Wednesday 2nd December 2015
Find out about GoodGym TaskForce
31 people planted 12 plants, bagged 4 sacks of leaves, tidied 3 flower beds of rubbish, spread one small sack of compost and spent an indeterminate amount of time squatting, lunging and hopping about.
It's December. Brilliant. Month of parties, neon, tinsel and general 'downing of tools'. We never really down tools, largely because we don't have any, and because someone is relying on our help.
Locally Sourced
We ran to help our old friend Jon on the Drummond Estate in Somers Town. Jon is a local resident who for the last 3 years, has taken it upon himself to improve the communal areas on the estate. He has started a gardening club and has engaged with us in an effort to spruce up the area. He has made a huge improvement. When we first visited Jon the overgrown hedgerows were filled with a myriad of fizzy drinks cans, crisps wrappers and discarded fag buts. Its now home to thriving plants, rock circles and porcelain gnomes.
Local Pride
We did 3 quick jobs. We potted some new plants, we cleared a courtyard of leaves and we helped spread compost on 3 beds (after we had cleared them of rubbish of course!). It is amazing how people seem to be taking more care of the area under Jon's direction. The amount of rubbish we found was minimal- people are now filling the bins with their fag butts and whacking their cans in the recycling. Jon has a lot to be proud of!
Regents Run
We raced through the jobs, so we decided to do a few rounds of exercises in the court yard. We didn't fancy sitting on the cold concrete so did lots of squats, balances and hops. All of which tired us out for the long run to come. We all ran to Regents Park where we split into 2 groups. Those who just wanted to run home (4k total) and those who fancied something a bit longer. They dashed off round the inner circle led by Paul B, and tried to catch the rest of us up on the way home.
We all got back to the centre safely (nice one Paul), for a quick stretch followed by a pub visit for some to celebrate Lucia's birthday. Wahey! Nice one everyone
Camden
AIC's cold weather shelter helps 16 Londoners each and every week - you'll be making sure things are ready and inviting for the evening's guests :)