On one of the chilliest nights of Winter so far, 5 superstar Goodgym folks met with Area Activator Simon in the Arsenal Community Hub for our Monday group run across the borough. This week, we planned to run together to Caledonian Park, a beautiful green space just by the Islington/Camden border. After a quality dynamic warm up, we ran a full mile together up Mackenzie Road, past Market Road Gardens and over to the famous Caledonian Park clock tower.

Upon our arrival, we met with Miriam, the main volunteer coordinator for the park (and frequent Caledonian Park junior parkrun event organiser) outside the Tolpuddle Café. She was in the park halls for a choir rehearsal, but was happy to bring rakes and leaf grabbers for tonight's task. Our plan was to clear a full pathway towards the south of the park- a nature walkway that Goodgym Islington had helped with building in the past. The fallen leaves had completely hidden this lovely pathway, so our team pitched in a solid 45 minutes of energetic raking to bring the space back to normal. We were able to complete the objective by 8pm exactly- a job well done!

Congratulations everyone!

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Goodgym Islington News

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The Garden Classroom- Weekly Volunteer Mornings in Islington Parks!

Various parks and gardens on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday mornings.

The Garden Classroom has started multiple weekly open garden mornings in Newington Green, Market Road and Hillside Park (near Caxton House). Set up by trained horticulture specialists and open to all!

Newington Green Next Wednesday- 10am - midday

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/the-garden-classroom-newington-green-volunteer-morning-e9736f05-a120-40ce-ba5e-265774f65e39

Hillside Gardens, Caxton House Next Thursday- 10am - midday

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/the-garden-classroom-hillside-park-volunteer-morning

Market Road Gardens Next Friday- 10am - midday

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/the-garden-classroom-market-road-gardens-volunteer-morning-612f165e-daed-466e-9a05-e19f9ce83bbb

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Met League Cross Country - Uxbridge

Saturday 2nd December, 12 midday, Hillingdon Athletics Stadium

Run with GoodGym for some cross country racing- the 3rd fixture of the amazing Met League season. Approximately 7-8 km of muddy fun, open to all!

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/met-league-cross-country-uxbridge-a76dfe91-06bd-4b71-89b3-2c2be2d7b503

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Caledonian Junior parkrun

Sunday 3rd December, 8.45am, Caledonian Park

Come and help local families and 4-14 year old youngsters with running a free weekly timed 2km course around Caledonian Park!

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/volunteer-at-caledonian-junior-parkrun-8408e3a7-54bd-4de7-9273-a0a875d5031c

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Freightliner's Farm Sunday Special- December

Sunday 3rd December, 11.30-1pm, Sheringham Road, Islington

We are so happy to be invited back to the wonderful Freightliner's Farm just off Paradise Park for our first regular weekend volunteering day!

The team will be on hand to offer some animal friendly tasks around the site.

Sign up here:

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/freightliner-s-farm-sunday-special

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Crouch End Open Space (CREOS) Volunteering Day (December 2023)- Christmas Special!

Sunday 3rd December, 11am - 1pm, Hanley Tennis Club Car Park, Greenways

Our final trip to CREOS this year for a woodland regeneration- loads of digging and wheelbarrowing to be expected! Followed by a local festive picnic with the regular volunteer crew.

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/crouch-end-open-space-creos-volunteering-day-december-2023-christmas-special

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Achilles International VI Guide Running Sessions- Emirates Stadium

Thursday 7th December, 6pm, Arsenal Underground station

Every Thursday, the all abilities sports charity Achilles International holds a group run session at a London location. This week, we will be meeting up at Arsenal tube station, ready to run around the Emirates Stadium concourse. Open to runners and guides of all abilities! Follow the link to find out more:

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/come-and-guide-run-with-achilles-international-emirates-stadium-1568f170-ece8-47a0-bc34-e4c96f423bb7

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Friends of Canonbury Square- Volunteer Morning (December Xmas Special!)

Saturday 16th December, 10am, Canonbury Square Gardens

Lending a hand with this beautiful neighbourhood maintained garden in Islington, a perfect post-parkrun task! This will be the December Xmas special too, so come and enjoy some festivities!

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/friends-of-canonbury-square-volunteer-morning-december-xmas-special

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Goodgym Islington’s Final Group Run and Social of 2024!

Monday 18th December, 6.45pm, Arsenal Community Hub

On the last group run of the year, Area Activator Simon will be leading a festive run to just a few of Islington's 121 green spaces (as listed by The Garden Classroom). Our objective is to try and record a visit to each one by the end of the January challenge!

And afterwards, we are going to enjoy a social visit to Non Vietnamese, Holloway Road for delicious soup, noodles and refreshments!

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/group-run-christmas-tour-of-islington

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/post-group-run-social-december-non-vietnamese-islington

After a short run from Hope Street, 3 runners were met by 8 more goodgymmers.

This week, we were back at Mulgrave Street Action Group Community Garden where, once again, Khan had a mammoth task for us.

Armed with bagfuls of daffodil bulbs and a few trowels, we set to work on the small patch of grass in front of the garden. Digging and planting until the whole patch was filled.

With the help of new recruit Lee and visiting Londoner Emily we manged to plant four big bags of bulbs - cant wait to see it in the spring for a true William Wordsworth moment!

Well done everyone - it's great to see the impact of the garden expanding!