15 lovely Propercorn employees bagged up 7 bags of leaves and planted seeds & bulbs for Cecil Sharp House!

On a wet but warm evening a smiling group of employees from Propercorn (those guys who make yummy pop corn! mmm) turned up at Cecil Sharp House to do some good for their local community.

Upon introducing ourselves, I explained a bit about GoodGym; we were founded in 2009 and aim to combat loneliness and help our communities all while be getting fitter. We think that gyms are a waste of energy. There are many neglected tasks and people in our communities that need that energy. We want to bring these things together. There are three ways to do good with us:

1. Group Runs - We run in groups to do physical tasks for community organisations.
2. Coach Runs - We run to make social visits to isolated older people who we call our 'coaches' because they motivate us to keep going.
3. Missions - We run missions to older people; clearing gardens, changing lightbulbs and doing odd-jobs for people who struggle to do them alone.

Onto information about Cecil Sharp House, Susannah explained that the Home of English Folk, Song & Dance was founded in 1932 but the charity lost funding in 2012 due to Local Government cuts. Therefore the gardens were planted by permaculture and the venue hired out for weddings. Ultimately this means that volunteers like you guys are essential to maintain the garden, which means the charity can keep growing.

Now for the GOOD

Right enough chat, what did we actually do? We grabbed all the tools, soil, seeds and bags around the corner to the big lawn. Splitting into two teams:

• Team A - a group of seven started tackling the leaves on the lawn, path, flower beds and steps. Using all the fun tools!
• Team B - learnt all about soil, seeds, planting and more from Susannah. They then planted some peas and some flowers!

It's quite amazing the amount of leaves that fall in late October, this lawn needs constant care and you sure guys gave it that. Within 40 minutes you guys had filled seven bags of leaves and the lawn looked BEAUTIFUL!

After a group picture, we packed away and said our thanks to Susannah from Cecil Sharp House.

If you guys at Propercorn are interested in coming to GoodGym here are the three closest to your office (plus there is another 20 in London):

1. Monday - GoodGym Islington meet at the Arsenal Hub by the Emirates Stadium at 18.45pm.
2. Tuesday - GoodGym Hackney meet at E5 Bakehouse near London Fields at 18.45pm.
3. Wednesday - GoodGym Camden meet at Living Centre within the Crick Institute next to St Pancras at 18.45pm.

Thanks for coming guys - see you soon.

PB out.

A massive 41 GoodGymers filled planters, wheelbarrowed, hoe'd and cleared twigs for three Camden charities

Corrr blimey what a lovely night, it was wet, it was windy and definitely not Spring BUT we had a massive fourty-one people down at GG Camden, the most this year so far! Thanks for coming!

Welcome to the newbies – Katherine, David, Claire, Emma, Kimberley, Tom P, Ellie, Alex, Susana,Rosa and Tom - great to have you along.

In the news this week:

1. Steve Lee hit 50 Good Deeds last night, earning himself a black t-shirt – wahey! Give him a cheer!
2. Lina did her first 5km time trial at the weekend with GG Race Team, sign up to the next one here.
3. Well done to the Brighton Half Marathoners at the weekend, Jacob got another PB and Damian got a post-shoulder surgery PB – nice one guys!
4. Its GoodGym monthly drinks tonight down in Lewisham, Pritesh will be there with a wonderful speech and a smiling facing. Go on down – sign up here.
5. Lastly I am going to Kenya for the next three weeks so me and my beard won’t be around. The wonderful Polly, Frances and Pritesh will be covering for me while I am gone. Don’t miss me toooo much.

After all that news, a headcount involving three Steve’s and two Chris’ we got warmed up. After raising our heart rate nicely we split into three groups, we were helping the following organisations:

1. St Luke’s Community Centre – this is a fantastic centre that runs lots of projects and programmes for the community, including having an amazing green space!
2. Alara – this is a wholefoods provider that also runs various green projects, including Kings Cross Orchard Project.
3. Castlehaven Community Centre – nestled in the heart of Camden Town this centre runs projects for both young and older persons, plus they maintain two parks.

St Luke’s Report:

Frances led 15 runners for our second trip to St Luke’s Community Centre, to help our friends at GoodGym Islington finish off their mammoth task of filling the planters with soil.

10 people got straight to the task, shovelling, wheelbarrowing and turning the soil until the job was pretty much done. Another five strong-armed people helped move bags of compost out of the shed – with a human chain formed, they got the job done quickly so they could help everyone else finish the planters.

Shed photo!

After a quick shed photo, we hit the roads back to base, missing most (but not all) of the heavy rain showers.

Alara Report:

Polly led a group of 12 runners to go and help Alara, with this being just a 1km a way they had a nice warm up before tackling the task.

Splitting into groups the team wheelbarrowed compost from THE HUGE PILE into the Permaculture Garden and did some hoeing around the space to make sure it’s spread evenly.

Cookie Fuelled

Fuelled by Alara cookies the group smashed through the task and then headed to Granary Square for a loop and some conditioning exercises.

Castlehaven Report:

PB led a group of 10 runners North along Royal College Street, past Camden Overground station and to Castlehaven which is just behind Camden Lock!

Once equipped with gloves and bin bags from the Des Res we split into two groups, with Meredith’s team heading to the north park and Jess’ heading to the south park. The aim for the night was to bag up any and all twigs, branches and wood that was left over from Storm Doris last Thursday.

Upon first impressions there didn’t seem many twigs about, but after 30 seconds we realised we had our hands full. Over the course of 20 minutes we filled eight bags of debris and there was still plenty more to do – we’ll be back!

Canal Vote

After a quick vote we decided to head west along the canal and not the road, it's a bit of an experience in the dark but sticking together it’s quite the adventure. We ran a mile along the canal and met Polly’s Alara crew before heading back for a group stretch.

Once again thanks for coming along, sign up here for next week, the wonderful Polly is leading!.

PB out.