John Shirley

Amazing gardening work from Team TH this evening.

Yes, a sturdy crew of 15 helped Catherine de-weed the large Parkview Estate, of thistles, bindweed, and just about every other menace to a garden you can imagine.

How it started

We met in our current meeting location to the East of Victoria Park, where we separated into two groups: a small team headed out on a shorter, more leisurely lap of the park, while Chris, for the second week running, took out a bigger team on a much longer loop.

What we did

We gathered together by the community garden, where Catherine had prepared maps and Weed Teams (more wholesome than it sounds) before we all made our way to our respective corners of the garden.

It was thistle-y, it was tough...We dug, we tugged, we loaded, we binned. It was a humid one too, so more pats on the back to tonight's team.

The time flew by, and soon we were posing for a final couple of pics, before Catherine led us through several relaxation and grounding exercises, the theme being 'letting-go-of-the-day', along with any unforeseen difficulties (yes, unexpected adversities, we're looking at you).

...And how it ended

A team then headed off to the pub, for a cooling drink and a chat - a great way to start the week.

Next week, we're two-tasking it: yep, we're at Hollybush cutting back more overgrowth of the Family Area and heading to Meath Gardens for a litter-pick and weeding. It's all go.

Until then, have a really good week.

The Goodgym Aid Station 2 team (created as a response to the amazing level of enthusiasm garnered by the Goodgym crew!) assembled outside Westminster bright and early on Sunday morning, ready for a day of race prep and good vibes! Our objective was to lay out hundreds of paper cups in a neat and organised manner before the first runners pass our water station for the ASICS 10km.

All the volunteers (including the lovely team from Fordy Runs group, who were also on hand) got straight to it, and we had towers of cups ready to be distributed in no time! Which was certainly to our advantage, as the first runners were tearing round the course as we worked (first place approached our 9km aid station in about 26 minutes!).

For the rest of the morning, we had a blast cheering on the all of the passing runners, approaching the final stretch of their races. Experienced semi-pro club runners, first timers, charity challengers and plenty of Goodgymmers were out enjoying their first mass participation running fest on London streets for almost a year and a half. The atmosphere was electric.

Thank you to all of the Goodgym team for coming out and supporting grass roots running races, and for encouraging your fellow running folk to achieve their own personal goals. Can't wait to do it again!

3 Goodgym Islington regulars met up at Highbury Quadrant Estate Gardens around mid-morning (after parkrun timekeeping and well deserved lie-ins!) to help Octopus Community Network with their ongoing regeneration project.

Frannie was on hand to show us direct us the tasks on offer (all centred around the main decorative meadow). The new toolshed is due to be opened up to the public very soon (as a neighbourhood gardening hub), so we wanted to make the space look as sharp as possible.

Area activator Simon helped out by moving large bags of compost to the orchard via wheelbarrow, and by organising some donated plant pots for future gardeners. John grabbed a set of shears, and did a smashing job of snipping away at the overgrown tree line surrounding the toolshed (in good time as well, as Frannie was worried about the gutters getting blocked before the torrential rain on Sunday). Steve had arguably the most satisfying task- the plan was to rebuild an old table, to become a work top for visitors. This involved trimming, whittling and sawing down some wooden slats to create a perfect dovetail joint to hold the table together- no nails or glue required!

We thoroughly enjoyed our busy morning of odd jobs at Highbury Quadrant, and look forward to returning soon!