22 energetic Hackney GoodGymers ran 6k to Abney Park Cemetery to shovel and shift a cubic tonne of mulch in 45 action packed minutes!

After a 3 month gap our wait was finally over!! We got to return to a firm Hackney favourite and a local treasure in Abney Park Cemetery!! Maybe coincidentally but the squad was back in force!! Great to have a big group back to help dominate a monster task!

Amy was on fire and showed a clean pair of heels leading us the 3k to Abney!

Meeting new Abney Park head honcho Quentin!! Arming ourselves with gloves, shovels and wheelbarrows we marched our way up to the back of the park and one of the paths that lead to the Chapel!

A huge mulch mound lay ahead of us and we got going shovelling and narrowing load after load of mulch and running it down to the Chapel.

We were boosting the paths so when the rains come the paths and so the park are still usable. In particular for an event next week in the Chapel where a large group of visitors will be using the area for an open air performance and standing water would be a massive dampener on the show.

Going at such a pace we ran out of barrows we re-upped our wheelbarrow numbers and increased our mulch carting production!!

Clearing the whole mound in 45 minutes of action was a brilliant effort!! As a reward we got to pick up the pace on a speedy 3k run back to the Bakehouse before our stuff got locked in!!

Thanks so much for coming along, hope to see you next week when we tackle the gnomes!

Have a look at the links for volunteering at Hackney Marshes parkrun and Shorditch 10k which Danny spoke about at the start.

Smooth Running

Joel

27 Hackney GoodGymers ran 6k to Abney Park Cemetery to get it Spring ready with Bulb planting, ivy chopping, path mulching and Lion cleaning.

Great to see the Bakehouse bursting with energy ready for our run!! Nice to nearly be running in the embers of day light to, not to mention the double digit Spring warmth creeping through.

After a brain teasing Question of the day from Quiz Master Ros which we didn’t get around to answering. Or no one really understood the question??

We were off on our well trodden path to Abney Park lead expertly by Katie. 3k of pretty speedy running up to Stoke Newington to me Park Manager Tom at the enchanting Abney Park Cemetery.

After we were locked into the cemetery to got to work, marching the tools down deep into the Park. Splitting up into 4 groups to get the most out of our energetic endeavours. We had Ivy clearing from grave stones to allow the 2 year grace mapping project to keep going at full steam. Wild flower bulb planting along the main paths edge to look pretty and to encourage park users to stick to the paths which helps to keep the park growing in the right places. After the snow the first path we mulched in January was looking worse for wear so we had a 100 metre sprint to re mulch it with half a tonne of Hackney’s finest mulch. And finally the historically listed Lion from a very famous and some would say unforgettable local hero’s grave. Needed to be gently cleaned to restore Larry the Lion to is shimmering glory.

This was an all action no stop furious 40 minutes of portable light action!! We had snipping, pitch forking, wheelbarrowing, roping, planting, scrubbing and of course a lot of singing to Larry!!

We really used every possible second to get as much work down even requiring a super Bolt like sprint finish to get the mulched path complete with expert mulch manoeuvring from Patrick!!

With the task complete and time slipping away we said our good byes to Tom and zipped back to base at Pace!! Katie spearheading the charge to finish off the task perfectly(ish) on time!!

Great session everyone!!

Next week we have the second half of Soil mountain to contend with and we need all hands on deck to complete the task! Be great if you could come along for more fun on the Run Hackney style!!

Have a great week

Smooth Running

Joel

P.S not sure who to credit but thank you fir the Pun!!