The Goodgym crew returned to GG Islington's longest running community mission this weekend, enjoying some midday forestry renovation at Crouch End Open Space in some beautiful summer sunshine!

We met up with the local volunteer group, Friends of CREOS, in the middle of their dedicated meadow. There were a mix of Goodgymmers, regular helpers and local neighbours on hand to assist with the tasks. John, Paul, Karen, Jenny and Hannah picked up clippers and secateurs to start clearing back some of the low hanging branches and bushes along the pathways, while Alex volunteered to borrow some pickers and a few waste bags to plog some known picnic spots around the meadow.

Steve agreed to pitch into some hard graft, and used a wheelbarrow and shovel to clear lots of debris blocking the paths near Hanley tennis courts after the heavy rain earlier in the week. Tessa, Dharmesh and Emily continued our dead hedging task (one of our favourites), which involves creating natural barriers near footpaths to dissuade walkers and runners from travelling through wild spaces.

We completed loads of tasks within the 90 minutes we dedicated on Sunday, and the CREOS team were thrilled. As a Thank You, we were invited to join them for a picnic in the sun, with cold drinks, snacks and home cooked quinches and baguettes on offer. A wonderful way to finish a busy morning of Goodgymming!

Sign up here if you would like to join us next month: https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/crouch-end-open-space-creos-volunteering-day-august-2021

Ten GoodGym members gathered at Highgate woods to help the Ranger Cindy with tidying up after the torrential rain yesterday. We gathered and introduced ourselves and stated our favourite colour. I think green won out as you might expect in woodland. We also met Hannah on her first GoodGym community mission give her a shout out! (click on the red link and give her some support) We then set about raking up sticks and detritus that had been washed from the forest onto the grass. We needed to do this so that the lawnmower was not wrecked when they came to cut the grass. When we had finished Cindy took us into the woodland to chat about forest management and in particular the recent infestation of The processional moth. Cindy then lead us into a clearing where we did a little yoga focusing on posture and breathing. We hope to be back again at the end of August or September. Thanks for coming getting active ,connected and doing some good!