It was a joy to meet up with our crew of Goodgymmers last night at the Arsenal Community Hub (including new starter Zoe- welcome) on a thankfully slightly warmer evening than last week! Almost all of the ice on the surrounding pavements has melted away, leaving us with clear and safe running routes!

After a short warm-up on the Emirates slopes (leg swings and extensions, mixed with some dynamic aerobic exercises to generate some body heat!), we ran together down George's Street off Holloway Road, past the Ringcross Community Centre and over to Market Road. Upon our arrival, we met with Miriam, a familiar face for all Caledonian Park projects, from junior parkrun to pond building, and helped with driving a few wheel barrows over to the famous Cally Clocktower.

Our task for the evening was to assist with moving at least some of an 18 tonne pile of gravel and eco-friendly grit over to the woodland paths on the south-west side of the park. The overall objective is to create a fully accessible path for park users through a gorgeous nature trail (frequented by finches, starlings, tits and cheeky squirrels). Half of our team assisted with the main transportation of the grit using barrows and shovels, keeping a line of 5 wheel barrows in action throughout the session, while 3 of our runners took it in turns to rake down the piles of grit to create a smooth surface for park users.

Within 45 minutes, we had successfully covered about 1/5 of the entire nature path between us, which is really remarkable! Such a satisfying job, and it will be wonderful to see how things progress over the next few weeks.

If you are also curious, we will return in 2 weeks time!

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/group-run-cally-clocktower-park-gravel-path-building-part-2

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NEWS

January Starter Session: Highbury Fields Junior parkrun and Penn Road Gardens

Sunday 29th January, starting in Highbury Fields at 8.40am.

Area Activator Simon will be leading a group run between two tasks on Sunday morning. The first task would be for Highbury Fields junior parkrun, a free weekly times event for youngsters aged 4-14 years old to run independently on a safe 2km course. Our assistance for course marshalling, barcode scanning, funnel managing, time keeping or tail walking is truly appreciated.

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/january-group-run-starter-session-highbury-fields-junior-parkrun

After the parkrun, (and possibly some coffee on Holloway Road), we will run about 1.5 miles over to Penn Road Gardens, a lovely community plot just near Caledonian Road. Our plan is to help the resident gardens with their projects.

Sign up here:

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/penn-road-gardens-open-morning-january-97bec309-d5d3-40ae-9539-c161ed2c4b05

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Thornhill Square Fertiliser Throwing Fun

Next Monday, we will be visiting the lovely Anna McKane and the resident gardeners of Thornhill Square, helping to prepare the flower beds for Spring time planting.

Sign up here:

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/group-run-thornhill-square-garden-fertiliser-throwing-fun

Followed by our special January Challenge social at Mesi's Kitchen!

After our group run, we will travel together to a lovely Ethiopian cuisine restaurant on Holloway Road to enjoy delicious warm stews served in injeri bread. Come and join us!

Sign up here:

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/january-challenge-social-mesi-s-kitchen-holloway-road