The Portico Gallery is an absolute gem of South London, hosting art exhibitions, tea parties, ceilidhs, yoga classes, an outdoor gym, craft workshops and even the occasional GoodGym wedding!

Tonight a killer team of GoodGym runners slogged it up the hill to help out with yet another interesting task;

SORTING GAZEBOS

We welcomed some fantastic new runners - Fenella, Tarig, Charlie and Eva and then split into 3 pace groups: speedy, medium and gentle, to take on the 4.5k run up to the Portico.

When we arrived, John told us about the West Norwood Feast - an awesome community gathering with food and crafts stalls which happens on the first Sunday of the month. John keeps some of the gazebos they use in the Portico and some live in the nearby leisure centre/swimming pool.

Our job was to sort the clean sides from the dirty sides. We got straight to it, with half the group heading to the leisure centre/swimming pool to do the same thing.

In no time at all, all gazebos were sorted and we hit the road, back to Papa's.

They were brilliant - John (via email)

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NEXT WEEK we've got a NEW TASK - half the group will stick at Papa's for some gardening jobs and fitness drills whilst the other half will be heading to the YELLOW QUBE, a super cool community space on the way to Tulse Hill.

Be there or be cubed. Sign up here.

A rare opportunity to catch up on a Sunday for some Goodgym goodness! It was so lovely to see so many familiar faces from different Goodgym boroughs in the same room. But equally wonderful to see some new/returning runners! Welcome to Sarah, Tamsin, Tessa, Louis, Elena and Neil.

The Arc Centre

We met up in a really smart residential community centre just off Essex Road (which is also GG Islington's 2nd meeting point for Bank Holidays and occasional football match days at the Emirates stadium), and helped ourselves to some complimentary teas and coffees left for us by Sally, the volunteer coordinator. This was much appreciated, as a crew of us had just walked over from Highbury Fields after a session of Xmas tree hunting, and we were a bit chilly to say the least! Before setting off for our warm up and fitness workout, we did the count-off, and asked each other "What is your favourite confectionery?" (inspired by Liz offering orange chocolate and magic stars for everyone).

Here were some of our favourites: * Malteasers and all Malteaser related products * Ferreo Rocher * Tangfastics * Kinder Chocolate (all products) * Creme Eggs * Sherbert Lemons * Pear Drops * Licorice Allsorts * Trek Bars * Vego (the greatest vegan chocolate known to man)

Paarlauf (It's Swedish for Pairs Running)

Before our main fitness session, we performed a few warm up drills to raise our heart rate (ankling, high knees, can-cans, fast feet), and then added a few dynamic stretches to engage the quads and glutes (lunges and sumo squats). We finished up with a few abducter twists and some pogo jumps before heading outside to Union Square Gardens, just opposite the community centre.

We gathered together at the entrance of Union Square gardens, and our runners all paired up and allocated each other to be "Runner 1" or "Runner 2". Runner 1 runs around the park in a clockwise direction at "some pace" (this can vary for every runner, but I would recommend a 70% effort). Runner 2 runs/jogs/walks around the park in an anti-clockwise direction at a recovery pace (significantly easier than the 70% effort). As the runners make their way round, they will meet up with each other and switch their paces by performing a high-5. This interval session was timed for 5 minutes and everyone got a high-5 by the end of it!

Thank you to Abi and Patrick for volunteering to look after everyone's belongings during the main session.

For additional information about Paarlauf running sessions, click here.

Deep Clean

After a solid fitness session, our runners returned to the Arc Centre, and prepared to give the place a really good clean. We filled up some buckets with hot water and bleach, picked up some protective gloves and started to clean the walls in the main room, the connected hallways and another activity room towards the end of the building. Trainer Simon and Patrick battled with a Dyson hoover in need of a new dust-free cylinder, but got it working in no time. We did an awesme job of removing marks, grubby hand prints and crayon scribbles from all the surfaces, and we even had time to give the floors a bit of a mop.

Really satisfying work! Well done everyone- Hopefully we will return to the Arc Centre for more community missions in the next few months.

NEWS

Caledonian Park junior parkun test event

We have been invited to volunteer for a recce for the proposed Caledonian Park junior parkrun, a 2km free weekly timed run for children aged 4 to 14, started every Sunday at 9 am.

This is really exciting for GG Islington regulars, as we have been involved with various tasks in Cally Park leading towards this parkrun!

Sign up here to get involved with this special event, Sunday 19th January at 9 am (please arrive by 8.30 am).

This will not be listed on the main event page, so feel free to send the link to this page for any interested Goodgymmers!

First CREOS community mission of the year!

Easily GG Islington's most popular Community Mission, helping out the Crouch End Open Space charity workers with gardening and maintenance of their lovely plot just off the Parkland Walk.

Sunday 19th January, starting at 11 am, and often finishing with a picnic and snacks in a beautiful woodland setting. What's not to love?

Click here for more information, and to sign up!

No one has plans on a Sunday night - fact. Over a dozen GoodGymers from a number of boroughs seized the opportunity to do some good - before pressing their smalls ahead of another working week. From base camp at Highbury Fields, runners from Islington, Harringey and Lambeth (really) pounded the sleepy streets in search of spruce trees that had served their merry purpose in December and were now ready for a date with the chipper. At first we couldn’t see the trees for the actual living things under the streetlights of leafy Highbury. Soon we realised that considerate locals were keeping the Norwegian Wood off the pavements. With permission, we liberated a small forest’s worth - 30 trees in all - from front gardens and bin areas. We carried in pairs, held trees aloft and even dragged the heftiest of the finds. Run leader Simon wasn’t just dazzled by his head torch as the recycling area filled up. And we all went home with a spring in our step - to make our healthy and elaborate packed lunches.