9 Goodgymmers braved the High Road in Tottenham during match night to lend a hand at Tottenham Green as they started getting the site ready for bulb planting.

Funckeredd To The Maxx

We were pleased to join Laura from the Friends group who had been out of action for a while with Covid. Glad to have you back!

It's always a pleasure to do a task at Tottenham Green, in many ways it feels like going back home. Just ask Nurjehan or Alex, for instance, who described this task tonight on more than one occasion as their favourite. 

And tonight was no different. We started the evening with a bit of litter picking and, oh boy, did the Green need it. Within 15 minutes our team had managed to fill up around 6 bags full of bottles, cans, and even a duvet. Always thinking about the environment, our team sent a couple of Goodgymmers to the recycling bins on the North side of the park to dispose of the litter responsibly.

Meanwhile, we got on with the task of clearing the pathways of leaves and some hardcore weeding. Special mention here to the wonderful and thriving hedge bindweed with its wonderful heart-shaped leaves that was ruthlessly and efficiently obliterated by Frankie and Carolina. Haven't seen that many destroyed hearts since they refused to call that ship Boaty McBoatface.

Aaaaanyway, towards the end of the evening, we were tasked with some buddleia maintenance which of course meant some hardcore chopping and we rounded things up piling the garden detritus on the composting beds in the church yard.

Highlights of the evening including Nurjehan force feeding people her cupcakes, Carolina completely dragging Gramps by saying she had seen him running and thought that 'he was just walking and taking a break,' and the introduction to our Goodgym Haringey Lexicon of the wonderful funckeredd but you really had to be there for that one.

Next week, we're moving our task night to Monday to coincide with Halloween! And we're celebrating by having a themed double good deed evening... Task 1 here and task 2 here. Join us!

In between sporadic rain showers, Area Activator Simon caught up with a top crew of Goodgymmers (a mix of regulars and new starters- welcome Michelle!) outside the Arsenal Community Hub for our weekly group run. After a count-off to introduce each other (and to show off our favourite firework sounds to celebrate Diwali!), we ran approximately 1 mile together towards Elizabeth House Food Hub on Hurlock Street (utilising some hills on route!).

Upon our arrival, we found that Ernestas, Natalie and Natasha were already helping the super busy food bank crew with their half term operations. Elizabeth House Food Hub has been set up to act like a supermarket of donated produce that can be affordably purchased by the immediate community. During the holidays, more families and individuals require additional assistance with deliveries, so Goodgym Islington were asked whether would lend a hand. Half of our runners paired up together to deliver these essential parcels to households across the borough. The rest of our team assisted with cleaning and closing up the tables used for the food bank, and with loading any additional produce back into the kitchen (after some quality control). We finished off the evening with some recycling, and breaking down food boxes for collection.

The Elizabeth House Food Hub core yeam were absolutely thrilled with the amount of work completed within such a short amount of time, and asked is to definitely return in the future! Well done all!

Our final event of the night was the introduction of our monthly "Emirates Stadium Time Trial"- a personal test run with your fellow Goodgymmers to see how quickly we can run the 700m loop of the Emirates Concourse. It was so great to bring back this "Paul Bown" tradition to Goodgym Islington again.

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NEWS

Highbury Quadrant Soil Shifting

On Wednesday 26th November, Area Activator Simon and Ernestas of Highbury Ward will be helping Octopus Community Network with filling up some newly constructed flower planters around the Highbury Quadrant Estate.

Sign up here to get involved:

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/highbury-quadrant-bonus-shingle-and-soil-shifting

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VI Guide Running at Emirates Stadium with Achilles International

Every Thursday, Achilles International will lead a group run for visually impaired runners and local guides at Paddington Rec Track or The Emirates Stadium. This week, we will be returning to North London for our session. Open to potential guide of all abilities, and for anyone up for a group run!

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/come-and-guide-run-with-achilles-international-emirates-stadium-session-0f94bb20-d637-4871-ad0b-60f023004982

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Halloween Hampstead Heath Headtorch Group Run

On Friday 28th November, AA Simon will be leading his annual Halloween headtorch run around Hampstead Heath- starting at the Bull and Gate Pub in Kentish Town, and looping around the gorgeous trails of North London. Costumes and trail shoes are advised, but not essential! Social group running pace will be the aim for the evening- please bring your own headtorch if possible.

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/ghoulgym-halloween-headtorch-run-hampstead-91d1a716-63e8-4785-8a51-376d43bdf009

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Caledonian Park Junior parkrun Half Term Holiday Help

On Sunday 30th November, the lovely event directors of junior parkrun in Caledonian Park have asked if any of our Goodgym crew would be available to help with course marshalling, time keeping, tail walking or barcode scanning for their free weekly timed run for 4-14 year old runners. Volunteer numbers from parents and usual assistants tend to be down due to the half term break, so any help would be awesome!

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/volunteer-at-caledonian-junior-parkrun-half-term-help-b670c7e2-0349-494a-9129-de06bbc8ca2d

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Penn Road Gardens Volunteer Open Morning

After Junior parkrun, the resident volunteers of Penn Road Gardens will be hosting their monthly open morning for composting, mulching and garden maintenance near Holloway Road. A wonderful way to spend a Sunday morning with a potential Goodgym double task!

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/penn-road-gardens-open-morning-october