Wednesday 22nd February 2023
Report written by Sam Lefevre (he/him)
With no Andres to talk to Sam waited patiently for the first runner to arrive knowing that he will be meeting Alice, Lindy and Magda at Thorlands. Then suddenly, Jeff walks into the door. It was his first time after a long time with GoodGym, but he decided to setup a new account since he now lives in Southwark rather than Barnet. Hooray for the newbie! We chatted about ourselves and talked about GoodGym before Clare arrived with his bike and followed shortly by Daryl and Gemma. Since we knew it was just us, Sam started his longer GoodGym intro since we had a newbie in town.
After the intro and a quick warm-up outside in the alleyway, Sam informed everyone of tonight's ice-breaker question, which was to do with the fact it would be "Digital Learning Day" on Thursday, so he asked: What is the digital course that changed your life or that you have done recently?
The popular one was Intro to SQL, but we also had learning to code on Treehouse or CodeAcademy, courses on the Microsoft packages before they took off, Intro to Blockchain, learning languages on Duolingo, learning about different muscle groups and finally, listening to a podcast that would change Lindy's life. The possibilities are endless with digital learning!
All bark and no bite
It seemed like we hadn't run to Thorlands in awhile, but it had just been a month. Our regular route via the backstreets of Peckham and up Grove Vale towards King's took us 17 minutes to cover just under 3k. We took our time and even stopped at traffic lights and ended up being a few minutes early as Simon gathered the tools and we met Alice, Lindy and Magda.
We took all the tools we need from the Walled Garden to the drop off point where Simon had a massive delivery of woodchip and bark. The aim of tonight was to move as much as we could from that secured drop off point to the compost bays near the Clubhouse, so that we can start mixing the mulch with the compost and create densely nutritious soil for growing. Also, there's enough mulch to put down and cover all the weeds growing back in the Forest garden.
With 7 shovels and only a wheelbarrow and a trolley to transport the mulch, the 40 minute session require a speedy approach when moving the mulch from point A to B. Simon took Alice, Clare, Gemma and Magda first as he wanted the compost bay to be cleared first before the first load of mulch could be store there.
After multiple wheelbarrow and trolley trips, an accolade of random songs coming from Sam's speakers and a sprinkling of rain, we decided to call it a night as we approached 20:00. With one last opportunity for a group photo at the compost bays and putting back all the tools, we departed just after 20:05.
Various people went different ways, but the core group that ran over also came back. We finished off with a stretch back where we started all within time.
Thank You to all the GG-ers
A personal thanks from me to all those who came out tonight! It was our regular monthly session at Thorlands and hopefully, you can see the progress even in the dark. All that mulch will be moved over the course of the next few weeks' and used throughout the garden. Thanks for working as a team and kudos again to Jeff for claiming your first good deed!
Thank You Simon
GoodGym is all about getting fit and doing good! We praise the runners/cyclists/walkers who come to get fit and help out, but we often forget about our task owner. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Simon as always for committing to our monthly sessions and providing us with something to do as we grow out this project!
Southwark
Ensuring this Junior parkrun succeeds and gives opportunity to young Parkrunners and their families