Twenty Goodgymmers congregated in the grounds of the wonderful Meadow Orchard in Crouch End for an emotional evening of doing good and getting fit.

Nurj O'Clock

This report is a bit late because frankly I found it a bit hard to write. Or more concretely, I tried a couple of times but failed miserably each time. You see, even in her absence, Nurj had managed to grab centre stage on Wednesday's task like she had done some many times over the last six years and I knew I would have to write a report with her as the protagonist for one last time. The words just didn't come, to be honest.

So, instead, I have decided to share with you the big Nurjehan-shaped hole she leaves on a normal Goodgym evening. She played many roles within our motley crew: self-appointed timekeeper, naughty gossipy aunt, strict school teacher when we needed a telling off, whingepot whenever we attended her least favourite task that shall now forever remain unnamed, indefatigable do gooder, tireless 5k/10k runner, unconditional friend, and perhaps, the one thing we'll miss the most, her enthusiastic cheerleading of everything Goodgym Haringey. She loved Goodgym. And she preached its praises at any given opportunity.

If I'm allowed a personal note, I'll personally miss a role she played too well without any fanfare or noise but that she relished and excelled at. Whenever we had a new runner in our group, it would always be either Nurj or myself reaching out to say hello to them. She would then proceed to tell the newbie all sort of crazy stories about how I am a mad area activator, I would then reply by telling the newbie to watch out for her because 'this one bites' and thus, within the space of thirty seconds, a newbie was eased into the dynamics of our group and was then shadowed by Nurjehan for the next 45 minutes, regaling them with whatever particular drama was happening at her school that week and making sure their evening was as fun as possible. I'll miss my newbie whisperer.

Our dearest Nurjehan Khan passed away on Thursday 18th July 2024, having completed 273 Goodgym tasks and along the way having become the unofficial face of Goodgym (her face is the landing page of the website). Goodgym Haringey will never be the same without her and we'll miss her.

I'll finish this here before she tells me off for going on too much.

<3

It's Our Birthday And We'll Cry If We Want To

In a moment of incredible timing, this evening also happened to be Goodgym Haringey's 9th Birthday. There will be other nights to celebrate and we will have a social to end all socials in due course, but we did mark the occasion with cakes, chocolate, and hell of a lot of tears.

We're very grateful to the folk at the Meadow Orchard for accommodating us at short notice (this was Nurjehan's favourite Haringey task) and they had loads of fun jobs for us. They even let us use axes on the night. Talk about cathartic.

Normal service will resume next week.

For now, just look after each other and I'm here if anyone needs a hug, a natter, or a cry.

Love to my wonderful Goodgym Haringey Fam

Eight Goodgymmers suffered under the heat but did not wilt as they lent a hand at Chapmans Green for a spot of reclaiming the walking path from the always overenthusiastic North London nature.

GGH High Five

It'd be remiss not to congratulate and commiserate all Haringey Goodgymmers in equal measure as they united to observe in forbearance the fifth anniversary of their attempts to rescue a semblance of competence and triumph from the jaws of inefficiency under the rule of the rather tattered and blundering Gramps. Well done to all of them for putting up with me for this long. Truly a testament to the strength and endurance of human nature! <3

Onto the task at hand. Because Gramps is fond of things like this, he had arranged tonight's task at Chapmans Green, where he had led his first ever GGH task five years ago, and Rob from the Friends Group did not disappoint.

The Green has exploded with the warm, moist weather and the walking paths have been devoured by a multitude of weeds. Rob walked us through what should be saved and what should be pulled and before you knew it, our Goodgymmers had jumped into action.

It was a very warm evening, though thankfully the burning sunshine had eased a tad. Nevertheless, it was a sweaty and tiring affair. .

We pulled thistles and other weeds to our hearts content while we had a good natter. Beautiful timelapse of the action courtesy of Super Dave here.

With around 10 mins to go, Nurjehan abused her position as the appointed GGH timekeeper and tricked Gramps into an early finish with the pretexts of giving the team a rest from the heat, but it was instead so they could ambush Gramps with cards, sweets, and sashes - punishment by showering him with love and attention knowing full well he can't cope with it. They know him just too well. <3

We then made time for selfies and hugs, and made plans for our forthcoming BBQ this weekend. Boom.

*Are pork chops ok for vegans? *

On a sunny Wednesday evening, five of GoodGym's top-notch garment gurus swooped in to assist Traid with their epic stock changeover. We couldn't help but wonder why pulling clothes off hangers and chucking them into huge boxes was way more enjoyable than the reverse process. This revelation probably explains the chaotic state of some GoodGymers' wardrobes! With our illustrious leader out of action (get well soon, Euclides :)), Julie stepped in to showcase the finest finds from the racks, some of which were more racy than race-y. The sheer volume of stock to be sorted meant we worked hard to wrap things up within the designated hour. However, not wanting to leave a task unfinished (my personal nightmare!), we powered through and wrapped up 10 minutes late. Apologies to Nurjerhan, our Official GoodGym Timekeeper!