On a warm Monday evening, 13 keen Goodgymmers arrived at the idyllic Olden Community Gardens, just opposite Drayton Park station. This beautiful spot is could be easily missed when walking by Arsenal Stadium, but there are hidden allotments, butterfly gardens and neighbourhood connections built on an area that was dedicated for gathering WW2 debris in the past!

More information about Olden Community Gardens can be found here: https://www.oldengarden.org/

Welcome to first time Goodgymmer Lisa - Thank you for joining us!

We had a variety of tasks on offer for us, stretching between the main garden entrance, past many fox dens, and over to "the bridge gardens" (which expand over a working railway bridge for National Rail services).

- Task 1

Together, we helped to shovel 2 full builder's merchant bags of mixed compost from the main entrance (the only vehicle drop point for gardening material), over to a more convenient location. At least 6 of our crew filled portable tubs of compost, before carrying this material by hand. By the end of the session, we came together to lift the final bag of mulch safely and carefully to the intended spot. Great job all!

- Task 2

Our team helped with preparing the gardens for the potential heat wave next week! We located all of the available water points for hose pipes and watering cans, and set about dousing as many of the plants and saplings as possible. This was a difficult task, as Olden Community Gardens is set on a hillside, and we needed to stretch the hose pipes around awkward corners and down slopes to effectively cover as many beds as possible. Between us, we did a smashing job within an hour of problem solving and teamwork!

Following our session, we enjoyed a trip to the Highbury Library bar and bottle shop to celebrate former Area Activator Simon's 800th good deed! A great way to close up a quality evening of Goodgymming- well done all!

10 GoodGymers dodge the Wednesday rain to make a big difference in Camden!

This was our second time in two weeks at Kentish Town's Greenwood Centre and it was a much chillier occasion than last Wednesday's heat soaked evening!

Not that that deterred this lovely group of active altruists!

Together they got stuck straight in and made light work of an ambitious project!

Having filled umpteen sandbags, cut a giant hole in a pot, and positioned a sun-loving tree, this group proceeded to stack the sandbags in neat (yet creative) uniformity, leaving an installation fit for Chelsea!

Thank you, everyone!

9 GoodGymers made a real difference at Kentish Town City Farm!

This lovely group — Caitlin, Deirdre, Emily, Giulia, Jacqui, Karen, Lydia, Matt, and Pritika — caught a well-spent and community-filled morning at Kentish Town City Farm on Sunday!

Together they got everything ready for the Farm's annual May Day celebrations!

💚 Karen and Giulia cleaned fences and took them up to the top field!

💚 Emily and Matt carried an animal cage up to the top field and almost got lost!

💚 Deirdre, Lydia, Pritika, and others helped carry tables a long way!

💚 And everyone hung up bunting!... alongside saying hello to the animals 🐷

Thank you, everyone! And thank you, Emily, for the photos and report!

Nine GoodGymers made their way to ARC Community Centre last night, meeting Amy and Autumn at their canal-side community garden in a mission to clear the decks — or rather, the beds — ready for a season of planting.

And what better way to celebrate Amy's 200th GoodGym session than with her hosting us!

Five of us ran there from Arsenal and joined another four there. The main task was clearing a long pile of dead shrubbery from along the fence, trying to fit it into two big garden waste sacks like a game of tetris. Louise put her sawing skills to the test, beelining it for the fattest of branches, while Deirdre fiercly attacked and bashed the overflowing bag of branches with a spade, and Mehmet and Luke demonstrated impressive feats of strength, hoisting a hefty railway sleeper into place to squash down the contents of the other bag. We're not as scary a bunch as that sounds...

Steph Ducat carefully dug out burdock and prepared the ground at the end of the garden for a tree that will be planted later this week. And over at the wildflower roundabout, Caitlin, Da Marcus, and Deirdre made a (small) start on weeding.

Looking forward to returning in a few weeks to continue with their great work...

Last night's session saw 9 GoodGymers roll up at Elizabeth House Community Centre, helping to stack chairs, clean tables, and sweep the floor after their foodbank in record time. Although I'm not sure we managed to rid the floor of every sparkle of glitter!

As is often the case with this task - we were rewarded with surplus bread and veg to take home (has anyone tasted those mustard seeds?! They're fiery!!)

5 GoodGymers took a gentle 2.5 km run to get there too - although we all bailed out of the run back, opting instead to head directly home to cook up our leeks and munch on our bread, much to the disappointment of Luke who really wanted to witness me running laps of the stadium with 2 leeks and a baguette in tow... next time!