8 GoodGymers caught the sunset at a woodland garden in Camden!

This wonderful group – Alison, Deirdre (on their first Camden visit – welcome!), Emilie, Imogen, Lydia, Siobhan, and Steve – visited St Paul's Woodland Garden by Camden Square yesterday.

Just a short hop from where Amy Winehouse once lived this special space is a haven for nature and community.

Catherine – our task host – is part of the brilliant Green City Projects team, and they use this space to support people living with mental health difficulties. It was a joy to be there :)

In the race against the dying daylight, everyone kicked swiftly into good-deeding action last night!

The first task was to move a giant pile of bags filled with something called 'hoggin', which Google tells me is a self-binding mixture of clay, sand, and gravel that creates a firm, attractive, and permeable surface, and which I can confirm is very very very heavy!

Not that was a match for this group's muscles, who moved 30+ sacks to a variety of corners in this woodland space :)

Having completed the shifting and the heaving much quicker than anticipated, everyone moved quickly to emptying the 'hoggin', and it really did create firm, attractive, and permeable surfaces!

Thank you so much, everyone! You did a huge and wonderful amount!

6 GoodGymers enjoyed the sunset hour last night!

We started in the sun and ended in the dusk, and we made a healthy difference along the way 😊

A happy trio – Lilan, Steve, and Alex – kicked open the evening with a conversation-filled (books, misinformation, moral panics..!) run to Kentish Town.

Where they met another happy trio – Alison, John, and Lydia – who’d each arrived by foot from different corners of Camden.

Our home for the evening was Cressfield Close Sheltered Housing, where a special community lives and a beautiful garden grows.

Alison and Lydia got to green-fingered business in a flash, taking tools and bags to a garden (belonging to a very kind resident) that needed a proper trim. And trim it they did. Three bags and 60 minutes later, everything looked spacious again.

Meanwhile, Lilan, John, and Steve joined the Ivy League. This creeper had wrapped itself around a wall, a tree, and a resident’s garden. Not that it could match the skills of this hard-working troupe 😊

Thank you, everyone! You all did a huge amount! Here’s to next time!

In mid-August heat 10 wonderful GoodGymers caught a lovely evening in Kentish Town!

Cressfield Close is an unassuming cul-de-sac — houses and quiet — and yet hiding special community spaces!

There's the city farm — with goats and guinea pigs and sheep and more — and there's also the sheltered housing, which was our home for the evening :)

This lovely group — Alex, Alison, Claire (on their first Camden good deed – great to meet you!), Danny, Jackie, Jessica (on their first good deed — welcome!), John, Lydia, and Steve — were welcomed by residents Marie and Michael, and we got quickly to our evening work.

The communal garden is a bountiful space (fruits, vegetables, and flowers aplenty) and we were tasked with targeting the thistles and weeds that have sprung over the summer.

Armed with trowels and forks, this group donned gloves and made light work of everything — and all while connecting and sharing stories :)

Thank you, everyone! See you soon!!

7 wonderful GoodGym folk made light work of a balcony clear-out!

Tottenham Court Road hummed its usual bustle as our group – of Helen, Jackie, Lydia, Siobhan, and Steve – climbed through the American International Church's magnificent doors.

We were there to meet the AIC's brilliant community engagement aficionado – and fellow GoodGymer – Brooke, who had a perfectly-shaped task for GoodGym!

The balcony is suspended above the church hall and it's filled with the usual – pews, books, community notices – as well as the less usual – an eclectic assortment of chairs, random poles, fun-looking toys, and more!

We were there to move the excess items down the three flights to the basement, across the church's underbelly, and out to the side entrance ready for collection and recycling!

Cue this team kicking into the most efficient (and happy) human chain I've ever witnessed – they picked, carried, passed, and repeated – onlookers marveled, removal companies trembled, and the loot was moved and tidily organised in 45 swift minutes!

Thank you so much, everyone! Here's to next time!