The more the merrier

What a busy Monday evening it was from the off. The sign-ups kept rising: I was keeping our task owner Nancy posted with numbers, as she has to plan carefully and ensure she has sufficient staff and those numbers just, well, kept on rising (“Yes, I expected it to be a small August group too, but, hey, what can I say…They love a litter-pick.”).

And so we gathered for hello’s and welcome’s at our usual lovely base. Thanks to our fabulous Task Force as always who are continually on hand to save the day: Kat saved the day from the off this evening, opening up the hotel room and offering a warm welcome to tonight’s first runners as I was delayed en route. Thank you.

It was such a treat to have Nicola, from new area Crewe, join us tonight too! Friendly, welcoming and managing the sign-in sheet like a pro, it was a real treat to have her visiting us here in TH.

We were also joined by first time runners Isabelle, Ivy Johnny and Lianne, who wasted no time in getting stuck in with everything from pre-run chatter to serious litter-picking and newspaper-delivery this evening.

No more tedious traffic lights

We’d decided to try a new route this evening, to cut down on traffic light delay, so Kat and Dave expertly headed up the run (route and pace) while I back-marked in full Dragon-PT mode, hustling everyone along Whitechapel streets as quickly as they could manage.

Three-task team

We arrived promptly at the Royal London reception area where our wonderful task owners Nancy, Bernadette and Richard were ready and waiting, tasks prepared.

One team headed to the wards to deliver newspapers; another to the front of the hospital to prune roses and collect a huge amount of litter, while a third, big team headed out back to the John Harrison Garden to complete another massive litter haul, filling bags and bags, picking up everything from discarded vodka bottles to unwanted umbrellas and…phone cases.

The time flew and just as nearly every last cigarette butt was removed, it was time to pack up, empty bags, return brooms, and make our way back to join our fellow runners to compare notes and say our cheerios.

Catch me if you can

We then raced back to base playing our usual greyhound-and-hare game: me leading the hares and Kat leading the greyhounds tonight. I just want to congratulate everyone on this part of the evening too: all runners pushed themselves speeding back to base in their own best times, and then cheering all the incoming runners in, right until the end. Massive effort, on all fronts, so well done.

What a marvellous night’s work. Well done to each and every one of you.

Check OUT what we have coming up…

Now I can’t wait to do it again next week. Talking of which, let me tell you what we’re up to: we’re heading back to our beloved Meath Gardens to join Tunde and the team for more watering, weeding and planting, and they’re really looking forward to seeing you, so sign up here.

Now, here’s some really good news: if you don’t fancy waiting that long for some more GoodGym fun and frolics the amazing news is, you don’t have to.

Check out what else we’ve got coming up this week:

• On Thursday our Lieke is leading the most terrific Community Mission at the very civilised time of 5.30pm for St Margaret’s House, a wonderful community arts centre located right by Bethnal Green tube, to help set up the garden with candles, blankets and furniture for their spectacular evening storytelling event! This’ll be a lovely, short, sociable Community Mission to join if you fancy it.

• …Which ties in very nicely with the next GoodGym Social, also this Thursday, so when you finish that task, you simply hop on the nearby Central Line, hotfoot it over to the Waterloo & City Line (yes, I’ve Google-mapped it for you) and in 29 minutes, you’ll be joining fellow GoodGymers at theMulberry Pub on the Southbank. What a way to celebrate our lovely summer.

• And last up for this week, we’re lucky enough to have Liv heading up the Pride 10K set-up and bag-drop this Saturday in Victoria Park. There are already a few signed up, so do join them and get your weekend off to a splendid sociable start by signing up here.

Phew! Well, that’s finally it from me for this week. Have an absolutely wonderful week everyone, and really hope to see you SOON!

The rainy morning didn’t scare off the amazing runners today for the 2 task summer planting party!

A lovely bunch of keen-to-do-good runners met at Oxford House at 2pm (unsure of what the weather was to do and what the contingency plan may be!) with quite a task ahead of them. In preparation for OH!’s Cafe launch on Monday the task consisted of cleaning the windows, weeding the “Pocket Park”, litter picking and sweeping up the ramp and surrounding area to spruce it all up and make it look gorgeous for opening. We got our gloves on and quickly got stuck in, time flew by with great work done and brilliant conversations had and many a weeds removed! We got a lovely thank you from the task owner Deborah and a few snaps, before we said our goodbyes, and a couple of peelers had to leave.

Next was a quick fitness session with a run up the road to Parkview to help with some more garden work, all set up and explained to us wonderfully by Connie, a couple of runners met us on our way and some more met us at the briefing. We were shown the 2 different tasks and told what to do in each area before splitting into 2 groups, collecting our gloves and tools and heading to our areas. One group cleared some Japanese knot weed from a garden wonderfully, and were done in no time so came over to join the other group and help out with their task of completely clearing a very weedy area (apart from one “purple-leaved bush”) in order to turn the soil and plant some lavender out as well as a black current bush. The group was thankful for all the recent rain as it meant there was no need for us to soak the ground anymore and the weeds came out without too much of a struggle! The rain started coming down during this task but no one seemed to particularly mind as everyone was so stuck in with getting the task at hand done!

Time flew by again, the task was completed and it was time to head indoors to the Glasshouse Community Centre at Parkview for a session of Pilates led by Laura which was absolutely fantastic (Ab-tastic ;-)! ) everyone felt well worked and relaxed as we said our thank yous and goodbyes - and headed for the pub!

A great extra add on of a social at the local pub for a drink and some food in lieu of our picnic due to the weather was a lovely way to end a perfect day of multi-tasking and fitness!

We all had a great time and there was a great turn out, maybe you will join us next time?!

I would first like to give a big welcome to Chloe, Kate, Rachael, Victor, Lorhaine and Saorla. Hopefully you endjoyed yourself and you will come again. Tonight was a big group of enthusiastic runners looking to do good in the community of Tower Hamlets. The evening was a double whammy with their being 2 task to pick from. The 2 task were flyering in the near by estate about a new performance happening soon and the other was going to Meath Gardens to help clear weeds and rubbish. I would like to welcome the new comers and I hope the treats and the other Goodgymers made you feel welcomed.

"Warm-up"

The group started of with saying their name, number and favourite drink. It seems Gin is the drink of the day with this group We did a nice 5 min warm that involved some squats, lunges, running on the spot, hand to toes and some other hamstring dynamic stretches.

"The Split"

Nikki and Lieke took the 2 Dave’s away from some stair climbs while the rest of the group followed me to Meath Gardens while Kat helped me out by being the Back Marker.

The run was a short one with the group reaching the task without breaking a sweat. We met up with the 3 Meath Garden helpers who then explained the task to us and split us into 3 groups. They all took a corner each of the park to get down and dirty on. The group did well with the time that had and also taking the time to talk to one another and making it feel like a true social group. To push the group at the end I gave them a countdown like the crystal maze to let them know when the task would finish. I can see the competitive side came in because the was ripping out weed like that was gold underneath the soil. It was great work by the team and the difference could really be seen.

"Fitness time"

Meath gardens is one of my favourite places because it has one of the fitness equipment it had there. The group got split up into smaller groups and we each had a go on each piece of equipment. The list of exercise were:

Monkey Bars Plank Sit-ups Jumping over logs Pull-ups Knee to elbows Hangs Inverted pull ups Dips Press-ups 1 lap run.

This helped make the runners aware of what there weakness or strength might be. Looking at all of their faces i can see that everyone tried their hardest. After a final lap round we headed back to the hotel where we stretched and gave each other high 5s.

Extra News: * If anyone is interested in helping out at the blind sport session in mile end then click here for more information.

• If anyone is interested in doing the goodgym Olympics then click here and represent Tower Hamlets. Its always fun.

• If the group is after abit more of an adventure with a fun run then click here.

Bank Holiday new faces!

We gathered for this evening’s run welcoming a flurry of new runners. What a treat!

14 of us then headed around the corner, half a mile away on leafy Sewardstone Road to meet Catherine, our task owner and Parkview Estate power house, leading the initiative to get the estate greener and full of food.

Two trees - and plants for the bees!

Runners were quickly despatched to all areas of the estate: Team Tree headed out to the front gardens, onto Old Ford Road with barrows full of compost to plant new apple trees in some stubborn soil.

The rest of the runners quickly filled buckets with compost and plants, grabbed a watering can and made their way to the estate's Sydney House to see if residents wanted balcony planters filling with geraniums and other small plants that bees love! Plenty of residents took us up on our offer to tend to their planters, with one resident even opting for the new Resident Association plants over what she currently had in her planter! The runners worked tirelessly, both on their seedling sales pitch, and on ferrying new compost back and forth from the garden to the balonies.

Meanwhile, the apple tree crew had their work cut out. Digging deep in that soil was no mean feat. And even with some useful tools at their disposal, the runners still broke a sweat on what was a chilly Monday evening. But they did it. GoodGymers don’t give up. Never mind not giving up easily, they don’t give up full stop. And so with the apple trees in, they set about replacing the grass, watering, and planting water tubes. Job done.

Going full pelt in the park

And so with minutes to spare, we raced ‘round the corner to neighbouring Victoria Park and played two rounds of the greyhound-and-hare game, with every runner speeding across the grass going full pelt. Impressive. And then they were met by me, and the burp-free burpee to a soundtrack of the Backstreet Boys. Monday motivation or WHAT.

Then we stretched, and made our way back to the hotel, animated and over the moon at what we’d helped to achieve.

Big shout out’s

A big warm welcome to our new runners Hester, Alice, Annie and, absolutely not new to GG but new to TH, Hannah. Thank you all for so much hard work and laughter on your first run.

Thanks to David for fabulous backmarking, Charlotte and Sarah for some wicked pics, and to Hannah for this week’s wonderful pun.

And a really huge shout out this week to our very own Hass, who recently hit 300 good deeds, and who has been a consistently active member of GG Tower Hamlets since January 2014.

Coming up...

Okay, we’ve got some biggies coming up…

• This Thursday it’s the GoodGym Social, hosted by our splendid Southwark crew. Details can be found here.

• And don’t forget, you can still bag a free place at the Asics London 10K, or the Oxford Half, or next year’s Hackney Half, by joining us on Sunday 19th May for volunteering at this year’s Hackney Half. Details and sign up are here.

Right, that’s it. Have a wonderful week, and hope to see you soon!