Ten Years of GoodGym Barnet – Back Where It All Began

Ten years ago GoodGym Barnet held its first group run to Long Lane Pasture. Yesterday we went back to where it all began with old friends, new faces and over 30 people joining us to celebrate a decade of doing good in our community.

A big group set off from the Phoenix Cinema after our traditional warm-up but this time we also went around the group remembering some of our favourite GoodGym moments from the last ten years. Gardening, clearing graffiti from the Phoenix, Halloween runs in fancy dress, Tiny Forests, litter picks and countless community missions. It was a lovely reminder of just how varied GoodGym has been.

We ran through the back streets of East Finchley, keeping everyone together with the occasional stop for squats, exercises and a few questionable drop kicks!

At Long Lane Pasture we met Donald, other volunteers, councillors and GoodGymers who had made their own way there. Donald told us a little about this wonderful nature reserve, saved from development and now looked after by volunteers.

After gathering around the Green Flag for a photo, we squeezed in some gentle yoga breathing and mobility before getting down to business , clearing litter from the footpath alongside the reserve.

Then came the important birthday business: cake and beer!

Huge thanks to Donald and everyone at Long Lane Pasture for hosting us and providing plenty of cake, Richard for the vegan cake, Athletic Brewing for the beers and Theo for some additional refreshments with a little more kick!

There was another milestone worth celebrating too: congratulations to Subham on reaching over a 100 good deeds. What better evening to do it.

Most importantly, it was wonderful seeing people who have been part of GoodGym Barnet at different times over the last decade. Some we see every week, others we haven’t seen for years. You’re always welcome back even if it’s only once a year!

One message we received afterwards perhaps summed the evening up best:

“The energy is infectious. You have created a wonderful community, and Barnet is richer for having you in it.”

But GoodGym isn’t really about what we have created. It’s about supporting people like Donald and the volunteers at Long Lane Pasture, and all those people across Barnet who quietly take responsibility for our green spaces, charities and community organisations.

Sometimes a couple of hours of our time gets a job done. Just as importantly, hopefully it reminds those people that they aren’t doing it alone and that what they do is noticed and valued.

And it does something for us too. Getting outside, being active and doing something useful alongside other people is pretty good medicine for life.

We might only make a small difference each time but a small difference is considerably better than no difference at all.

After ten years, we’re still running, walking and cycling into our community, getting our hands dirty and seeing where we can help.

Here’s to the next few years and hopefully plenty more familiar and new faces joining us along the way. ❤️

Happy 10th birthday GoodGym Barnet!

🌳 The Last Tiny Forest – What We Learnt Along the Way

Our Tiny Forest Tour with Earthwatch came to an end at Ringwood Hill in Newport – and after visiting several very different Tiny Forests, it felt a little poignant knowing this was our last one.

The Ringwood Hill Tiny Forest was planted in March 2026 by children from St Gabriel’s RC Primary School and the local community. It sits beside a housing estate on a walking loop leading up into mature woodland – another completely different setting from the other forests we’d visited.

The young forest seemed to be coping reasonably well with the brutal conditions of summer 2026. Interestingly, the mature woodland was providing shade and protection to the upper part, while the more exposed trees lower down appeared a little more stunted. Another reminder of just how much location and local conditions can influence these young forests.

We met Grace and Divya from Earthwatch, and while Daniel and Grace got started with measurements to see how the trees were coping, Divya and I headed onto the neighbouring estate to knock on a few doors and let people know what was happening.

We received a lovely welcome and had some good conversations about the Tiny Forest sitting almost on people’s doorsteps. Hopefully a few more local people now know what it is and will become interested in watching and caring for it.

Later we carried out more citizen science with visitors before stopping for lunch – cheese toasties from Silver Sal accompanied by refreshments courtesy of Earthwatch!

As we finished, it was good to reminisce with the Earthwatch team about our tour. Every Tiny Forest had been different: different landscapes, different communities and different challenges. That’s probably what made the journey so interesting.

It also made Daniel and me think more preciously about our own Tiny Forest in Barnet. We planted trees there, but the real challenge is what happens afterwards – watching them grow, collecting the science and, most importantly, building a community that cares about them.

The next few years could be difficult for nature in this country. Perhaps one lesson from our Tiny Tour is that we need to become more connected with what is happening on our own doorstep – understanding our trees, wildlife and green spaces and recognising that looking after them is something communities can actively participate in.

We saw plenty to give us hope: passionate Earthwatch staff, council Officers enthusiastic families and children, and local people curious about these little patches of woodland appearing in their neighbourhoods.

So perhaps the end of our Tiny Tour is really just the beginning. We’d love to return to these forests in future years and see not only how the trees have grown, but whether the communities around them have grown with them.

And if you’re a GoodGym member, Tiny Forest Tree Keeper or simply someone interested in nature, why not create your own Tiny Forest Tour? Walk, run, cycle or travel between a few of them, do some citizen science and discover the communities and countryside around them.

It’s a great way of exploring somewhere new – and you’ll probably come home looking at your own local green spaces rather differently.

Ringwood Hill Tiny Forest Saturday 15 August, 11am–3pm Ringwood Hill, Newport 51.5907648, -2.9482705

Day three of the Tiny Tour, and we found ourselves in South Wales, helping Earthwatch deliver a community day at the Tiny Forest in Sarn. This one was only planted in March of this year and it is looking remarkably healthy in spite of the brutal heat. Word on the street is that one of the neighbours is giving it a little watering-can love to help out the young trees! We joined up with Grace from Earthwatch and some kids and parents from the local community and went about our business: litter picking, measuring trees, counting creepy crawlies. It was hot work but the children were enthusiastic and very knowledgeable about the importance of trees for their future and the planet's. And we collected lots of good data for the tiny forest team! Looking forward to our fourth and final destination tomorrow!

Today our Tiny Forest Tour took us to Hinksley Recreation Ground in Flitwick, ( yes like the professor ) supporting Anna from Earthwatch for another afternoon of citizen science and community engagement.

With temperatures well into the 30s, the council officers had very kindly put up a marquee to give us some much-needed shade. They had also set up a bug-hotel activity, giving the children another way to explore the wildlife around them.

This Tiny Forest was planted in February 2024 with help from local schools, but sadly it has suffered a very poor survival rate. Looking across it today, it appeared that perhaps two-thirds of the original trees had died. Whether that is down to the location, planting conditions, successive dry periods or a combination of factors isn’t entirely clear, but during the current heatwave the remaining trees were certainly struggling.

And that made today’s citizen science particularly interesting.

I helped the children with the ground-dweller survey. Before lifting the slabs, we talked about the incredibly dry soil and what sorts of creatures we might normally expect to find underneath. Almost every slab we lifted was virtually devoid of life — perhaps the odd creature scuttling away, but very little else. Even the slabs themselves were hot.

It was disappointing and quite shocking, but actually a powerful lesson. Citizen science isn’t only about finding lots of wildlife; it’s also about recording when it isn’t there and thinking about why. The children could see for themselves the connection between heat, lack of moisture and the life that depends upon the soil.

So we tried to turn that into something positive. The children loved the idea of adopting just one of the surviving trees giving it a name, keeping an eye on it and perhaps bringing it some water during these exceptionally hot and dry periods. Saving an entire forest sounds daunting; looking after one little tree suddenly feels possible.

Anna also demonstrated how quickly water soaked into the ground within the Tiny Forest compared with the surrounding grass. Despite how badly the forest is struggling, the difference was striking. It was a useful reminder that these areas aren’t only about trees: healthier, more absorbent soils can also help hold water and slow surface run-off during heavy rainfall.

Today’s results weren’t necessarily the ones we would have wanted, but that’s science. With temperatures forecast to rise again tomorrow, perhaps the lesson from Hinksley is about mitigation, understanding and appreciation — seeing what a changing climate means at ground level and discovering the small things we can do to help.

Maybe we can’t each save a forest. But perhaps we can each adopt one tree.

Go and discover the Tiny Forest yourself: Hinksley Road Recreation Ground St Paul’s Close / Hinksley Road Flitwick MK45 1ES

check out the surveys here https://tinyforest.earthwatch.org.uk/tiny-forest-sites/692-houghton-hall-park-tiny-forest

Tiny Forest Tour – A Hot Start in Houghton Hall Park. ( see address details below.)

Our GoodGym Tiny Forest Tour got underway at Houghton Hall Park near Dunstable, supporting Earthwatch with the first of our community and citizen science days.

And what a day to start ... sweltering heat and an amber heat warning!

Daniel, Gus and I arrived at 2pm to find a rather parched but beautifully maintained park. We met Hannah from Earthwatch, who was leading the session, along with Peter, a local volunteer who had helped plant the Tiny Forest back in February.

We also met Caroline and Ian, who work with the Trust engaging people with this lovely park. Houghton Hall Park occupies the grounds of an old manor house and has a great mixture of open space, mature trees and woodland, ornamental gardens, a vegetable garden, playground and café. The Tiny Forest is another new element being added to this fantastic community space.

Given the heat, we weren’t sure how many people would venture out, but we ended up engaging with lots of lovely young families. We helped introduce them to citizen science – including measuring the young trees and understanding how their growth can be used to estimate carbon capture.

Hopefully we also planted a few seeds for future involvement from local families and schools.

And these young trees need watching. With increasingly hot, dry conditions, collecting information about how they survive and grow is becoming particularly valuable.

If you’re local, why not get involved? Visit the Tiny Forest, scan the QR code on the information board and start contributing observations and measurements. You can also become a Tiny Forest Tree Keeper and help look after it over the coming years.

Even if you’re just passing along the M1, Houghton Hall Park is worth a stop – a great café, beautiful gardens and woodland, and now a Tiny Forest to explore.

A hot but very enjoyable start to our tour – GoodGym supporting Earthwatch.

Address - Park Rd N, Houghton Regis, Dunstable, LU5 5FU, United Kingdom, 51.901650162412494,-0.5107539063409314 Link to TF - https://tinyforest.earthwatch.org.uk/tiny-forest-sites/692-houghton-hall-park-tiny-forest

Today we headed to the Bull Theatre in High Barnet to help Susi and Dave get this important local theatre and performing arts centre ready for its next season.

With its theatre and two dance studios, the Bull provides a great space for young people and the wider community to get involved in drama, dance and music. We got stuck into some much-needed decorating. painting walls, cleaning them down as well as painting the floor.

There’s plenty of history here too. The site dates back centuries and has been a pub, magistrates court and, from 1975, the Old Bull Arts Centre. When its future became uncertain in the early 2000s, the local community helped save it, and today it continues as an independent charity and home for performing arts in Barnet. It has even seen the likes of Amy Winehouse and Alexandra Burke perform here in their earlier days.

It’s exactly the sort of community facility that is worth supporting giving young people opportunities to build confidence, learn skills, perform and meet others.

And, of course, this was GoodGym so we had to get there actively! Jack and I cycled, Subham ran some of the way, while the rest of the team made their way by public transport.

Thanks to Susi and Dave for welcoming us. Hopefully this is the start of us doing a bit more to help keep this historic little theatre vibrant and serving the Barnet community for many years to come.