Nikki H
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Doing good since June 2019
15 Month Streak
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Nikki H went on a group run
Mon 3rd Oct 2022 at 6:45pm
Islington Report written by Simon Fitzmaurice
Our Goodgym Islington crew met up at the Arsenal Community Hub under a beautiful sunset this evening, ready for a group run and task at Thornhill Square Gardens. As we warmed up on the Emirates Stadium slopes, we discussed our previous weekend activities- these included watching "The Guilty Feminist" live at the Apollo, visiting the London Zoo, meeting up with grandparents in Dorset and, in John's case, running the London Marathon!
On route, we took a slightly different path to Thornhill Square than usual. Turning at Pankhurst Street, we passed our popular weekend gardening spot, Penn Road Gardens on our way over (volunteer mornings on the last Sunday of every month BTW), and then we enjoyed the downhill slope to Thornhill Square Gardens.
As a team, we all picked our our lights, head torches and gloves as we made our way into Thornhill Square Gardens (passing the 8 neon lit dachunds, terriers and pugs who surround the space!) to meet with the inspiring Anna Mckane. Fresh off the announcement of an award from "Islington In Bloom 2022", the local community were very excited about our return to help with more heavy lifting!
First things, first. Frankie and Katie were given a saw to safely cut down some magnificent old wooden branches, ready to be recycled by larger companies. It was amazing to see the head way they had made in such a short amount of time!
Meanwhile, John and Emily lent their efforts to pulling up some stubborn long grass from one of the prime rose beds near the main pathways. Elsewhere, Natasha, Victoria and Nikki picked up rakes and wheelbarrows, and helped with clearing the walkways around the upper section of the park. Two huge green waste bags were filled in no time, and were then scooted over to a council pick up spot.
With 5 minutes of extra time, our crew then laid some additional wood chippings around the flower beds surrounding the perimeter of the park, to protect the bulbs growing through the winter months.
Anna and the Friends of Thornhill Square Gardens were thrilled with the progress that we made in 45 minutes of active volunteering, and have already started to formulate more tasks for our next visit on 24th October. We parted ways (walking, running and cycling), and AA Simon lead a run group back to The Emirates Stadium. On route, we took a detour to one of Simon's "cat spots", a square inhabited by a collection of friendly neighbourhood felines, who enjoy saying "Hello" to Goodgymmers!
NEWS
Mildmay Community Centre Gardening Fun
This Friday (7th October), Goodgym Islington will be returning to the awesome Mildmay Community Centre passiv haus (a zero carbon footprint project) to help Head Gardener Dominic with their newest local gardening project.
More info can be seen here:
https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/new-date-mildmay-community-centre-gardening-workout
Track Attack Victoria Park Time Trial
On Sunday 9th October (11am onwards), Area Activator Simon will be hosting our monthly time trial event at Victoria Park track.
1 mile and/or 5km distances will be available to run, and we always follow our sessions with coffee, breakfast and a chat!
All paces and abilities are welcome and encouraged- we are social, not competitive!
October Social- Post Group Run Trip to Ãu Laç on Highbury Hill
After our group run to Market Road Gardens next week (Monday 10th October):
https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/group-run-monday-motivation-at-market-road-gardens
We will be heading to the amazing Ãu Laç Vietnamese restaurant on Highbury Hill for delicious soup and noodles, refreshments and good times!
Sign up here to get involved:
https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/october-social-post-run-noodles-and-soups-at-au-l-c
Camino London Ultra- Epping Forest 50km Aid Station
On Saturday 15th October, Area Activator Simon will be helping the super inspiring team from Camino Ultra London with their aid station at Butler's Retreat café in Chingford.
Aid Station volunteers are the heart and soul of long distance racing, and we are super proud to host an official Goodgym water station on the course!
You would so welcome to come and join us, either in the morning and/or the afternoon. Best atmosphere, wonderful people, an excellent example of a running party!
https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/camino-ultra-london-50km-epping-forest-aid-station-party
Nikki H signed up to a group run.
Mon 3rd Oct 2022 at 6:45pm
Joining the lovely resident gardeners at Thornhill Square Gardens for an evening of composting, watering and maintenance
Read moreNikki H went on a group run
Mon 27th Jun 2022 at 6:45pm
Islington Report written by Simon Fitzmaurice
Area Activator Simon caught up with a vast array of new-ish runners and some returning familiar faces outside the Arsenal Community Hub last night (welcome back Caroline and Dharmesh). After a short warm up on the Emirates Stadium slopes, we ran together across Holloway Road, through St Mary Magdalene Church Gardens and through to the entrance of Freightliner's Farm.
Unfortunately, we were greeted with a closed gate and no-one to greet us this time. Between us, we made that decision to continue our run a little be further North, up Holloway Road, and visit Tufnell Park Plant Nursery instead. Frannie and the team from Octopus Community Network have been encouraging our crew to visit as much as possible during these hot Summer months, so an additional 30 minutes of plant watering between 10 active people certainly goes a long way!
Upon our arrival, we found loads of spare watering cans left by the newly constructed pavilion in the park, and were able to use rain water collected from some full water butts to soak the dry flower beds, and to lightly hydrate the tiny bulbs and sprouts in the official green house. We were able to recognise grapes, plums, sweetcorn, rhubarb, rocket, lettuce, onions and much more, all growing extremely well in the current climate.
After plenty of watering and plant soaking, we locked up the nursery for the night, and ran together back to Holloway Road. A few of us made our way to the awesome Victoria Tavern for refreshments, delicious (and affordable!) pizza and Wimbledon coverage.
Nikki H signed up to a group run.
Mon 27th Jun 2022 at 6:45pm
Visiting this amazing city farm in Paradise Park, lending a hand with overall maintenance!
Read moreNikki H went on a group run
Mon 9th May 2022 at 6:45pm
Islington Report written by Simon Fitzmaurice
Perfect running weather on Monday evening- fortunately well timed for our weekly group run from Elizabeth House Food Hub. Area Activator Simon met with Natasha, Josh, Adam, Charlotte and Charlotte (welcome to our first time group runners!) outside the community centre while discussing our busy weekends (Spartan races, Rat Races, White Star OX running relays, travelling Europe and Scandinavia and completing huge web project challenges were all on the cards).
After a dynamic warm-up, our running team made their way over to Thornhill Square Gardens, a 2 mile run up Highbury Hill (past the original Arsenal Stadium building, and through the current Arsenal Stadium), and up MacKenzie Road to Cally Road. Upon our arrival, Thornhill Square Gardens was already full of activity, as Anna, the volunteer coordinator for the Residents of Thornhill Square had found tasks for the rest of our crew.
Nikki, Emily, Adam and Alison were doing a cracking job of tending to a former patch of rose bushes (we had pulled up a lot of these dead bushes in the past- a big job!). Meanwhile, Paul, Natasha and Adam were set to shoveling bark and chipping into wheelbarrows, and evenly spreading the organic material across the flower beds (to refresh the soil and to protect the growing bulbs). Charlotte and Charlotte snipped away at the grass verges surrounding the flower beds to make the gardens look much tidier. Josh was given a mallet and chisel, and helped out with installing new posts and branch barriers for a "dead hedge" around the western side of the gardens. Caitlin had a smashing task of planting some spooky looking "ginger lillies", which are apparently not ginger and not lillies... but they resemble mandrakes. Very satisfying work!
As we wound down our activities for the evening, we separated off into a collection of groups. Emily lead a walking group setting off to The Owl and Hitchhiker pub in Holloway Road for our monthly social. Simon ran back to Elizabeth House with Adam and Josh, who completed a 4.2 mile loop combining some cycling and running on route through quiet back streets. A smashing way to finish off a top task!
News
Night of the 10,000m PBs- volunteer call out!
On Saturday 14th May, Parliament Hill Track will be hosting the Highgate Harriers Night of the 10,000m PBs. This is the premier athletics event of the season- a full party with Europe's top running talents competing for Commonwealth Games qualifiers and international opportunities. It's completely free to the public too!
Highgate Harriers are looking for volunteers to help with manning the barriers on trackside, so you would have the best view of the night! Plenty of perks on offer as well!
For more info, have a look here: https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/night-of-the-10-000m-pbs-friday-set-up-volunteers
Crouch End Open Space (CREOS) Sunday Volunteering Afternoon
We will be returning to CREOS on Sunday 15th May for more awesome forest path building assistance with The Conservation Volunteers and the Friends of CREOS. A classic Goodgym task with lovely local volunteers, often followed by a picnic and a chat!
Sign up here: https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/crouch-end-open-space-creos-volunteering-day-may-2022
Nikki H signed up to a group run.
Mon 9th May 2022 at 6:45pm
New task due to cancellation- Running to help at Thornhill Square Gardens instead!
Read more
Nikki H went on a group run
Mon 11th Apr 2022 at 6:45pm
Islington Report written by Simon Fitzmaurice
On a wonderfully warm Monday evening, Area Activator Simon met up with Toyo, Dominik, Alice, Alex, Katie and Josh at the Elizabeth House Food Hub- welcome to all of our runners going us for the first time! After a swift warm up, we ran approximately 2.2 miles along Gillespie Park Nature Reserve (a lesser known wildlife trail towards Finsbury Park underground station) and up towards Crouch Hill.
Upon our arrival, we were greeted by Frannie from Octopus Community Network, and the rest of our crew who travelled directly to the task from work. Nicolas, Guro, David and Alex were already busy at work with "double digging" the flower beds in Trinity Church, Hornsey Rise (turning over older soil with fresh mulch to refresh the growing space).
The rest of our team picked up wheel barrows, shovels, rakes and hoes, and made our way to the Brickworks Community Centre down the road. From here, 4 of our team (Nikki, Katie, Louise and Emily) started filling up 3 wheelbarrows full of fresh mushroom compost, and delivered the mulch back to Trinity Church. During this time, our crew attempted to make our way into the Brickworks Community Centre to gain access to the upper garden level- this proved more difficult than expected!
Once Frannie had cracked the code, we made our way to the upper garden and collected as much compost and mulch as possible (using trolleys, lifts and careful carrying methods). We brought all the supplies outside, and spread the fresh fertilizer evenly across some lovely growing beds, designed to withstand a wind tunnel between tall buildings. We were even able to carry a super heavy compost bag between 4 of us, and made Frannie's day!
As we made our way to back to the church with our tools, we gave each other a well deserved pat on the back after a solid evening of graft, before we departed our separate ways. Great stuff, folks!
NEWS
Achilles International VI (visually impaired) guide running group session
One of our most established tasks outside of the Islington borough. Area Activator Simon and the Achilles International team have been leading guide running opportunities and links for visually impaired athletes every Thursday evening at 6pm for about 18 months!
We meet up at Maida Vale station at 6pm every Thursday to meet our runners, and then we make our way to Paddington Recreation Ground Track for our running session.
Perfect for guides of all abilities or anyone interested in trying guide running. And we plan to enjoy some refreshments at the Elgin pub afterwards!
Sign up here:
Canonbury Square Gardens Open Volunteer Morning
The resident gardeners of Canonbury Square are hosting an open volunteering morning this Saturday, available for all to get involved! Should be great fun, and a perfect post-parkrun community mission!
https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/friends-of-canonbury-square-volunteer-morning-april
Cally Clocktower Junior parkrun marshalling help for Easter
The lovely folks from Caledonian Park Junior parkrun are looking for more volunteers to help during the difficult Easter Holiday period for their free weekly timed 2km run. Every Sunday, children from the ages of 4-14 years old are allowed to run independently through their local park with the help of local community marshals.
Click here for more information:
Track Attack Easter Sunday Special
Area Activator Simon will be hosting our monthly 1 mile and 5km social running time trial at Victoria Park track this Sunday (starting at 11am). Great fun, and open to runners of all abilities- and always followed by coffee and breakfast!
Sign up here:
https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/track-attack-april-2022-victoria-park-easter-special
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