On Monday evening, Area Activator Simon was joined by 4 running Goodgymmers for our trip to Thornhill Square Gardens. Steve, Rory, Marie Laure and Charlie made short work of the Highbury Park Hill slopes and the gradual incline on Mackenzie Road as we ran together on the quiet Islington streets (one of the advantages of a wet afternoon followed by a dry evening).

On our approach, we met with Anna, the local resident volunteer coordinator of Thornhill Square, who had already offered tasks to the rest of our Goodgym team. John has busy wheelbarrowing piles of grit and concrete dust over to flooded pathways of the park. Tower Hamlets Goodgymmers Ivy and first-timer Darren (welcome!) helped by shovelling the grit onto these puddles, and by raking the material to be as flat and even as possible.

Steve and Rory collaborated on gathering well rotted compost (from our collections last year), and sprinkling the natural fertilizer across the flower beds and rose bushes around the park. Marie was tasked with gathering fallen green branches and sticks, to continue with building up the "dead hedges" lining the park. These barriers act as perfect hedgerows for bugs, insects and small creatures, while acting as a reminder for park users not to step on the flower beds.

Patrick and Charlie had a classic Goodgym digging task- installing some donated paving slabs into the ground, to act as a crazy paving walkway. Firstly, the team had to dig up and level the trenches, before laying the stones in place. The outcome looked like a professional job- great work!

As we finished up for the evening, our running crew were joined by Patrick for our return trip to Elizabeth House Food Hub. Well done all! We will be back for another running group session to Caxton House Community Centre next Monday!

---

NEWS

Crouch End Open Space (CREOS) Open Day

Goodgym Islington returns to CREOS this Sunday, one of our longest running community missions. Our plan is to help the team with laying down the forest paths between Highgate Woods and Muswell Hill. Pop down between 11-1pm, and stay for a possible picnic at the Hanley Tennis Club car park afterwards!

We will also be volunteering at Priory Park junior parkrun earlier this morning, and starting a warm-up workout session at 10.30am.

Sign up here:

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/crouch-end-open-space-creos-volunteering-day-februaryy-2022

Headtorch Group Run- Highgate, Muswell Hill and Alexandra Palace edition

Over the last few months of dark evening running, we will be continuing to host our headtorch group running sessions along fun routes in North London.

On Friday 25th February, we will start our run by the Boogaloo Pub in Highgate, and will cover about 8-10km of mixed terrain social running along the upper section of the Parkland Walk and Capital Ring routes. Expect some incredible night time views from above the city skyline!

Sign up here to get involved:

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/headtorch-group-run-highgate-muswell-hill-alexandra-palace