Tonight's task was a last-minute replacement for a task that fell through. Tonight's task leader Sarah was also a last minute replacement, as Euclides' day was not running to schedule.

The job at hand was to tidy up a tree pit near a flower bed that is looked after by some of the Friends of Elizabeth Place. The flower bed is lovely, and frankly the tree pit was lowering the tone of the neighbourhood.

Fortunately Sarah lives close by so was able to turn up with spare tools, gloves, and a council garden waste bin.

She was the first to arrive at the task. And also the last!

Undeterred, she selected a pair of trusty secateurs from her arsenal and got to work.

It wasn't long before the trim was complete. Sarah packed up her tools, along with an empty can she found in the tree pit, and took everything home, ready for tomorrow's recycling and garden waste collection.

10 Goodgymmers were suckered into lending a hand in Wood Green for a spot of tree maintenance, getting rid of epicormic growths on the plane trees along Lymington Avenue.

Finger-watch Galore

Big up for Maddie, our newbie at this task, who bravely announced she is a professional violinist just as we handed her sharp tools that could cut through fingers. Cue, of course, an evening of very stressful finger-watching. Maddie was a pro and took it all in good spirits. And no fingers were harmed in the making of this report. Phew. You can come again, Maddie.

Blood, Sweat, and Tears

This is a task that we enjoy coming back to every year. As Summer goes on, the suckers on the plane trees in London get a bit out of hand, and we are always happy to lend a hand keeping them under control in this corner of North London. Did you know that London Plane Trees are technically known as plantain trees? No, me neither.

Anyway, while the bulk of our Goodgymmers got on with the task of giving the trees a nice haircut, Neil and Sheril were in charge of a thorough litter pick along the same route. Our litter pickers' conversation was wickedly murderous in their contents which spread through the group like wildfire. So suffice to say it was a lot of fun but probably libellous so unprintable. But it did set us right in the mood for the one bloody incident of the evening when good ol' Gramps failed to spot a very thick and dried up bramble and got a massive cut on his head. Luckily, Latoya jumped into action, got a bunch of splinters out of his noggin, and patched him up real good. Not before giving him a comprehensive telling off, mind. Eeeshka.

Just before 8pm, newbie Maddie made the mistake of saying she was still full of energy, so we all endured a few minutes of wall sits, followed by a session of Sally (iykyk). None of our Goodgymmers even put up a fight, proving that we are all indeed suckers for punishment.

All in all, a lovely evening was had, if i say so myself.

Boom

4 GoodGymers converged on Lordship to get a thorough workout hauling logs

After a brief and somewhat indecisive run from Wood Green (where will we cross Westbury Avenue ? Who knows‽ (I've only been doing this for a decade!)), we met up at Harmony Gardens.

Congratulations to Paul on smashing out a fantastic 10k last weekend. And commiserations to Paul for getting too caught up and booking in for 2 more 10ks in the next few months!

The weeding we did last time has made a big difference. And the chat started with what's fruiting at the moment. Apples, blackberries, and plums all got nibbles as we went round the Rec. No mulberries left in the park, but Mark's got some going still.

The task was hauling some giant logs ¾ the way round the Rec, and into the long grass to make a bug hotel. More bugs means more voles, which means more birds of prey! Very cool.

This was a proper work out. Sarah regretted doing a pump class at lunchtime. And your mild mannered report Dave hoofed some truly enormous bits of dead tree (by making sure he was picking the already super light rotten ones).

The insects didn't seem very grateful with their new home, as the ignored high socks and bug spray aplenty to give a good biting.

Before long 8 o'clock rolled round, and we snuck in one last barrow load, and dashed off!

Mrs. G’s garden hadn’t been tended to for a while so Kareem and Ewa stepped in to help. We spent a little over an hour and half weeding, cleaning up, and removing unwanted/ dried-up plants

By the end, there was a noticeable difference. Mrs G is excited to show her cleaner garden to her friends. Just after we finished the task, we crossed paths with @Darren from the central team! :D

Mrs B has a full length fly screen for a door that opens inward to stop the little bugs flying in during the summer months. During my last visit we determined that the velcro holding the screen in place had lost its adhesion, so Mrs B had got some new velcro, and I in turn arrived with a tube of glue. Conveniently, the screen had been removed this week to allow the windows to be cleaned, so it was a case of doing the DIY on her living room floor.

The challenge was in re-attaching the screen to the externally facing door surround, as pressure needed to be applied from the outside, and there was no way to access the outside once the screen was in place - so I did my best to apply as much pressure as I could on all the velcro strips from inside through the netting (without damaging it), and hoped that would hold.

I asked Mrs B how the screen had originally been attached, but she couldn't remember - we agreed it looked much better and seemed to be holding fine, but that there was a risk of it coming loose if the wind does pick up...

7 Goodgymmers leapfrogged through the streets of Wood Green, leafleting for the incoming Noel Park Summer Festival.

Kudos corner

Big noise for Sheril who joined us for her first task and fitted in like a natural. Come again!

Don't Lose Any Fingers In The Flaps

Our Goodgymmers congregated nice and early in Russell Park to collect a mammoth pile of leaflets to be delivered in Wood Green.

Leading the charge was leafleting-anarchist Julie who straight away set off in regaling us stories of friends losing fingers through letter flaps while trying to get rid of leaflets every which way except actually delivering them.

Latoya, Sheril, and Mark very wisely decided to take the opposite side of the road, while Sarah and Paul had to endure the constant reminders of missing digits.

We bumped into some regulars along the way, and even engaged in a bit of community engagement, trying to drum up some business for the festival.

After around an hour, we had delivered well over 400 leaflets in this very warm evening. Probably even 450 if we count the ones Julie put through Paul's letterbox. (Jokes)

No fingers were harmed in the making of this report.

IT'S OUR BIRTHDAY NEXT WEEK - COME!