6 Goodgymmers crushed the hills of North London on a chilly night to offer a hand to the wonderful Cranwood Homeless Shelter. 

Cranwood is packed with guests during lockdown and they are trying to free up more space to accomodate them more comfortably. And that's where we came in!

Last night, we were helping them transform a conservatory currently used for storage into a much-needed basement dining room.

Our Goodgymmers first made easy work of some very heavy lifting, moving anything and everything that wasn't clothing or bedding out of the conservatory and there was a lot! Big heavy TVs, radiators, boxes packed full of DVDs, even a ping pong table - you name it, it was probably in there.

Not content with the arms workout, our next job was moving out all the bedding and storing it on the bedding cupboard, 2 floors up! So. Many. Steps. But our Goodgymmers took it in good spirits and within the hour, and far too many trips up to stairs to keep count, we had left the conservatory a long way closer to becoming a dining hall. 

But you know the thing about stairs - they are always up to something, just like us at GGH. So it was time to say goodbye and we all ran into the night, grateful that most of our ways home were downhill.

Don't forget to give our #Haringopoly a try. 

Stay safe <3

Soundtrack to tonight's report - lyrics below for your consideration

Gramps's in the basement

Catching up on oxygen

GGH on the pavement

Staring in full wonderment

The man with the blue bag

thanking Zeus

he ain't got a bad cough

Wants to get it paid off

Look out K

It's the burpees you did

God knows when

But you're doing'em again

You better duck down the alley way

Lookin' for a new friend

A man in the coonskin cap, down in the basement

Wants eleven burpees, you only got ten....

Aaaaaaanyway..... This is the story of the GG that went up a hill and came down a mountain

11 Goodgymmers met at the Cranwood Homeless Shelter to help them sort out the basement level, which they're getting ready to welcome new guests.

But in order to get there it is an inescapable truth that no matter which way you go, you're gonna have to pay the hill tax. Some of our Goodgymmers ran there together, others ran solo, some cycled - but all of them had something in common: the warm glow of the big fat hill sweats. Anyway, do good, get fit, right?

Jacek from Cranwood welcomed us with opened arms and took us to the basement where not one but two mountains of clothes awaited us. We were tasked with transporting them to a different part of the building so the rooms could be transformed into bedroom.

And we transported those mountains, let me tell you.

Not only that, but we sorted them, folded them, and piled them as much as we could. We also cleaned and hoovered the now empty bedrooms so Jacek and the team can get on with turning them into 5 Star rooms for the esteemed guests.

What's that coming over the hill? Is it a good job well done or what? Boom!

Time for photos was made, as well as elbow tippy tappy shenanigans and then because this lot are gluttons for punishment, a bunch of them agreed to run back down the hill with me! Scenes!

Next week, fun times at Tottenham Green - it'd be almost rude if you don't join us! :)

8 soggy Goodgymmers had some good, old fashioned clean fun helping the Cranwood Homeless Shelter last night .

Kudos Central

Shout out to Kate who joined us for her maiden GGH run, and for our very own Ke-on who is moving on to pastures new - you'll be missed, come and visit anytime.

Also, special mentioned for Ke-on, Nurjehan, Kate, Sarah, Natasha, and Kapil who all ran a cool 4K in the rain from Wood Green to the task. They didn't even complain about the very hilly bits. 

Another One Fights The Dust

The good folk at Cranwood Homeless Shelter recently received the good news that they could continue using the building in Muswell Hill for the foreseeable future (having expected to vacate by the end of August) so GGH celebrated the good news by coming over and helping them give the place a proper clean!

Our 8 Goodgymmers arrived energised and jumped into action without wasting any time. One sub-team swam their way through a sink flooded with dirty dishes as they cleaned the kitchen; another sub-team got on with leaving the laundry room squeaky clean; and yet another team was in charge of leaving the dining room spotless.

With some vacuum cleaning here, and some bleach wiping there; some mopping here, and some elbow greasing there, these three teams worked in unison, leaving the place lovely and fresh.

There was even some time for some cupboard sorting as well. Good times!

Look out for our community mission next week - it's meant to be a nice, sunny week so trying to arrange something outdoorsy to make the most of the sun.

16 festive Goodgymmers visited the homeless shelter at Cranwood Hub and hosted a full chicken roast dinner for the guests. They even attempted to sing!

A GG Haringey Christmas Carol

Noisy night, crazy night,

All is hectic, all's alright,

'Round yon Grandpa whose worries piled

as GG Haringey rampages wild

Sleep in heavenly peas

Sleep in heavenly peas.

Noisy night, crazy night!

Chicken roast, oh what a sight!

Christmas crackers, who needs caviar;

When GG Haringey hosts ya!

Peas and potatoes galore!

Peas and potatoes galore!

Noisy night, crazy night,

we tried singing, it wasn't quite right

didn't matter, our hearts full of grace,

murdered Last Christmas, but who cares

T'was a Goodgym Haringey night

T'was a Goodgym Haringey night

Happy Holidays!

What a wonderful night we had at the homeless shelter in Cranwood Hub last night. We cooked a chicken roast for all 14 guests, some of whom joined us in the dining room as the GG Haringey Christmas Choir regaled them with some truly earth-shattering performances of all your Christmas classics. What way to end the year!

And it's been a massive year for Goodgym , reaching it 10th year milestone, and for us at the GG Haringey - although it's been a period of surviving the new management (!) - I think I can speak for most of us in Haringey to say we have had a magnificent time embedding ourselves into our community that we love so dearly and being able to help in whatever small way we can to make it a better place for all of us.

We head onto a new decade and we face uncertain times perhaps, but as long as there are foodbanks that need stocking, gardens that need pruning, homeless shelters that need torturing by carol singing, community centres that need painting... our red t-shirted Goodgymmers will continue pacing the streets of Haringey, trying to do our bit. We can't wait to get going again.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from all of us at Goodgym Haringey!

Festive Boom!

Our wonderful kitchen crew (Jody, Julie, Neil, Rita and myself) arrived over an hour ahead of Goodgym Haringey's last group run of the year to the Cranwood Homeless Shelter in Muswell Hill.

Since the shelter doesn't have an oven or a stove, I cooked a chicken roast for over 30 people at home and transported all the food to the shelter where the kitchen crew warmed it all up heroically using only a microwave and a crock-pot!

By the time the GG Haringey lot arrived, our kitchen crew had food at the ready for the task ahead!

Boom

We had a lovely evening visiting the wonderful folk at All People All Places (APAP) and we loved it so much we broke the 20 GoodGymmers mark for the first time in years. Boom!

First Stop: Kudos Central

Everybody make some noise for Kristina, Eve, and Luc who all shined last night during their GGH debut. Amazing!

Next Stop: We Will, We Will Mop You

One by one, our intrepid goodgymers made their way up the very very steep hills that led to our one-off rendezvous at the Muswell Hill Roundabout.

We made our way to the homeless shelter where Conor and Duncan from APAP welcomed us with open arms and a multitude of tasks. Good thing there were plenty of us to go around!

Some of us gave the kitchen a good scrub and left it looking spotless; some of us cleared a couple of rooms, moving some tools and bit and bobs to a different floor; some of us hoovered and mopped the main hall; there was bed airing, shelf-making, we even managed to get ourselves trapped in a stairwell for a while!

We crammed ourselves into the main hall for a quick fitness session, where a misguided attempt at a burpee game was followed by a more appropriate suggestion from Latoya and Louise to play Sally Said Sit Down. Everyone loved it - LOVED IT - and it's sure to become a GGH regular*.

By the time we left, the APAP folk were a bit dizzy at the energy and general get-on-with-it-ness of our Goodgymmers and I was a proud trainer.

We then ran down the hill and through awesome Ally Pally into Wood Green for our social but we got unlucky trying to find anywhere with an open kitchen so some of us got hangry and tried to put me in a bin.

It was an ace night.

Next week we're doing a bit of leafleting and playing for the very first ever GGH Scavenger Hunt Cup. I really think you should join us!

Peace.

*I'm allowing myself some poetic license here, regarding the level of love towards the game or amount of goodwill towards Latoya and Louise in the room afterwards :)