Is this a bit tardy in its publication? YES. Would Raymond ordinarily have already sent me a reminder and a gentle ribbing? TOO RIGHT.

So many of us came together last Saturday morning at Walthamstow Parkrun for a GoodGym takeover, to celebrate and remember Raymond/Ramon/Ray as he was variously known, who we lost so sadly and suddenly just before Christmas, on 18th December.

There was a huge turnout, despite the freezing 🥶 weather, reflective of how much he was loved, with close family and friends from all areas of his life coming together. Ably run-directed by the lovely Louise, and I have no doubt that Raymond would have loved seeing his son start the runners off, which he did with aplomb.

And SO many Goodgymers! Thank-you Ruby for organising, and Saj, and many more. A full complement of GG marshals, time keepers, barcode scanners. Not just from GG Waltham Forest, oh no. You see, not only was Ramon an active member of GGWF (let’s be honest, Raymond WAS GGWF!), he did so many GG tasks for other branches too. Particularly solo missions for isolated people in all of Waltham Forest, Redbridge, Hackney, Harringey, Tower Hamlets, Islington, and probably more. He wasn’t flashy, he just got on with it, including what he was able to do during COVID. Like it says on his GG Page “Just me…No Dramas”.

He was a friend to many, enormously perceptive and kind, being quietly or completely not quietly (😊) supportive when required! He had a wicked sense of fun, and he never turned down a challenge to construct the most outlandish random outfits while rummaging through and organising charity donations 🦸🏾‍♂️.

Thanks to GG Ivofor coming (always a pleasure), Latoyafrom @GoodGymHaringey , and so many others who were lucky enough to have known Ramon, and had the opportunity to “do good” alongside him.

It was truly wonderful meeting some special people in Ramon’s life, and having a good chin wag while being the Tail Walker and sharing memories of him.

It wouldn’t have been Walthamstow Parkrun without some cake 🍰 at the end, and then off to the local greasy spoon, as I am sure Ramon would agree, was only right and proper.

Farewell lovely Raymond. Please consider making a donation in his name to one of the 3 excellent charities on the flyer. Thank-you.

Off the rails!

Three Goodgymers from Waltham Forest went to Traid charity shop to help them with a store refurb. Ramon, Ruby and Charlotte ran varying distances (Ramon and Ruby definitely ran furthest) and met at Traid on the High Street to help the team do a big spring clean and rotate their stock for the new season. They helped take the clothes from the rails to be packed in huge cardboard boxes, so the store could be cleaned, displays and rails could be moved around, and new stock could be put out. They also helped move some big boxes of shoes (Ramon found a pair he liked!) The trio made short work of the task and by 7pm had put on their running shoes (not the ones from the charity shop) and headed off into the night.

What a lovely evening for this week's task!!!

Charlotte, Tony and Julia met in the churchyard and after initial faffing with getting the keys Julia opened up the storage room to get the tools and summer bulbs.

We were planting these alongside a fence by the road so that the flowers can provide a splash of colours for passers by in the future.

Soon after Saj and Ray arrived and also got stuck in with the planting.

After half an hour we moved onto the second (improvised) task of clearing the Greem Alkanet which whilst looks pretty can really take over the land! This was a very satisfying task and Ray really got into his raking with great clearing results!

Well done to everyone for coming along - great social banter as usual!

What a lovely warm evening for a spot of weeding, clearing and chatting!

We met directly at the session for some needed maintenance around the church - Jamie from the church met us there and offered a cuppa! Which was lovely:)

We then cleared a couple of areas of ivy, weeds and rubbish so that the spring flowers can really shine!

It was banter-central (as usual) and such a wellbeing boost from laughter!

Great work everyone and until next week!

Crikey this was a rainy session!!!

It all started well before the session - Tony and Julia got caught in the torrential rain and hailstone crazyness of biblical proportions!!! So both arrived at Greenleaf very much soaked to the bones:)

Everyone else decided to 'skip the rain' and come straight to the St Mary's church task directly. Nice try! but you can't fight the weather:)

Our task was to move a pile of rubble from one place to another and clear up a couple of tombs from Ivy that looks pretty but is really damaging as it can crack the strongest of marbles!

We started with a nice little session of circuits with jumping jacks, tricep dips, press ups and lunges that we rotated around. The weather was really nice but it pretty much started to rain straight away and as if by plan Saj's 'mum called' so he 'had to go and hide under the tree':)

It was a nice surprise to see Matthew come by as well and help out with the gardening task!

We had lots of banter the summary of which cannot be repeated in writing and we found a lovely little froggy, which Helen skillfully used to come up with a nicely punny report title!