Volunteering at Hackney Night Shelter

Volunteering at Hackney Night Shelter

It was a sunshine Sunday and the turnout didn’t disappoint—49 spirited young runners lined up for action, guided by the ever-steady Mas, who delivered yet another five-star performance at the helm. GoodGym pros Nicolas, Sarah, and Rue obliged with marshalling, cheering, and high-fiving with gusto.

Before any trainers hit the trail, a well-deserved shoutout was given to Daisy, Joel, and Zachary, who have wrapped up months of tireless volunteering as part of their Duke of Edinburgh Award. Between barcode scanning, timing, token sorting, funnel managing, token issuing, and warm up leading they’ve had a go at nearly every role—a true captain’s innings all round!

With thank-yous delivered and smiles all around, our athletes burst off the line. JP led the charge for the girls with a blister pace that none could hold. Khean showed incredible speed at the front of the boys’ pack. Clearly someone’s been working on those fast-twitch fibres!

There was a buzz of excitement among familiar faces, and great to see Cece, Leo, Maeva, Peggy, Raf, and Thia return for their second visit to London Fields —while Clementine, James, Jessie, Felix, and Louie made their grand debuts to hearty cheers from parents and pals alike.

As always, the true spirit of the event was on full display: early finishers lining the course end to support the rest of the crew, until Noa brought it home with that final determined dash. A warm round of applause all around, and then it was time to pack up the poles, cones, flags, and the rest – it was a wrap.

Big thanks to Mas for the top-tier leadership—here’s to more foot-powered magic next week!

Volunteering at Hackney Night Shelter

We were back on Stoke Newington Common, giving the young trees their weekly drink - very much needed after the temperatures we've had of late.

With the new Two-Team System in place, the group whipped round the common with their canisters and cart, keeping the little whips and saplings (and some slightly older trees too) alive for another week.

This weeks innovation - using a tree guard to aid the decanting of water from a large (heavy) cannister into smaller (lighter) cannisters.

As the crowds descended on Glasto and the musical giants took to their respective stages, the GoodGym faithful headed back to the Pembury Estate where there was a new delivery of soil - or Earth(a) - to shift, as Van Morrison might say, 'from the dark end of the street to the bright side of the road'.

Joining the merry band of GoodGymers for the first time was Aida and 'Associate GoodGymmer', Tom, recruited by former band-member Louise - currently on tour and sadly unable to be with us today. Orchestrator, Anne, was also on hand along with regular collaborators Maria and her daughter from the estate.

The group put in a solid 2 hour performance, building a great rap-port with their appreciative audience, and showing unwaivering dedication to hothouse plants and flowers waiting to 'move on up' to the planters. Their gig finished with a single encore - filling barrows one final time to get the next planter started. Far from being one-hit wonders, these GoodGoodNotBadGymers are Megastars and will be filling arenas - or at least planters - again very soon.