Have you heard the one about the 5 Goodgymmers litter picking a Looney-Tunes-style pile of cans from Tottenham Green on a surprisingly mild, march evening? No? Well, you're in luck...

Edging Our Bets

On an evening when Plan A failed, the wonderful Laura from the Friends of Tottenham Green swooped in to our rescue despite feeling positively under the weather and arranged a fun session for us.

And it was much needed as a bunch of fine young men had decided to use the central path at the Green as a makeshift Reuse & Recycle Centre after what looked like a few days long drinking bender. I mean, the scale of this pile of rubbish was so cartoonish in its breadth.

Undeterred, our Goodgymmers tackled the industrial-sized pile in good spirits while some of the aforementioned young men questioned the finer points of running for fun, while also correctly identifying the level of hotness of our Dave.

Before you knew it, and a good 8 (!) full bags at last count, the Green resembled a public park again rather than a rubbish dump and Laura tasked us with our second job for the eve. On the High Road side of the park, we were asked to give some flowerbeds a proper manicure and redesign the edges of the beds. Overgrown and covered in old leaves and soil, it was difficult to see where the bed ended and the path began so we armed ourselves with spades, forks, and brooms and got on with it.

Reader, our Goodgymmers were natural-born manicurists. Little by little, the edges of the bed began to be redefined again and in what looked almost planned, we completed the job just as the clock hit Nurjehan Time™ (aka. 8pm).

We helped Laura collect the tools and put them back in her lovingly-curated shed and posed for some selfies before we headed off into the night. Boom.

Join us next week as we visit our Borough's Municipal Home to look after the Sunflower House Wildflower Meadow. Come!

It was an emotional rollercoaster for Gramps and GG Haringey this week. Tasks got postponed, there were illnesses, work duties, train strikes, and a football match stacked against the team.

Luckily, ever-faithful Laura from the Friends of Tottenham Green was able to step-in and our task for the night could go ahead. A huge thank you to Laura for accommodating us last minute, and to Gramps for organising that last minute while unwell!

Nurjehan and Veronika got to work with litter picking in a special location around some benches. There was a lot of litter to contend with, but they left it looking spick and span.

Meanwhile, Dan, Šana, and Charlie were armed with spades and an edging tool and were given the task of edging up the grass around one of the footpaths. Over the years, the grass had covered up a thin silver line that marked the edge of the path, but the team uncovered it again and even used the grass and soil we dug up to fill in some tyre tracks.

All that was left to do was take a group photo, tidy away our tools and head on home.

7 Goodgymmers battled with literal sub-zero temperatures to bring a bit of cleanliness to the wonderful bit of goodness that is Tottenham Green.

On Thin Ice... Literally

The cold out there is such at the moment that it brings brass monkeys and their frozen appendages to mind but the good folk at GGHaringey soldier on nevertheless.

Tonight, seven of us heeded the Friends of Tottenham Green's holler for assistance and found ourselves kind of skating on ice rather than running as we made our way there.

Laura, from the Friends Group, asked us for a vigorous litter pick of the site as well as clearing the main path from leaves. There was also an abandoned makeshift bed used by a homeless friend over the Christmas period who had since moved on (hopefully to warmer settings) that needed to be put away.

Our team wasted no time in trying to keep warm by working. We all litterpicked together while Gramps took charge of removing the bedding safely. Ed found some hardcore polystyrene columns, while the rest of the team dealt with the usual mix of half drunk bottles and crisp packets.

Once we were satisfied the leaves were cleared of rubbish, we swept and collected them in bags to save at the back of the site for future use as compost. Currently, they could only be used as ice cubes. On account of the cold weather. I don't know if this is coming across from this report but it was freaking freezing out there.

Aaaaaaanyway, once we were done, we helped Laura put the tools away in her impeccably tidy tool shed, high fived each other, posed for Gramps for a nice pic, and then ran back to HQ in a futile attempt to warm up.

It was cold y'all.

Join us on Monday for fashionable shenanigans at Traid, and on Wednesday for fun with the terrapins at Wolves Lane!

Four Goodgymmers brought another successful Goodgym year to an end with a fun task in a very chilly Tottenham Green tonight.

Hype Corner

We all saw our Charlie train really hard throughout 2023 to run as a guide runner at the Berlin Marathon earlier this year only to have to pull out at the last minute due to injury woes for his partner athlete. So at GGH HQ we are SuperPsychedToTheMax that Charlie is finishing the year completing his first marathon this Friday. Yay. Smash it, Charlie. We heart you.

And a big massive well done to our Dave who smashed his way through 31.72 miles of hard work at the Sikhs In The City running extravaganza on Sunday. Absolute scenes from an absolute legend. <3

About As Useful As The G In Lasagna

It was a properly cold, wintry night at Tottenham Green as we joined Laura from the Friend Group for a bulb planting session.

Last time we visited the Green, we dug up a no longer needed flowerbed and recycled the soil elsewhere. As it turns out, the unneeded flowerbed got a reprieve and our Goodgymmers were called to assist creating a... checks notes... a tulip lasagna on the formerly condemned bed. Our Goodgymmers Salt Baed bulbs over a layer of leaves, followed by a layer of soil. We were then asked to even the mound to make it look nice and tidy. Spoiler alert: by the time we finished, the bed looked nice and tidy.

With a good twenty minutes to spare, Laura very kindly suggested she could show us how to make some of the festive wreaths the Friends group had been teaching  the community how to make themselves earlier that week in the Green. Dave aced the assignment, with a very commendable effort from Julie not far behind. Nurjehan scored herself a ready-made wreath to hang from her doorknob (?), or so she claimed. Repeatedly. Poor old Gramps went home empty-handed as his cold fingers were as useful as the G in lasagne on the night. Can't win them all.

Once we were done we selfied and hugged, and some of us went in search of beer and merriment. All's well that ends well.

That's all folks for this year. Tune in in 2024 for more fun and games.

It's been real! <3 <3

Seven Goodgymmers engaged in a full upper body workout at Tottenham Green as they dug up an old flower bed before recycling the soil on the other side of the Green replenishing a raised bed. Boom.

Soil's Well That Ends Well

We don't have favourite babies at GGH HQ - we love all our task owners and tasks equally. Having said that, Tottenham Green holds a special place in our GGH hearts as it used to be our physical HQ from foundation until a lockdown-induced eviction forced us away from the Green. While we keep a hopeful eye on the news of the Sports Centre reopening for a potential homecoming, we take our fix of Totty G goodness whenever we can. And when we do, our Goodgymmers fizz with enthusiasm and brim. In fact, last night Nurjehan and Sam were effectively whooping and prancing as Laura from the Friends group handed out the tasks.

Mission for the evening was sweeping and collecting fallen leaves, digging up a no longer needed flower bed, transporting the soil and leaves to the other side of the park, and reusing all materials replenishing one of the raised beds opposite the former fire station before planting some new bulbs.

Our effervescent Goodgymmers wasted no time in jumping into action. A swift group litter pick ensured all leaves were free of rubbish so they could be recycled as compost for the raised bed. Straight after this, Mediocre Sam, Sleeping Bag Nurj, and Suave Camden John (I know, inside jokes in a public run report are the worst. Gah 🙄) were entrusted with the hard work of digging up the bed. In the meantime, Bartering-for-a-shower Sarah, Late-back-home-from-work-yet-speedy-enough-to-arrive-at-task-on-time-anyway Charlie, and Powered-by-abandoned-energy-drink-dregs Dave started transporting leaves, tools, and soil across the park to the raised bed.

It was a symphony of movement, reader. Beautiful stuff.

At some point, On The Blink Gramps made the grave error of lying down on the dug flowerbed for a visual gag (you know, you made your bed, now....) as the bed-digging team turned into momentary gravediggers and proceeded to try and bury good ol' Gramps under the mud.

Having come face to face with that existential fear, Gramps jumped back up with purpose and called last orders on the task. We all retired to the raised flower bed where along with Laura we made it look nice and topped up before putting all tools away and posing for the customary selfies.

Roll up, roll up - it's Traid next week!

Boom

6 peace-loving Goodgymmers rolled with the punches in a feisty evening at Tottenham Green

Budding Ambition

The first rule of GGFight Club is... you don't mess with Niamh.

It was a very pleasant evening at Tottenham Green as we all came together, having made our way to task by running, walking, and even a short drive for our crutch-swinging Niamh. Laura took us to the tool depot to collect our toys for the evening and then... Enter the scoundrel.

Not all Goodgym tasks are created equal and alas, tonight's was an aggy one to say the least. One of the park users was a - how to put this delicately - a right twonk and decided to take offence at a group of volunteers spending their Wednesday evening cleaning up and weeding a public park. Go figure.

Although faced with a lot of aggression, our heroes remained polite and in good spirits - engaging in the tried and tested don't engage with flipping twonks in the park strategy. Or at least we did until the scoundrel took it a bit far and this is when he discovered the first rule of GGFight Club. To be fair, our Niamh put it back in his box very nicely, steely as she was.

Anyway, never ones to let an idiot ruin our party, we rallied and we cut down buddleias and sycamores to our hearts' content and did a thorough litter pick.

We took the time to find some old shoes, marvel at Dave's heart-shaped sweat patch, photograph beautiful spiderwebs before they were summarily obliterated, and banter about which GGHer would be the most likely recipient of a King's Honours List title (and what Gramps and Niamh would suggest the King do with them should they ever be offered one).

In the end, all's well that ends well and we smiled as we helped Laura put the kit away and hobbled home with our convalescent comrade. Just don't ever piss her off.

As always with thanks to Charlie and Niamh for today's punnery and photography.

Join us next week for a new task!