12 incredibly haaawwwwt Goodgymmers donned head torches and smiles as they lent a hand at Chapmans Green

Kudos Corner

Everybody make some noise for Beth, Ellie, and Gina who joined us for their first ever Goodgym task and were absolute naturals. They didn't skip a beat and got stuck right in into the evening shenanigans. Rock stars! You can all come again....

... which is exactly what Super James did tonight, returning for his second task ever in row, despite the GGH motley crew's best attempts to scare him away the previous week. Hero!

We also welcomed Mehmet for his first run with us. As the legend that he is, he fitted right in.

Shovel-ready

Our audacious and bodacious crew turned up at Chapmans Green as the last of the day's light was slipping through their fingers but they didn't let that deter them. Oh no! The Friends of Chapmans Green awaited them with a mission to dig out the tree wells in the orchard so the lovely trees can get a good feed ahead of the cold days of winter. With a clear mission in front of them, our Goodgymmers began working like hank marvin honey badgers.

Monster. Monster. Monster. Monster. Monster. Monster. Monster. Monster. Monster. Monster. Monster. Monster. Task. Monster. Monster. Monster. Monster. Monster. Monster.* #NoContext

The Friends group had conservatively put red rings around 4 of the 13 trees in the community orchard and you can see why - the ground was hard, harder than explaining to your friendly Area Activator how to use TikTok without crying in frustration. Nevertheless, our heroes cracked on with gusto and not too much complaining, and we ended up finishing the evening having prepped not four but six trees, ready for a good protein milkshake drink or whatever it is thhat they're getting ahead of the winter months.

The Friends were so impressed that they asked us to come back in a couple of weeks and who are we to say no to such lovely folk, eh?

A good successful night, if I say so myself.

Join us on Weds as we visit Russell Park in Wood Green for a spot of park gate painting.

*You had to be there for that one to make sense. Sorry!

On this slightly chilly September evening Mark was the first to arrive at Blue House Yard, welcoming newcomer James. They were soon joined by Paul, Veronika, and eventually Sarah. It was a short and social run from there to Wolves Lane, where Ed had already taken credit for being the first to arrive.

Wolves Lane is a particular favourite for Goodgym Haringey, as it was the scene of our very first group run. A lot has changed at the site since then, and recently three new buildings have gone up. We were greeted by task owner Alistair, who has worked there for 18 years so had even more stories to tell. We were soon set to work shifting mulch to a spot outside, and watering plants in the Black Rootz polytunnel and the cactus house.

Today's team was so efficient the task was completed in record time, so we had time to flick through Alistair's photo album of the site before ducking into the Palm House to visit the carp and terrapins.

On a classic drizzly autumn evening, with our fearless leader off-duty, I did my best to uphold the good name of GoodGym (no pressure, right?).

We kicked things off with a bit of DIY — assembling some planks into a raised bed.

Then Mark, Sarah, Julie, and I got stuck into the real fun: shovelling, wheelbarrowing, and tipping load after load of wood chip into place like pros.

Just when we thought we were done, we were sent... to the bad place. Yes, the compost heap — the stuff of rancid, smelly nightmares.

But! Turns out we were being a bit over dramatic. This time it was far less pongy than a couple of weeks ago! So we bravely shovelled barrow after barrow of the wormy mush into the new raised bed.

Just as we finished up, the rain returned right on cue — like nature’s version of a mic drop.