Lici, Paul and John ran and cycled to Bloomsbury to help the Friends of Russell Square, a historic 220-year old haven which is London's second-largest square.

Our task was to clear a huge carpet of leaves and bag them up. But, I hear you say, we're not in autumn yet. However this year, the dry and hot summer has persuaded the trees to release their foliage a little earlier than usual.

Job done, our trio headed off for more exercise on a sunny, windy and occasionally rainy day.

5 GoodGym Camdeners hit the pavements on Wednesday night to install the second birdfeeder at Russell Square Gardens.

Welcome to Clancy - out on her first group run after Sunday's community mission in Upper Holloway. I hope you come to love Camden as much as the rest of us do!

After a quick intro, we jogged the short 1km to David and the Russell Square Gardens to get stuck in with take two of installing another bird feeder at the opposite end of the park.

As this was our second go and digging and levelling, it was a slick operation. Clancy dug the main hole incredibly quickly while John 'surveyed the situation', taking it in turns digging. Meanwhile, Mali, Lauren and Abi took turns to dig the smaller holes needed for the noticeboard. We worked solidly for nearly an hour to get them installed and, despite our best efforts last week, this week's birdfeeder was much more level. Our downfall was using the iPhone spirit level to level the seed tray instead of the actual main post last week, but we made sure not to make the same mistake this time round.

With the task done and the birdfeeders nailed into position (nails acting as anti-theft devices in this scenario), we handed back the tools and waved goodbye to David.

We'll be back in September to help plant the 10,000 bulbs ahead of the spring blooms of 2021. Here's the link to the Friends of Russell Square website if you'd like to keep updated with what they're getting up to, or if you'd like to become a Friend yourself.

Next week we'll be heading to Cecil Sharp House for the first time in 4 months. Susannah is very much looking forward to our help and you can sign up to that run here!

See you next time.

Ben

Camden's third week back went well last night with another 5 Camdeners joining Trainer Ben out on the mean streets.

We welcomed a tourist from Islington - hello Sarah! - and a complete newbie to GoodGym, Tamara! Hope you both enjoyed yourself and realised that, even with a cap of 5 runners, Camden is definitely the best GoodGym around. Hope to see you again with us soon.

It was Russell Square Garden's' turn this evening with our first of two Wednesday evening sessions with David. The task was simple - install a big bird feeder and sign of the bird species they're hoping to attract. There was hand trowel digging, big spades and forks and seemingly endless amounts of rock and knotted roots. At one point we thought we might've hit the top of a well-preserved Roman settlement - it really was that impermeable at times.

No tool was used by any more than one person and everyone had gloves on. The new normal, for the time being at least. We can now also add cement-pouring and mixing to our unique Goodgym set of skills too! There was even use of an iPhone spirit level (it's next to your compass in Tools if you haven't used it before) to make sure that the feeder base was exactly level at 0º. It was oddly satisfying to see that we held it at 0º completely by eye initially.

We stayed for an hour (overrunning a little with a fiddly job of levelling the two signpost holes) and finished one set of birdfeeder and signs. We'll be back next week to dig and install the seconds set.

It's definitely a different energy to the group when there's only 6 of us, but while it's not the same 25-30 Camdeners mucking in, you get to catch up and chat with people much more which was lovely. After our work was over and the group photo was taken, we headed up to Granary Square for a socially distanced drink and catch up, with John coming from an Islington task to join us for a pint.

It was lovely.

You were missed!

IMPORTANT: While we're limited to 6 people, I ask that you don't turn up on the night if you haven't signed up in advance, as you won't be allowed to run with us. Check the website for our next community mission/group run!

We met in Russell Square Gardens to help remove the mesh that had been protecting bulbs we planted in October from squirrels. it was a simple task and many hands made light of it, so with that done we raked up two huge bags of leaves too!

It was lovely to meet runners from many other areas - thanks so much for coming and hope to see you again sometime soon!

We came, we saw, we planted.

The sun was shining. It was good.

4 GoodGymers got stuck into leaf-clearing at Russell Square Gardens on a bright, sunny Saturday afternoon.

It happened to be an extra-special community mission because it was GoodGym Camden's Liz's DAY OF BIRTH! As the star she is, she came fully prepared for the festivities with not one, not two, but THREE different types of cake (+ some Percy Pigs).

In an hour and a half we managed to fill 30 BAGS full of leaves - an excellent effort from everyone there. David was especially thankful and I'm sure we'll be back in December to help rake some more of the park.

Quote of the Mission: Beth: "I look like a pair of highlighters!" (on looking at herself in the group photo).

Happy Saturday all,

Ben