St Patrick’s Day gave us the perfect excuse for a festive GoodGym outing — and this week came with an extra celebration: Nick’s birthday. We gathered at Freaks & Geeks, wished him a very happy St Patnick’s Day, and set off towards The Greenway Orchard with a strong crew and even stronger energy.

The 4km run took us into the dusk, head torches flicking on as we approached the Orchard. Waiting for us: tools, gloves, and a meadow that had long since stopped behaving like a meadow. Our mission was to help clear the overgrowth so the Orchard team can sow new seeds and bring the space back to life.

Tackling the Meadow (and the Meadow Tackling Us) The brambles were particularly scratchy — the kind that seem to reach out and grab you even when you’re sure you’re nowhere near them. But the team got stuck in: - Cutting back thick tangles of bramble and long grass. - Pulling up stubborn roots that did not want to leave. - Using head torches to illuminate the darkest corners, where the brambles were definitely plotting. Despite the scratch factor, the transformation was clear by the end. What started as an impenetrable thicket now looked like a space with real potential again.

A Birthday Bramble Blow‑Out In honour of the occasion, Nick celebrated by blowing out… well, not candles, but a satisfying number of brambles. Not quite as glamorous, but arguably more useful — and definitely more GoodGym.

Wrapping Up We snapped a group photo, jogged back to Freaks & Geeks, and rounded off the evening with a well‑earned St Patrick’s Day drink and chips. A perfect blend of doing good, running well, and celebrating St Patnick in style. Had some really nice feedback from the task afterwards too, to cap it all off - well done all.

Shout‑outs - To Nick, birthday hero and bramble‑vanquisher. - To everyone who braved the scratchiest vegetation we’ve faced in a while. - To the whole team for bringing such great energy to a brand‑new task.

A brill evening all round

With no task lined up for the evening, we instead headed out for a social 5k jog around the Olympic Park. What a place to stretch the legs – we're always grateful to have such an inspiring backdrop on our doorstep.

A big welcome to Rue, top Tower Hamlets GoodGymmer and legend of London Fields junior parkrun. GoodGymmers help out at this event pretty much every Sunday, and if you’re lucky enough to be there when Rue is RD, it’s worth it just to witness his Hackney Haka – a life-affirming experience and a warm-up routine.

Also great to see Rosie back again. This usually happens when she’s training for something big… and it’s no different this time – the London Landmarks Half!

It was a pretty simple evening really, much like many of our Tuesday evening gatherings that usually follow the classic “little jog out, help a bit, little jog back” format. But of course it adds up to much more than that – building connections with our community and with each other until the collective becomes something genuinely important to us.

Which made it especially lovely to hear that top Newham GoodGymmers and all-round wonderful humans Rosa and Graham got engaged last week. Their numerous tasks together chronicled through our run reports, what a joy it’s been to watch their story unfold. Their relationship has been forged through weeding, digging, mulch-moving, sanding, painting, furniture shifting, donations sorting, vaccine centre operations, parkrunning, marathon running, and much, much more. A true GoodGym love story. We love you both!

Just a thought – could you set the wedding up as a community mission? Would help us fill a Saturday slot.

Sign up next week for more of the same - well, maybe not another engagement announcement, but a run, a good deed and a celebratory drink if you missed it this week!