A small but motivated team of GoodGymers met at the Phoenix Cinema before heading out across East Finchley to support North London Hospice and help promote their upcoming Race The Neighbours community 10 km event.

Despite the intense 30-degree heat, everyone brought great energy and enthusiasm to the session. Armed with stacks of flyers and plenty of determination, we covered a large number of local streets, delivering leaflets to homes and helping spread awareness about the charity run and the important work the hospice does for local families. The warm evening certainly made the task more challenging, but the team kept a strong pace and positive spirit throughout.

During the leaflet drop, we also came across a lost house key that had been left in the keyhole outside. After ringing the bell, we were able to return the key safely to the homeowner, who was very grateful and relieved to have it back.

We gathered afterwards for a well-earned social with refreshments, good conversation, and of course a celebratory cookie to finish the evening on a high.

The session combined fitness, teamwork, and community spirit, while supporting a brilliant local cause and helping encourage more people to take part in the fundraising race next month.

Three Goodgymmers laced up for a start-of-the-week mission at the North Finchley Community Grocery. Based at St Barnabus on North Finchley High Road, this relatively new (8-9 months old) project gets a delivery of food every Monday morning from the Felix Trust (via Volunteers on Wheels) and needs a hand running the trolleys up and down the ramp from the van to the grocery.

We're hoping this will be a regular weekly visit for us to help them out - but no session next week due to it being a bank holiday Monday.

Paul arrived early to do the welcoming, as he also had to leave early. Subham ran 3km (well, 2.99km according to his tracker) from Finchley Central while I had a slightly shorter 1.8km to get there. The delivery was a little later than expected, so we completed the manual handling training and a brief tour of the grocery, courtesy of one of the lovely volunteers.

Then the two of us ferried the trolleys and cages back and forth to the van, with the help of one of the excellent volunteers, Richard. We were done in record time, so we helped Richard unload some of the frozen and fridge food in the store. Then, all done, we jogged off with a spring in our steps for having started the week on such a good note.

GoodGym Barnet at the Golders Green Wellbeing Fair

I represented GoodGym Barnet at the local Community Information and Wellbeing Fair, held at the famous Golders Green Hippodrome — an amazing venue bringing together charities, health services and community organisations working to support the wellbeing of people across Barnet.

There was a great mix of stalls and conversations, including health clinics offering blood pressure checks and advice about this “silent killer”. The event provided a really useful opportunity for cross-fertilisation between organisations, as well as for members of the public to find out what support, activities and volunteering opportunities are available locally.

I had several productive conversations about GoodGym and how we help people get active while supporting charities and community groups. One particularly interesting discussion was around encouraging people who may be unemployed, isolated, or looking to improve their mental health to get moving through volunteering, exercise and meeting like-minded people who want to help their local community.

It was a great chance to spread the word about GoodGym Barnet: getting fit, doing good, and connecting people through practical community action.

Eleven wonderful GoodGym Barnet members joined us on Tuesday evening for our first group run to Long Lane Pasture this year — and what a lovely return it was.

With longer evenings and kinder weather finally on our side, most of us gathered at the Phoenix Cinema for a warm-up involving kickbacks, knee-ups and a few brisk movements to get the heart rate up before the 1.5-mile run to the nature reserve.

After numbering up, we had a quick chat about famous relatives, unusual jobs and curious family histories. Among the ancestral highlights were general’s, repossession agents, wedding dress designers and several other unexpected occupations. Clearly, GoodGym Barnet has a rich and slightly suspicious gene pool.

Then we headed off, with George kindly back-marking, keeping everyone together as we made our way towards Long Lane Pasture. En route, we paused under the bridge for a group photo — naturally taken with everyone in a squat position, because why simply stand around when you can turn it into a thigh workout?

At the pasture we were welcomed by Donald, and the place looked absolutely magnificent: lush, green, peaceful and full of evening birdsong. We quickly got to work collecting woodchip and loading it into rubble bags, while others helped with litter picking and pruning to keep the paths clear and welcoming.

It really is a beautiful green space. As the sun began to set, we noticed several species of birds singing away, clearly approving of our efforts or possibly telling us to hurry up and leave them in peace.

Before heading back, we finished with a short moment of forest bathing, slowing everything down with some gentle breathing and arm movements. After the running, woodchip hauling, pruning and squatting, it was a lovely way to pause and properly take in the place we had come to help.

Then it was back to the Phoenix Cinema, with a few exercises on the return route to keep everyone together and gently remind our legs that the evening wasn’t quite over yet.

A big thank you to everyone who came along to run, laugh, help out and support this lovely local green space. Long Lane Pasture is looking wonderful — and we were very happy to chip in.