Sharon Graham

The Energy Garden team asked if we could lend a hand checking up on the planters on the South Woodford tube platform.

So this evening the gang welcomed the lovely Pauline for her first group run and made our way from our little base down to the station, where Sharon was waiting with cuttings to add to the planters.

James joined Pauline & Sharon in looking after the planters and finding space for the new cuttings, while Linda was filling watering cans which got expertly emptied by Jenny and her two charming assistants.

Many hands make light work, let alone when there is Goodgym energy involved, so soon enough all the planters were watered and all the cuttings planted - time to make our way back to base after a job well done!

Just to clarify a point that was mentioned early on today - this wasn't a celebration of two GGers becoming 100 each, but more like together -> 60 + 40 = 100!

Now that is clarified, the adventures at this afternoon.

The gang gathered at Fairlop Waters for a little picnic to celebrate Julia's & Linda's birthdays, which added up to 100 together as mentioned. The weather cooperated and the former golf course provided more than enough space for our gathering... and leave room for some wedding pictures being taken as well (no, not GG related, we think)

Besides everyone bringing some snacks & drinks, Ed brought along some games to play as well.

Badminton with oversized equipment didn't last that long, not in the least when the conversation turned to comparing (shuttle)cock sizes

However Rounders was a bigger success.... some stars in the making it seems!

Unfortunately, all good things come to an end, so we said our goodbyes, leaving just some flattened grass as evidence of our presence.

P.S.... anyone know of a fellow Goodgymmer reaching the 40 milestone around November? Asking for a friend... P.S.S... thanks to Kathryn for the great mugs

This was a lovely evening yo spend outside! When we got to the site we were astonished how much work was done by the EDS already since our last visit!!! The whole site was cleared and weeded and raised beds put into place!

We helped to rake and clear the ground from pebbles and debris such as glass that was on the ground as it appears to have been a structure of sorts!!!

Great to see this place coming to life and we are looking forward to seeing how the veggies grow in this space!

A sunny evening with a great group of people!

John, James and Julia met at Hainault station and started to jog through the Fairlop Waters towards the task - it was such a beautiful evening to run in nature! Unfortunately, John got a bit of a stitch (Ok, a lot of a stitch...:)) but he carried on like a trooper and finished the run! Getting jumped on by a dog helped to forget about the stitch! We managed the full 4+km - great effort!

The rest of folks together with people from the Empowering Deaf Society met at the church. We had a little introduction from Mangai who explained to us what needed to be done - cutting down branches, clearing ivy, digging up the patch and weeding!

It was such a great group effort with everyone pitching in and clearing a huge space in just under an hour! The time went really quickly and at the end Mangai taught us a few things in sign language, including how to sign 'GoodGym' (which you can see on our twitter:))!!

After that the 3 Js ran to Gants Hill for John to take the tube back home and James and Julia ran back, stopping finally at Sainsbury's in Barkingside and walking back after that (with James being a hero on the way back!).

Well done everyone - great evening!

P.S. Huge Kudos to John for coming up with an excellent pun for the report title!

James managed to run all the way there but got confused by Julia's directions, the actual meeting place was near the garden centre, easy mistake to make luckily Sharon spotted James before he committed to his plan.

We met up with the brilliant Jan, who came well prepared: multiple litter picks and something to carry her rubbish in. Sharon borrowed one of the litter pickers and we were off.

Not getting too far Jan managed to find a bra that had been tossed, definitely a picture worthy moment.

There was quite a bit of litter tossed in the stream, but our litter picks weren't long enough or our footwear suitable enough to fetch it ☹️.

We came along to where the brambles had been cut down and the real litter pick came in. Some of the litter looked like it had been there for a long time.

After an hour and a half we had 4 full sacks and 1 wheel guard to conclude our litter pick.

After goodgym called it a day, Jan later on continued litter picking in another park, well done Jan.