15 awesome runners attended our Islington group run last night (including new starters Stephanie and Tom- welcome!), and braved a wet and windy trip to Sunnyside Community Gardens near Crouch Hill.

Also- congratulations to Hanry for running 100 good deeds last week. His celebrations were at GG Camden, but he is a certified GG Islington runner too!

Before layering up to sustain the rainfall, Trainer Simon asked the crew for some film recommendations (after being blown away by Bong Joon-ho's multi-oscar winning thriller "Parasite". All of these great suggestions have been included here:

• For Sama
• Call Me By Your Name
• Moonlight
• Little Women
• Okja
• Snowpiercer
• Alien Covenant
• Jojo Rabbit
• Precious
• Dark Waters
• The Witch
• Harriet (soon to be released in the UK)
• The Green Book
• This Year's Love (because it is all based in Camden...)

Sunnyside Community Gardens

Our team made their way up Hornsey Road after a quick warm up, with Steve Lee assisting as the backmarker. Upon arrival, we politely disturbed the meeting of the Sunnyside Gardens Trustees and met up with Anna, the volunteer coordinator. We wheelbarrowed a vast array of forks, spades and shovels (and gloves, of course) to the upper end of the gardens, and began work on creating compost for the upcoming spring planting season.

A small group started sieving woods and twigs out of the finer dirt and soil, before distributing the contents into different piles. Other goodgymmers used clippers to break down larger branches and small dead trees made the green waste into useful mulch, leaving the rest of our crew to lift the chips into a designated compost pile. A smooth production line was established, and we made significant work out of this large ongoing task!

We packed up after 40 minutes of solid work, and enjoyed the downhill jaunt back to the Arsenal Community Hub. Aidan lead a series of stretches and cool down exercises, whilst Steve Lee offered us some authentic holiday Turkish Delight, and Trainer Simon brought out some Biscoff biscuits for a job well done.

As we regrouped, we made our way to The Victoria Tavern on Holloway Road for 2-for-1 pizza, drinks and good times, as part of our monthly social.

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NEWS

GG Islington Cover at Goodgym Camden!

Trainer Simon will be leading a one-off group run with Goodgym Camden this Wednesday, setting off from The St Pancras and Somers Town Living Centre in Somers Town. Great opportunity to try out some GG tourism, and to meet up with new and familiar faces getting involved with some new tasks!

This week, we will be visiting Cecil Sharp House to assist with various gardening and weeding tasks at the home for English Folk Music and Dance, with a second group running to C4WS- a homeless shelter set up in the American International Church on Tottenham Court Road.

Typically followed by drinks and a meet-up at the Somers Town Coffee House pub, opposite the Crick!

Sign up here and come on down!

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Compton Terrace Gardens Community Mission

Saturday 14th March, 10-1pm at Compton Terrace Gardens. A perfect post-Highbury Fields parkrun task!

One of our lovely GG Islington task owners will be leading a work day at Compton Terrace Gardens, a great green space right outside the union chapel. Mission expert Liz Mills has agreed to lead the session along with some of the neighbourhood regulars to assist with clearing, tidying, lifting and shoveling work- super outdoors workout fun!

Sign up here!

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CREOS March

Sunday 15th March, 11-1pm at Crouch End Open Space, 85 - 87 Wood Vale, Crouch End. One of the longest running, and best, community missions. Come for the gardening, stay for for the picnic!

Crouch End Open Space is inviting the Goodgym team back to help with their monthly community green space maintenance project. Local volunteers meet up to keep the neighbourhood area as beautiful as possible, and to make sure that the pathways are accessible for everyone to enjoy this popular spot.

All helpers will be treated to a great carboot picnic and hot drink afterwards!

Sign up here to get involved!

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The Arc Centre Deep Clean and Free Fitness Session

Sunday 22nd March, 5.30-7.30pm at The Arc Community Centre, Islington

Goodgym have been asked to help out The Arc Community Centre with some bi-monthly cleaning and tidying tasks- a great indoor activity to wrap up the weekend.

In return, we have access to the main hall and the accompanying gardens before the the task. Trainer Simon will be offering a free all abilities circuit training session before we start with the cleaning duties. Strength and conditioning are under valued pursuits for a lot of runners, and we will be introducing some simple body weight exercises you can do as part of a group (the best way IMHO!) or in your own free time.

Sign up here for doing good and getting fit!