Another Tuesday evening saw us gathering in the foyer of the Phoenix Cinema for our regular GoodGym Barnet session this time with a milestone to celebrate.

George had reached his 200th GoodGym good deed, so before we set off he was presented with his badge and his very own GoodGym Barnet cap – England-style! He duly knelt to receive it and wore it proudly for the rest of the evening.

Welcome to Patricia & Victoria both on their first group run!

After our warm-up, our icebreaker was to share a time we’d rescued an animal. Appropriately, George had rescued a fox from some netting that very day, although most of the other stories seemed to involve pigeons and other birds!

We then headed the kilometre or so to Martin Primary School, taking the back streets and stopping for a few exercises along the way to keep everyone together.

At the school we met John and, with limited tools available, split into two groups – one working out while the other shifted a large pile of woodchip across the path into the Forest School area. Twenty minutes later we were meant to swap, but there was still plenty to move, so everyone piled in. With a shiny new wheelbarrow, plenty of hands and even a few saucepans pressed into service as scoops, we got the job done.

Then it was back to the Phoenix for a celebratory drink or two, supporting our wonderful local cinema while raising a glass to George and his 200 good deeds.

Well done George – here’s to the next 200!

A few Goodgymers around the country joined the Great UK WaterBlitz

Testing the waters at Mutton Brook

Another little GoodGym citizen-science mission for Gus and me, back at Mutton Brook.

I’m really enjoying returning to the same stretch of water. There is something rather nice about sitting quietly beside the brook, fiddling around with the little test tubes and watching the colours develop — and, once you’ve done it a couple of times, the testing is actually very easy.

Today’s results were interesting. The water looked remarkably clear, but the nitrate reading appeared quite high — around the 2–5 mg/L range, possibly close to 5 — while phosphate was very low at around 0.02–0.05 mg/L.

So it’s a mixed picture. Low phosphate is encouraging, but the nitrate suggests there is still a significant nutrient input somewhere upstream. Mutton Brook starts only a few miles away in Cherry Tree Wood in East Finchley and then flows through a very urban landscape, including alongside major roads and beneath the North Circular. Urban runoff, drainage and other sources could all contribute, although one test can’t tell us exactly where the nitrate is coming from.

It also shows why these tests are worthwhile: clear-looking water isn’t necessarily clean water.

Results uploaded, another tiny piece of data added to the bigger picture — and Gus and I got a peaceful few minutes beside the brook into the bargain.

Report from Paul Browning

I did my testing on the River Quaggy in Manor Park in SE London where I have done testing several times before. Concentrations of nitrates and phosphates were both low, phosphates lower than last time I did the testing.