In(e)volving Thorns

10 Goodgymers helped their local community in Islington
Paul Bown
Amarjit Sandhu
Ernestas Jegorovas-Armstrong
Steve Lee
Steve Coman
Julia Vila
Joel
Katherine
Mike
Chi Nwa
1 / 10
Islington

Monday 4th December 2017

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Paul Bown
Paul Bown

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Report written by Paul Bown

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10 GoodGymers ran 4.5km, helped Thornhill Square Gardens with gardening & leafletted for Evolve Housing Support+

December is truly here, Christmas is on it's way but there is still plenty of good to be done. Thank you to everyone who came along, we had a task at SHP cancelled but still another two planned between which worked well for the 10 of us!

In the news this week:

  1. Well done to Steve Lee who hit 100 Good Deeds last week and got his WINGS! Nice! Give him a cheer (Julia you know how...)
  2. Next Monday will be our last group of the year - 11th December - we are going to have a GG Islington Xmas Party afterwards - PLEASE SIGN UP BY FRIDAY!

Once we were warmed up we headed towards Thornhill Square Gardens, via Holloway Road and through the back streets and into Barnsbury. Upon our arrival we found Anna laying out the tools for us, she explained that since the council have cut funding for looking after the park the community have been maintaining things with the help of GoodGym.

Hoe down!

Steve got to work hoeing two flower beds in the centre of park, getting rid of any weeds. We have worked on these beds over the last few years so it's great to help maintain them. The rest of us followed Anna over to the main task, splitting into three groups:

  1. Ernie, Steve & Joel trimmed back a tree which was getting in the way - using saws and cutters to get the job done!
  2. Amarjit, Mike & Julia were tasked with removing a thorny rose bush - using various tools to cut it back and then dig the roots up.
  3. Chima and Katherine cleared the area of brambles, thorns and weeds.

Within 20 minutes all the teams were done, we handed out ginger nuts and put all the tools & three bags of debris away. Nice work all!

Task Two

The next quick task for the team was to leaflet for Evolve Housing Support+, a fantastic charity who are trying to get a Christmas gift for each of 700 homeless people who stay at their hostels. Our leaflets are aimed to get people to send in gifts. We split into two groups and circulated around Thornhill Square delivering the leaflets.

With both tasks done we headed home via Higbury and stretched with time to spare. Thanks all - GOOD work!

Sign up next week here where we are going to Caxton House to cut back some brambles!

PB out.


This task supported
Thornhill Square Gardens
A quiet oasis off Caledonian Road with plenty of space to picnic, rest, read, and walk a dog.

'A quiet oasis off Caledonian Road. Plenty of space (it is the largest square in Islington) to picnic, rest, read, admire the flowers shrubs and trees, and walk a dog. Volunteers, with the council are working to encourage healthy activities, including walking and yoga, and also to improve the diversity of wildlife in the park.'

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