19 Goodgymers ran 5-6km to leaflet for the Met Police and help Waterside Adventure Playground!

Welcome along to Frankie, tourist from Hackney. Thanks to you all for coming along on such a cold evening.

In the news this week - it's all about Saturday's double - people are doing Finsbury Parkrun and then coming to Islington's Starter Session - come join :)

Waterside Adventure Playground:

Eleven of us headed south via Higbury Fields and Essex Road to help the wonderful Waterside Adventure Playground. This awesome play area is on the canal close to Angel and has been part of the community for years, as has Dawn the Manager we met.

The task was simple but essential, each armed with a fork we dug and turned over the woodchip/soil to loosen up the hard ground around the climbing frames - this makes it safer for the kids when they jump and fall. Upon arrival quite a few of the group didn't expect for us to be able to finish the whole task but with ever better fork skills it was only 15 minutes that we'd covered the whole area.

After a group picture everyone had a go playing on the equipment and having some fun! We took a slightly different route home and were awarded with our efforts with home made biscuits from Meg - yum!

All about safety last night!

Leafleting for the Met by Steve Lee:

The GoodGym Islington Flyering Squad were tasked with delivering flyers on behalf of the London Met Police warning of scammers in the area pretending to be from utility companies to gain access to houses. Boooooo.

The team ran 3k to the starting point in the centre of the areas identified as most at risk from this cynical crime. Splitting into three teams of three, we shared out the areas the Met Police had designated as red, orange and yellow levels of risk. We had a big area to cover and a lot of flyers to hand out, but juuuust in case, we agreed on sharing out a much larger section marked pink that teams could tackle if they surged ahead and got everything done.

Good thing we did, too, because all three groups not only delivered flyers through the doors of their entire areas, but all three also completed their special bonus areas and met in plenty of time to head back. Must be the cold weather keeping everybody moving quickly!

Once regrouped, we had a brisk jog back as the temperature kept lowering, and a cheeky indoor warm stretch while Paul’s group arrived.

Sign up for next week here when we'll be helping Thornhill Square Gardens.

PB out

32 Goodgymers ran 5km to help Caxton House decorate a Christmas Tree and do some gardening!

Thanks to coming to Islington's Christmas Edition! It was spectular :)

The main news this week is to remember we are back from Monday 7th January, I don't expect to see you on Christmas Eve or New Years Eve - make sure you have a fun holiday!

Back to what happened last night - after our intro Huw (New Leicester Trainer) led a warm up with the theme of 12 exercises of Christmas. We splitted into two groups as we headed up hill 2.5km to Caxton House Community Centre, with James leading a faster group doing a lap of the Emirates. This fantastic centre provides a hub for community activities; including gardening, education projects and even a credit union.

Upon our arrival at the centre we were presented with a very large Christmas tree and some gardening to do. Splitting into two groups we got started with both tasks. Group One put the tinsel, lights and some stars on the tree. Meanwhile Group Two weeded the front garden and dug for bamboo. With Christmas music playing inside and out, joy was in the air!

Switch over the Elves

The teams switched tasks, with Group Two continuing the garden efforts, adding in some chopping back bushes. Meanwhile Group One put baubles on the train and of course Santa at the top of the tree. Nice! Once all the tasks were finished we had a mince pie, switched on the tree lights and took a lovely group photo.

After saying our goodbyes to Rose and Sue we ran home, and then stretched before going to the pub and for pizza #XmasParty.

Sign up for the first group run of 2019 (7th January) here.

See you in the New Year! Merry Christmas Everyone!

PB out

It’s definitely headtorch season! On a dark and not-too-chilly evening GoodGym Islington assembled at our regular spot in the Arsenal Emirates, with Steve Lee leading the run while regular Islington Trainer Paul Bown was away on holiday eating lots of those lovely Portuguese custard tarts.

A few quick announcements, including next week’s GoodGym Islington Xmas Party (sign up here) and a nudge to sign up to missions in the coming weeks - there are slots available in Islington and it’s the time of year that can make the world of difference to the people we do missions for.

A quick warm-up and we were headed north a few quick km to the Single Homeless Project (thanks to James, Claire and Steve C for back-marking!)

SHP’s Sam was waiting for us with a smile and a shed-full of tools to get to work weeding, bagging up leaves and tidying the back gardens of not one, but two housing projects. The Single Homeless Project work across London with vulnerable and socially excluded people going through difficult times in their lives to provide a much-needed safety net of care and housing support. Having a nice garden area to relax in and tend to is a real benefit.

Sam and Steve flitted back and forth between the two garden groups and despite the dark evening, could see a lot of good going on. Paths and beds were weeded, patios were tidied and swept, and we nearly ran out of bags for the leaves that will be mulched (GoodGym provides us with some cursory gardening knowledge over time but our best working definition of mulch was still George’s ‘mulching turns plants into cannibals’).

We took a different route on the way back - a bit less road traffic but more pedestrians to carefully weave our way through - and in no time we were back at our GG Islington base for a stretch, and of course, biscuits (thanks to Kike for bringing us the spoils of an online shopping delivery error - delicious!).

Paul will be resuming our regular programming next week, and don’t forget to sign up if you’d like to join us for the GG Islington festive dinner at the Italian restaurant we have booked!

Have a great week everyone!

24 Goodgymers ran 4km to help Single Homeless Project shift 5 tonnes of woodchip!!

Corrrrrrr........ what an evening!!!

We didn't have any newbies this week but several 2nd timers and plenty of regulars - thanks for coming as ever.

In the news this week:

1. Sign up to Islington's Community Mission helping Crouch End Open Spaces, this finishes with a picnic that they provide.
2. Well done to James, Frances and Claire who did a marathon, 15k and 6k respectively, in Porto last weekend!
3. Well done to Steve, Frances and the GG Raceteam for doing the Cross Country at the weekend - more details about up coming fixtures here.

The evening started with me explaining that I couldn't hear very well in my left ear and that my right hamstring was sore, I was imbalanced but just fine as always ha.

After warming up we headed to Higbury Fields and over the other side to Canonbury where Single Homeless Project have a house on Grosvenor Road. This wonderful charity help look after homeless people from the local community. The garden is essential for their work, where residents will learn how to plant and garden, plus they use the space for counselling sessions.

Putting the Gym in GoodGym!

Our task was simple but big, we had to get 5 tonnes of the lovely steaming woodchip from the parking space across the road to the back garden of the house. The only issue was the road, everyone had to be aware of the traffic and we had traffic wardens to watch out for people crossing.

Grouped into three; with 5 people at the back garden with headtorches, 12 strong people in the middle making a chain through the house/stairs and street and finally a team of 6 shovelling woodchip into bags. The task was relentless and physical for everyone, with all working hard to get the job done. I estimate that 150+ bags of woodchip must have passed through the chain, with the empties coming back to be refilled.

Over 40 minutes we completed the task and made Regina very pleased! Well done all. After taking a group picture we ran a slightly longer way home and stretched out.

Sign up for next here when we'll be helping Mildmay Community Centre.

PB out