GoodGym Barnet Starter Session & January Challenge Good Deed

A dull January day, but thankfully the rain mostly held off just the odd light mist to keep things atmospheric.

We gathered at Stephens House & Gardens, chatting and welcoming everyone along. Huge thanks to today’s heroes , and a big welcome to Joyceon her very first GoodGym run she did magnificently and fitted right in from the off.

We spent a bit of time talking about why Stephens House & Gardens is such a special place. As a charitable trust, it relies heavily on volunteers and community support, and it’s somewhere we help throughout the year with a wide range of tasks.

From there, we headed off to Long Lane Pastures, a local nature reserve we support occasionally. It’s a fantastic spot to explore, but the path alongside it was looking pretty tired, so out came the bags and litter-pickers. With limited time we didn’t quite finish the job definitely one to return to.

We then ran on to visit the Tiny Forest, giving our newer runners and walkers a flavour of the kinds of community projects we support on GoodGym runs.

After the session, some of us rounded things off with well-earned snacks and drinks at the Stables Café back at Stephens House & Gardens a perfect way to end the morning.

Another great example of getting active, doing good, and enjoying each other’s company. Well done everyone

Three Goodgymers joined a group of local community activists helping to keep the waterways of Barnet free of litter. The group included a number of asylum seekers who are being housed locally and have been eager to get involved in the local community by engaging in volunteering with local organisations.

The task took us along the Mutton brook, near the North Circular road, and onto the Dollis Brook. These two waterways are tributaries of the river Brent, which flows south into the Thames, so keeping them clean is of benefit to many Londoners.

We collected multiple bags of rubbish, mostly the usual mix of discarded alcohol containers, packets of cigarettes and food packaging.

It was muddy work, but the rain held off and we were able to stay dry.

Thank you to the Dollis Brookers community group for organising, and to the asylum seekers who came out to help their local community.