with tenacious care. He barked and barked as our Goodgymmers settled into the task for the night.

It was a very muddy affair which made it very slippery underfoot but a lot easier to get rid of the top layer of grassy soil from the wildflower meadow in readiness for the 150 sunflowers, currently being lovingly grown in Luke's flower nursery somewhere in N22.

Very soon, we realised Mylo's barking was simply him trying to tell us he wanted to get involved, and before you knew it, he was digging along with Clare, Julie, and Charlie as Gramps stood around pestering our Goodgymmers for photos.

At around 7:30, and having lost the one source of light we had to low battery, we decided to call it an evening.

We all took turns at getting Mylo to do tricks and give him treats and call him a good boy, and he even joined in the high fives at the end. What a rock star.

Come next week! It's another early start but always fun as we visit Traid on Wood Green High Road.