Goodgym Islington were invited back to Beacon High School on the Hilltop estate to help with their ongoing garden renovation. These flower beds are have become overgrown and full of weeds (mixed in between nasturtiums and other sturdy plants), and our task was to clear the space as best we could. Multiple wheel barrows of green weeds, sticks and rubbish (protractors, compasses and various school items!) was gathered from the bed, sorted and deposited at a dedicated composting spot. The next stage would be to lay some new soil, ready for the students to plant their own flowers.

On Tuesday evening, 6 local Goodgym folks (including new starter Victoria- welcome!) met up at Beacon High School to assist with creating their new vegetable patch out of an overgrown old flower bed. John, one of the teachers at the school, is a keen gardener, and put us to work with clearing almost all of the weeds and plants left in the bed, aside from a collection of saplings. We were armed with shovels, spades, forks and rakes, but most of us found that it was easier to pull out the roots of the plants by hand (we had just experienced some heavy rain over the weekend, which thankfully softened the ground for us).

After an hour of hard graft, and multiple wheelbarrows full of green waste, we had cleared about 75% of all of the excess plants, branches, bushes and weeds, and the space was looking tidier already. All being well, we hope to return to finish the job very soon! Great work all!

21 GoodGymers ran 4km to help Holloway School with lots of gardening!

Welcome along to newbies - Stephen, Pete, Culann and Jack great to have you along!

In the news this week:

1. A huge well done to Meg who hit her 100th good deed last night - woop woop!
2. This Sunday is the monthly community mission to help Crouch End Open Spaces - sign up here.

After collecting together we talked GoodGym and warmed up before heading for the 2k to Holloway School. There was a lovely sunny up hill section which got everyone working well.

Upon arrival at the School we met Jonathan one of the teachers, he tasked us the following:

• Moving huge sacks of weeds and debris across the school grounds to be composted
• Meanwhile a big group pulled up weeds and grass, getting all the roots out as well as the surface shrubs. This area will be used to grow veg, something the kids will help to look after :)
• A team of three hoed and raked along the bottom of the hedge at the front of the school - awesome!

What a great task! We got so much done, Jonathan was really pleased and one of pupils who was passing was confused what we were doing to there school haha.

After a group picture we headed back the same way, a splinter group did a loop of the Emirates and see stretched out. Next was the best way to finish GG Islington ever - we headed for a picnic on Highbury Fields - yum!

Next week Aidan is in charge, you'll be helping Thornhill Square Gardens and Single Homeless Project.

PB out

21 Goodgymers ran 4-5k to help Holloway School prepare the roofgarden for horticultural activities

Welcome to the newbies - Savannah, Caz and Chloe - great to have you along!!

In the news:

1. Well done to everyone who raced this weekend - lots of Goodgymers at Rutland Races, Berlin Marathon, Brighton Triathlon and Dart 10k Swim - amazing!
2. Dave Guest from GoodGym Bristol became the 3rd person to reach 500 Good Deeds over the weekend - wow! Read about it here :)
3. There is now a new committee for the GG Raceteam with Frances as the Chair and Pritesh the Secretary. Join the raceteam here.

After warming up we headed through the backstreets to Holloway Road, where we encountered tons of red traffic lights, which meant squats and star jumps while we waited!

Back to School!

Arriving at Holloway School we met Jonathan - we ran through the school halls (naughty) and made it up the stairs to the roofgarden. Jonathan explained that our task for the evening was to clear, weed and prepare an area so the kids can get involved in lots of horniculture activities. Splitting into teams we got were tasked with the following:

• Weeding around the apple trees where the chicken coop is going to go
• Digging up bushes with the roots intact, these were then taken down to be replanted in the playground.
• Removing any weeds and laying five bags of manure to feed the garden

Around 12 bushes were taken down to the playground in bags, a job that involved lots of stairs climbing! After 30 minutes we finished the tasks at hand with some sweeping and then a group photo under Aspire, Achieve, Success sign.

On the way home we went back the long way and did a fartlek around the Emirates!

Sign up here for next week, we'll be helping Single Homeless Project and Thornhill Square Gardens.

PB out