Stephen Tolfree

39 GoodGymers and their friends (two and four legged) came together for the first GoodGym London North vs South of the river rounders tournament.

Teams were split into roughly those from GoodGym boroughs North and South, but there were a few more Southerners, who in the end represented the winning team...but more on that later.

We had No Runs Northerners versus Southern Softies in the first semi, where Ed smashed all his shots for a rounder and posted a 13 1/2 score. Unfortunately, No Runs Northerners could only score 7 1/2 rounders before being caught all out.

The next semi final saw Ninety Nine Problems, but a Northerner ain't one play Southern Spitballers and this wasn't a close affair as the Northerners put 14 rounders on the scoreboard leaving the Southerners with a difficult task to beat them. They managed 5 rounders before the whole team were caught or were run out.

We came to the 3rd/4th place and Southern Spitballers batted first, but could only manage 2 rounders as the rules changed to five outs and then we swap over. No Runs Northerners had a bit of a scare as they were 1 1/2 rounders from victory, but the Southerns had to get two more out. With grit and determination, the No Runs Northerners pushed and ran their half rounders to eventually score 2 and 1/2 rounders to win 3rd place!

By the time, it came to the final, misty rain swept in to make the surfaces slippery as a few players found out... Ninety Nine Problems, but a Northerner ain't one smashed 7 & 1/2 rounders. Which ended up being enough to secure the tournament as Southern Softies, even with big hitting Ed could only manage 5 rounders before five team members were caught out.

The team celebrated their victory with a "Champagne shower". Well done to Paul, Claire, Laura, Anna, Sam Smillie, Aaron, Maia and Jake (all Sam's friends) for winning with Ninety Nine Problems, but a Northerner ain't one!

We're on for the next rounders social in Victoria Park on the 16th of July! Sign up if you can make it. Watch out Northerners...the southerners will be practicing ⚾👀

Skies were blue, sun was out, temperature mild...It was the perfect backdrop to a terrific Monday evening task.

We were due at the Hollybush Estate at 7pm, to help Margaret trim the laurel hedge, by the family area.

Why were we doing this?

The laurel hedge bordering the fences of the estate's allotments and garden is pretty, no doubt. It creates an important microclimate for the raised vegetable beds belonging to the estate's residents.

However, it can grow a little high, and it can grow outwards, taking over vegetable beds, making the area hard to access, as well as becoming a bit of a pest to pedestrians as they navigate narrow pavements on the other side of the fence.

And so it was up to a 14-strong team, to help Margaret of the TRA chop the laurel and other greenery back, bagging and binning, sweeping and clearing as they went.

It was hot, it was hunger-inducing but it was successful. And it was an upper body extravaganza, as the team reached for the higher branches, working skilfully in pairs to tackle the hardest-to-reach top of the hedge in the absence of a step ladder.

As always time, flew, and it wasn't long before we were tying the handles of the last bin liners; sweeping up the final lime-green laurel leaves and posing for that farewell pic. And congratulating our Liz on her 50th good deed :)

We split into three groups at 8pm: those running back to the hotel; those heading home for dinner, and those stopping at the pub to rehydrate.

Until next time.

Come and join us at the Fugitive for the June social.

It's got "generous comfort food, craft beers and cocktails served in a trendy restaurant that has a terrace". Apparently.

More importantly, there'll be lots of lovely GoodGymers there, and just for once, no red t-shirts, shovelling or warm-up exercises. Though you can do all those things if you really want to...

And we'll be celebrating Stephen's BLACK T-SHIRT AWARD!!

One by one we gathered at The Soanes Centre in Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park this evening, to collect decent gloves and make a start on a new area of weeding in the park.

Why were we doing this?

The Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park is an independent charity that oversees Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park, a vital nature reserve and heritage site in Tower Hamlets. The park is 'a people’s park, a sanctuary for wildlife, a place for remembrance and a site for community events.'

With just two full time staff, volunteers are always welcome at the park!

With bundles of woodland paths and other areas to clear of weeds, GoodGymers embarked on our second visit of our Summer series clearing some of the more densely populated paths of cow parsley and goosegrass.

These particular plants are invasive, and block light; they end up being the dominant plants, to the detriment of a more diverse ground flora, and so 13 pairs of productive hands on a Monday night was much appreciated.

Mind the nettles

Well-briefed by Park Manager Ken Greenway, we jogged from The Soanes Centre to the middle of the park, where we worked in a big group, wandering right into the meadow, getting stung despite our best clothing efforts, coupled with Ken's nettle-trampling tutorial, hauling our stash down to the green waste heap, where those pesky plants eventually get shredded, turned to compost and donated to projects all over the city.

We were wading through weeds for an hour, but the time flew. Chatting, sneezing, plucking and hurling, we passed a most companionable, productive hour together.

Before we knew it, it was gone-8:15 and we were posing by the green waste heap for one last pic.

Shout-outs

• A big congratulations to Task Force member and Social-Squad-Pro Stephen, who tonight hit his 50th good deed.

• And a huge hello and welcome to Louise, who joined us for her first task tonight, making amazing progress, and expertly navigating, by bicycle, the runners back to base!

Next week, we've been asked to head to the Hollybush Estate, to help out with more shed tasks, mulch-moving aaand...gardening.

Until then.

Rain, rain, go away

When the heavens opened shortly after 6pm, it was assumed tonight's turn out would suffer. But no, not with the GG TH crew.

From 6:30pm, runners started to arrive at our gorgeous hotel meeting spot, safely tucked away in a warm, dry room, securely storing belongings and admiring crisp white bed linen.

We left for our task meeting point at 6:48 and arrived at 6:53. Impressive! We were speedy, we were a bit drenched and we were very happy to see our fellow GoodGymers.

Two teams, two tasks

We kicked off with a quick hello from Sam, our Area Activator in Southwark who was joining us for the evening, and reminding us about the upcoming rounders social in the middle of June. Sam then led half the team to the task to the Parkview Estate where the team spent over an hour watering (yes, they still needed it, despite the rain) new trees and plants, lovingly planted by...us and committed members of the TRA. The task was led by Catherine and young son Liam, who always loves picking GoodGymers brains on many different subjects.

Meanwhile, over at the Cranbrook Estate, the team of 8 were busy cutting back hedges, trees, gathering leaves and litter aaand...putting up bunting. Of course. It was a busy old 75 minutes. Luckily the rain stopped fairly on during the evening, and we were able to enjoy this decent gardening workout to a backdrop of the sun peeking through the clouds as we approached 8:15 and the end of the task.

A small group made their way back to the Hotel to gather belongings, while the rest of the team headed straight home, glad to have made it out on this damp Monday night, reconnecting with multiple communities, putting fitness to good use, and ending the day with a sense that the week had got off to a good start.

Until next time.