There was a lot to be cheerful about last night, not least the fact that we had a rare inside task, and a new member - put your hands together for Matheo!

Our job for the evening was at The DRCA Community Kitchen, an organisation which offers cooked meals to those suffering from food poverty. The had asked us to come and give the place a good spruce up, so, as usual we met at the BAC for a warm up before heading down to the Doddington estate.

Featuring plenty of fast feet and dynamic stretches, we got our heart rates up and tested our brains by naming as many board games as possible - as well as debating if Buckeroo actually counted as a board game!

Speeding down the DRCA we were met by Justin, who manages the space, and were delighted to find plenty of new brushes, rollers and tubs of paint for us to use. Not only that, but the place was already covered in dust sheets and the areas that needed attention were marked out, which meant we could dive straight into the task.

The DRCA's vision is to provide a welcoming space where no fewer than 19 charities and voluntary sector organisations can use the facilities to prepare and share meals in a safe, hygienic environment. The food prepared there will be freely accessible to those in need, fostering a sense of community and providing a gathering place for individuals to connect, network, and receive support. It's an invaluable resource and we wanted to help make it look as good as it possibly could, so dividing up into teams we wasted no time getting the paint onto the walls.

The kitchen team had the ceiling to paint, and within no time it was rivaling the Sistine Chapel. Meanwhile the wall painting crew had a huge space to cover so didn't dilly-Dali, while downstairs the team were brushing up on their painting skills, doing a great job that was right on the Monet.

Rather than leave the job unfinished, we decided to sacrifice our fitness session for the evening - but don't worry, there will be a doubly intense (but fun) one next week to make up for it! We'll be delivering flyers for the Library of Things so it's a great opportunity to cover some kilometers while spreading the word about a brilliant new resource for local people. Hope to see you there!

On a brisk Wednesday morning, Islington Area Activator Simon caught up with many many familiar faces from the Goodgym HQ team (often from community missions, group runs or our annual Shindig visits) in Chancery Lane, ready for a special trip out of the office. Our plan for the day (as effortlessly scheduled by Chalomi) was to make our way over to Thornhill Square Gardens, a beautiful resident maintained green space between Caledonian Road and Islington. We set off in two separate groups- a walking crew directed by Chalomi and Kim, and a running team hosted by Simon. Our running squad enjoyed a slightly extended route (just under 5km), passing through Fetter Lane, Bell Yard (Dickensian pubs and churches), Jockey's Fields (and the surrounding lawyer's chambers), Lincoln's Inn Fields, The Post Office Museum and Barnard's Park, before arriving at our final location. We even passed a fellow Goodgymmer on route- Thank you to Martin from GG Luton for saying Hi!

We re-grouped by the communal gardening shed in the centre of Thornhill Square Gardens, and gathered up all of the tools required for a variety of tasks - wheelbarrows, rakes, spades, shovels, brushes, saws and loads of green waste bags. Our first objective was to shovel piles of wood chip into wheelbarrows, and then to transport and spread the load evenly across the many flower beds within the park. Group 2 helped out by picking up rakes, brushes and leaf collecting devices to gather up as much foliage as possible from the pathways surrounding the park. We were looking for the leaves of horse chestnut trees in particular, as leaf mining moth larvae tend to use these fallen leaves as a habitat throughout the Winter. These particular bugs are known damage trees, so we want to avoid this situation as best as possible, while keeping the park tidy! Finally, group 3 had great fun searching and picking up sticks, fallen branches and logs from around the gardens (especially after the strong winds last week). Together, they sawed down the wood to smaller bundles, ready to be used for dead hedging (lining flower beds and spots where bulbs are to be planted in the new year) or for protecting saplings around the green space.

Between all of the groups, we achieved a huge amount of progress within an hour of lifting, shifting, raking and sawing. We actually ran out of green waste bags at exactly the right time! Before dropping off all of our tools back in the shed, Chalomi, Ivo, Ed and Ged wheelbarrowed three large bags of collected leaves outside the house of one of our regular task coordinators at Thornhill Square Gardens, ready for a council pick up tomorrow morning.

Congratulations on an excellent morning of green space maintenence, everyone! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!