This evening I was joined by 9 Good Gym runners to help clean the streets of Willesden clean.

We started with the news. There will be a Brent social on Wed 12th February when we will eat dinner and play the quiz at the Queensbury. Oxford has won the bid for the GG Games 2020. Watch this space for further info. Also, big welcome to Velvet who joined for her very first GG session.

After a quick warm-up, we ran around the corner to meet Elayne, who provided us with all of the equipment needed for the task ahead. We split into two teams, one on each side of the road. Starting at the station, we made our way to the Library gathering litter along the way. We collected four bags of litter between us.

On the return to base, Tabitha led a walking group, while Liz led a running group, returning the litter pickers and then taking a slightly longer route back to base. The groups were reunited in the pub for a well earned beverage!

Seven amazing GG members arrived on a chilly Tuesday evening to help the team at Traid. This included Rebecca from Harringay, who stopped by on her way home from work.

The first task was to empty the rails of clothing and stack them all neatly in crates. Traid worker Julie, was very patient with us, as she taught us the Traid and tested method of stacking the clothes. This was to prevent coat hangers becoming caught and to avoid making a mountain of clothes, which could topple! We learned that coat hangers needed to always be on the inside and that the direction of the clothing should be alternated.

As rails were cleared, others started cleaning the rails and shelves with soapy water. Finally, we swept the floor. The shop is now ready for the old stock to be collected and the new season's stock to arrive.

Brrrrrrr... that was a cold one!

13 brilliant people joined me in Brent to run all the way to Barnet to help NW2 RA and get Cricklewood cleaned up!

Well what a night, I arrived at the Queensbury to a large group ready and waiting to get fit and do good! We were joined by Paul and Freya who joined for their first ever GoodGym run and we were also joined by GG Lambeth regular Samantha who is embarking on a mission to run in every London GG area before the year is up - we're glad you went for the best area first!

With the Queensbury being rather busy we headed outside for the intro:

• The January Challenge - 10 more days to go - can we get to 8k deeds and 100k km run?
• Community mission tonight - get another deed with some clothes sorting in kilburn - details here
• Starter session on Saturday (25th) - tell all your friends - helping out at Clitterhouse - details here
• parkrun volunteer session - get another deed by volunteering at Gladstone parkrun or just come along for the run and then join us for the starter session - details to come!
• This was actually decided later but next Brent social is on Feb 12th, the Quiz at the Queensbury!

Once that was all dealt with we got ourselves warmed up and then we headed up to Cricklewood. We met Marie and the guys from B & Q who had lent tools and hot water. The task at hand was to wash down the painted sections of the bridge walls leading up to the station!

We split into two teams, one for each side of the road, split the tools and headed into place with our buckets of hot water. It was quite the sight to behold and the traffic going past certainly couldn't take their eye off us! A number of encouraging toots and people slowing down to take pictures and videos were noticed by us!

It was hard work, not least because it was so cold but everyone worked really hard and despite some initial hiccups with the equipment you could really see the difference we made! Well done for the effort especially as the night got colder and colder as we went on.

After some co-ordinated cross road photos we gathered ourselves and then headed back to base, stretched and then headed inside for some warmth, to head home or have a drink! Lovely stuff.

Cheers,
Pritesh