These January nights are getting easier! Despite the day's rain, we had a cool, clear evening in which to help our favourite local cinema charity and community hub, the Phoenix.

A whopping 7 Goodgymmers showed up tonight, but the Phoenix could only find a couple of hundred leaflets for us, so we immediately plotted a longer route. During our warm up, Jack gave us the question to chat about: favourite films. A good one! Rachel went with one of her favourite comedies, Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Paul chose Groundhog Day, so he'll be going back leafleting every day this week until he works out how to break the loop.

Then we set off with Lucinda and Subham backmarking. Around the corner and up a long road, we targeted houses we'd not leafleted for a while, to remind them, yes, cinema is great and they are in walking distance of a lovely venue. Jacqui snapped action shots of people hitting letterboxes. Down a really interesting cul-de-sac with retirement bungalows, George disturbed an old, lazy fox sleeping on a doormat.

We ran out of leaflets soon after, so Paul suggested we jog over to the corner of Highgate Wood and do sprints up the Capital Ring path. After two rounds of that we headed back, with a short detour via a famous musician's home (clue: we admired the wonderful walls). Subham's creative interpretation of backmarking put him in the lead, so we had another quick sprint to keep ahead of him then our warm down stretch outside the Phoenix.

We rounded off with a round of drinks and popcorn at the Phoenix, making judicious use of our 10% discount at the bar. No better way to spend a January evening!

Although the rain kept a lot of the birds under cover this weekend, we still recorded valuable data for the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch.

12 GoodGymers from ALL OVER London caught some Camden good deeding last night!

Our group last night — super friendly and willing to help as always — hailed from the West and the East and the Middle of London!

It was a multi-borough affair and we were all there to do our usual good deeding at the American International Church for their Winter Shelter :)

Ana, Ariane, Jack, Jackie, Jacqui, John, Kash, Lucinda, Lydia, Steph, and Steve did the GoodGym usual and got completely stuck into all the helping:

❤️ 16 beds were assembled, dressed, and positioned ready for the evening's guests!

❤️ 1 dining room was set with tables and cutlery and napkins and sauces, and the bubbling scents from the kitchen made us want to stay!

❤️ Multiple boxes were lifted and shifted and moved to where they need to be!

And we left having had connection and laughter, and it all made yesterday's January evening feel a lot brighter!

See you next time!!

P.S. Thank you, Jacqui and Steph, for the wonderful photos!!

Three Goodgymers joined a group of local community activists helping to keep the waterways of Barnet free of litter. The group included a number of asylum seekers who are being housed locally and have been eager to get involved in the local community by engaging in volunteering with local organisations.

The task took us along the Mutton brook, near the North Circular road, and onto the Dollis Brook. These two waterways are tributaries of the river Brent, which flows south into the Thames, so keeping them clean is of benefit to many Londoners.

We collected multiple bags of rubbish, mostly the usual mix of discarded alcohol containers, packets of cigarettes and food packaging.

It was muddy work, but the rain held off and we were able to stay dry.

Thank you to the Dollis Brookers community group for organising, and to the asylum seekers who came out to help their local community.