Marie-Laure Hicks
Islington
Doing good since January 2020
37Good deeds
92runs
30cheers
Marie Laure is part of a crowd that's making a huge noise. Marie Laure has been cheered by 25 people - that's a round of applause just on their own. We hope they keep it up.
Islington
Thornhill and Pho!
On a crisp Monday evening, Area Activator Simon met with 6 other Goodgym runners (a mix of regulars, Goodgymmers from other boroughs and cities and new comers!) outside Elizabeth House Food Hub. It was a pleasure to catch up with some many folks after an eventful festive break for us all! Our crew set off from Hurlock Street together, and covered the 2 mile social run to Thornhill Square, taking on the slope to Aubert Park like it was nothing!
Upon our approach, we spotted another 6 Goodgymmers had already started with gardening tasks, led by Anna, the top volunteer coordinator for Thornhill Square Gardens. Last week, we were alerted that our Goodgym Islington team had been included in the Islington Tribune (page 13 if you plan to pick it up) as part of an article about spring bulb planting in local gardens.
Steve, Paul, Emily and Caitlin were in charge of filling wheelbarrows with compost and mulch, and laying the contents across various flower beds across the gardens. Hortense and Eilidh were on weeding duty around a series of enclosed beds in the middle of the park (while being greeted by local puppy dogs).
Alex, Alison and first timer and local resident David (welcome!) committed to the difficult task of attempting to remove rose bush stumps from a recently renovated piece of earth. These are particularly tricky specimens to shift (as I have learned from other community missions!), but you all did a smashing job. Marie Laure, Francesca, Katie and first timer Melissa (welcome!) helped with our on-going project of replacing willow branch borders around the flower beds in the centre of the gardens. A tricky task to complete in the dark- but it all looked great!
After dropping off our tools in the community shed and taking a group photo together, we parted ways with 8 runners running to Pho House on Holloway Road for our first social of 2022! Hot soupy noodles was a perfect way to cap off a smashing evening of gardening and fitness fun.
Upcoming events
Finsbury Park parkrun volunteering
A few of our Islington crew have signed up to marshal and help out at Finsbury Park parkrun this Saturday. Parkrun is a free weekly timed 5km event, designed to be inclusive, social and a wonderful community focused run.
Sign up here to get involved:
https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/finsbury-park-parkrun-volunteer-marshalling
Caledonian Park Junior parkrun volunteering
Junior parkrun is another smashing free weekly timed event, but specially orientated those between the ages of 4 and 14. A wonderful way to introduce running as a fun, social activity for the next generation!
Every Sunday, starting at 9am. Always looking for marshals, barcode scanners, funnel managers and any assistance with set up and close down!
More info can be found here:
https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/volunteer-at-caledonian-junior-parkrun
CREOS (Crouch End Open Space) Forest Path Building!
One of Goodgym Islington's longest running community missions, and a wonderful way to spend a Sunday morning!
The Friends of CREOS volunteers have invited the local community to help with laying down new weather proofed foot paths between Highgate Woods and Alexandra Palace greenways.
Sunday 16th January, 11am - 1pm, followed by social coffee at Time 2 Chill vegan cafe (the picnic crew can't make it this month).
Sign up here to get involved!
https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/crouch-end-open-space-creos-volunteering-day-january-2022
Islington
Goodgym Islington Monthly Social (January)- PHO HOUSE
After our arranged group run to Thornhill Square Gardens, we will visit Pho House next to Highbury and Islington station for some warming and delicious food!
15 places have been allocated here, but more can be added if we reach a sign up limit. We plan to make a booking a week before.
Please note that this social will be subject to government restrictions, and may be postponed depending on guidance on the day.
Islington
GROUP RUN- Caxton House Painting part 3!
Please note that this group run has been cancelled.
The plan is to meet up outside the Elizabeth House Food Hub, and after a short warm up, health and safety briefing and a warm welcome, we will run together to Caxton House.
We have been invited back to Caxton House to lend a hand with their ongoing indoor regeneration project. After cleaning all of the walls in an under-used workspace, the plan is to proceed with painting all of the surfaces.
- Newest sports clothes are not recommended for this task, as we will be painting! -
A limit of 10 sign-ups have been placed on this task, to ensure we do not over-crowd the indoor space.
However, if the sign-up limit is exceeded, additional gardening tasks can be arranged.
Task Location
Caxton House, 129 St John's Way, London N19 3RQ
If you are not planning to run with us, our arrival time at Caxton House will be 7.10 - 7.15pm.
After our session, we will aim to arrive back at The Elizabeth House Food Hub for 8.30pm at the latest.
Things to Note
We are delighted to announce that we now have a bag drop and bathroom facilities for our group runs. Thank you to Elizabeth House Food Hub for accomodating us!
Please allow enough time to drop bags, as we will be running at 7pm sharp!
Islington
GROUP RUN- Thornhill Square Gardens 2022!
The plan is to meet up at Elizabeth House Food Hub on Hurlock Street, and after a short warm up, health and safety briefing and a warm welcome, we will run together to Thornhill Square Gardens.
Task Location:
Thornhill Square, Islington, N1 1BE
If you are not planning to run with us, our arrival time at Thornhill Square Gardens will be 7.10 - 7.15pm.
After our session, we will aim to arrive back at Elizabeth House Food Hub for 8.30pm at the latest.
Things to Note
We are delighted to announce that we now have a bag drop and bathroom facilities for our group runs. Thank you to Elizabeth House Food Hub for accomodating us!
Please allow enough time to drop bags, as we will be running at 7pm sharp!
Islington
Base layers for painting base layers
On Monday evening, 4 of our Goodgym Islington crew braved the zero degrees temperature outdoors, and joined Area Activator Simon for a run up to Caxton House Community Centre (approx 1.2 miles from the Emirates Stadium). After raising our heart rates with a warm up and a brisk run across the borough, we met up with the rest pf our team (on bikes or walking from home) outside the main entrance. Sue and Rose, the main volunteer coordinators for Caxton House lead us upstairs (after we masked up- thank you all for bringing face coverings for our indoor task!) and explained the proceedings for the session.
We split our Goodgymmers up into 2 groups. Group 1 (Alison, Emily, Caitlin and Annikki) were the main painting team tonight, who got straight to covering the walls of a newly refurbished sewing room. This week, our plan was to apply a base layer of white paint (after our sanding and wall cleaning task a few weeks back), and we hope to do more next week. Between our 4 painters, we got about 80% of the room covered in 45 minutes, which is a pretty remarkable effort!
Group 2 (Steve and Marie Laure) took on the technical challenge of constructing a tall metal shelving unit out of flat pack furniture. This was no easy feat- simply locating the right screws, bolts and fixings was a trick start! But the structure took shape over the last 10-15 minutes, and we were able to finish our session with a new piece of equipment set up and ready to use!
Fantastic work everyone. Very satisfying to see a plan come together! If you would like to join us to help complete our painting next week, feel free to sign up here:
https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/group-run-caxton-house-painting-part-2
(We will also be visiting The Lamb 🐑 on Holloway Road for social refreshments after our group run next Monday)
Upcoming missions and events
Saturday 4th December:
Finsbury parkrun Goodgym Takeover 8.30am-10am, Finsbury Park
https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/finsbury-parkrun-goodgym-takeover
Market Road Gardens Open Day 11am-12.30pm, Market Road Gardens
https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/market-road-gardens-open-day-december
Met League Cross Country From 11.30am onwards, Uxbridge
https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/met-league-cross-country-uxbridge
Sunday 5th December
CREOS (Crouch End Open Space) Christmas Work Day 11am-1pm, Crouch End (Hanley Tennis Court Car Park)
Thursday 16th December
Goodgym Islington Christmas Social 18.30-20.30, Hammerton Brewery Taproom, off Caledonian Road.
https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/goodgym-islington-festive-social-at-hammerton-brewery-taproom
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