Barnsbury Square Gardens
56 GoodGymers have supported Barnsbury Square Gardens with 9 tasks.
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Previous sessions
Don't Break a Rake! Take a Break!
Monday 7th April
Written by Simon Fitzmaurice
Goodgym Islington returned to Barnsbury Square Gardens for the first time in 2025 on Monday evening. Area Activator Simon met wit local resident gardener Lucy (who had installed a sign at the main entrance to invite us in) and made a start on a big task.
Our objective was to break up a large stretch of exposed soil in the middle of the park with spades and rakes- an area free of grass. The intention was to turn over the hard packed soil to allow aeration and water to filter into the ground, promoting more worms and wildlife to come and keep the soil healthy before Summer begins. Together, Anne, Matt and Simon were taught some great tips for effective digging through very hard soil (thanks Lucy), and did a excellent job turning soil and raking debris to keep the space tidy. Meanwhile, Emily took charge of plant watering duties, and wandered the whole park, making sure that all the flower beds were suitably hydrated (especially during this seasonal heat!).
Well done everyone. See you at Elizabeth House Food Hub next week!
GOODGYM ISLINGTON NEWS
SESSIONS IN APRIL
Community Mission- Barnsbury Square Gardens 7.15pm, Barnsbury Square Gardens Monday 7th April
https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/community-mission-friends-of-barnsbury-square-gardens
Group Run- Elizabeth House Food Hub 6.15pm (early start), Arsenal Community Hub Monday 14th April
https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/group-run-elizabeth-house-food-hub-6-15-pm-start-easter-special
Community Mission- Timbuktu Adventure Playground 7.15pm, Timbuktu Adventure Playground, 31 Grenville Road Monday 21st April
https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/community-mission-timbuktu-adventure-playground
Group Run- Highbury Quadrant Estate 6.45pm, Arsenal Community Hub Monday 28th April
https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/group-run-highbury-quadrant-green-space-garden-maintenance
Community Mission- Sunnyside Community Gardens 7.15pm, Sunnyside Community Gardens, Monday 5th May
Group Run- Sunnyside Community Gardens 6.45pm, Arsenal Community Hub, Monday 12th May
https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/group-run-sunnyside-community-gardens-composting
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Achilles International VI Guide Running Sessions
Every Thursday, 6pm, Various London locations
On Thursday evenings, the all abilities sports charity Achilles International holds a group run session at a London location.
Here is a list of our upcoming events and sign up pages. Runners, supporters and guides of all abilities and experiences welcome!
Stratford Olympic Park Thursday 10th April https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/come-and-guide-run-with-achilles-international-olympic-park-stratford-route-d35d794a-d813-4cb4-ba66-13782bb31631
Emirates Stadium Thursday 17th April https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/come-and-guide-run-with-achilles-international-emirates-stadium-a04b2b49-dfb1-46c1-93b8-b4be751fa9f7
Paddington Rec Track Thursday 24th April https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/come-and-guide-run-with-achilles-international-paddington-rec-track-807ac766-ce7f-4496-8589-c8023e7fa0cc
Green Park Thursday 1st May https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/come-and-guide-run-with-achilles-international-green-park-summer-session-f62d4df4-cda9-44bc-a79f-d3cf33e87cd3
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Goodgym x Friday Night Lights: FNL Festival
Friday 18th April, 10am - late, Battersea Park
On Friday 18th April (Good Friday bank holiday) GoodGym will be supporting the Friday Night Lights Couch to 50k festival at Battersea Park. There will be lots of tasks to be done from setting up a gazebo, collecting donated shoes to be recycled, supporting festival games and even a bit of running if you'd like. It should be a really fun day!
By signing up you'll also get access to the Festival for the day, chill out with the music and entertainment, and access some of the runs happening.
Morning: https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/goodgym-at-the-friday-night-lights-festival-morning-session
Evening: https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/goodgym-at-the-friday-night-lights-festival-afternoon-session
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Track and Towpath Social Running Sessions
Every Wednesday (fortnightly), 7.30am, Mile End Athletics Track
If you are looking for accessible training sessions that can be included in your schedule, then come and join Area Activator Simon for his fortnightly runs.
Track training is always more fun with others, and these are designed to be sociable and open to all!
Structured training sessions, followed by refreshments at The Yurt Café, Limehouse!
Wednesday 16th April
https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/track-towpath-morning-social-track-session-mile-end-8
Wednesday 30th April
https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/track-towpath-morning-social-track-session-mile-end-9
Wednesday 14th May
https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/track-towpath-morning-social-track-session-mile-end-10
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Elizabeth House Food Hub- Lunchtime Sweep Up Task!
Tuesday 8th April, 12.45 - 1.15pm, Elizabeth House
On Tuesday afternoons, during term time, the team at Elizabeth House Food Hub have requested for an extra pair of hands to help with cleaning and tidying up their donation centre.
Expect some satisfying sweeping and surface cleaning to assist this busy team!
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Green Guardians Spring Sessions
The Garden Classroom, Newington Green
Wednesday 23rd April
Wednesday 30th April
Wednesday 7th May
Wednesday 14th May
Wednesday 21st May
Next session:
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Market Road Gardens
Tuesday 22nd April
Tuesday 29th April
Tuesday 6th May
Tuesday 13th May
Tuesday 20th May
Next Session:
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Compton Terrace Gardens- Volunteer Session
Saturday 12th April, 10am - 1pm, Union Chapel, Islington
A smashing community mission for those partaking in Highbury Fields or Finsbury parkrun on a Saturday morning!
A friendly gardening group started to look after the park about 10 years ago. We are always looking for more help - with planting, mulching, pruning, and all the other things a garden needs.
Everyone welcome, no special skills needed! Lots of fresh air and a nice chance to meet local people. We meet once a month on a Saturday morning near the shed in the middle of the Gardens.
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Friends of Canonbury Square- Volunteer Morning (April)
Saturday 19th April, 10am - midday, Canonbury Square Gardens
The Friends of Canonbury Square Gardens host an open community gardening session on the 3rd Saturday morning of every month.
Usual tasks would include bulb planting, trimming, laying compost, maintaining flower beds and litter picking.
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Penn Road Gardens - April Volunteer Day Sunday 27th April, 10am - midday, Penn Road Gardens Every last Sunday of the month, the residents of Penn Road invite keen volunteers to help with maintaining this lovely community spot just off Holloway Road. https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/penn-road-gardens-open-morning-april-eca3427e-f335-4bd4-8c90-aa709fe9cf8b
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Camino Ultra - The London 100 - Aid station supporters at Queen Mother's Sports Centre, Victoria
Saturday 10th May, 6am - 12 midnight (flexible), Queen Mother’s Sports Centre, Victoria
London 100 is Central London's ultramarathon. With 3 challenge distances (100km, 50km, and 25km), the event has distances for experienced ultramarathoners, and for those stepping up from marathons or half marathons.
From a superb indoor Central London race HQ, four 25km routes explore north, south, east and west of the capital.
As part of the event, the amazing Camino crew are seeking volunteers to help tired runners throughout the day.
As there will be be 4 different running distances in action, the team would hugely appreciate helpers who can arrive throughout the morning, afternoon or evening.
https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/camino-ultra-london-100km-aid-station-support
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Hackney Half Aid Station and Marshal Volunteering
Sunday 18th May, 7am onwards, Marion Place, Pritchard's Road (TBC)
The team at Motiv Sport have asked if our Goodgym team would be interested assisting with the 2024 Hackney Half Marathon on one of the 6 water and aid stations.
All volunteers that help in 2025 are offered a free place in any of our running events in 2026 (Hackney Half, London 10K, Oxford Half).
https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/hackney-half-aid-station-and-marshal-volunteering
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Mack on Track 02: marshals and pacers wanted!
Thursday 22nd May, 6.30pm, London Marathon Community Track, Stratford
Mack on Track is a super inclusive 5000m track running event, with a twist. The objective is to help as many runner as possible get (or come close to) their personal beats for 5km by providing trusted pacers to do so.
The team are looking for helps to assist with registration of participants, alerting runners about when each pace group starts and cheering on the athletes!
https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/mack-on-track-03-marshals-and-pacers-wanted
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London 10km with Saucony- Water Station Volunteers!
Sunday 13th July, 7.30am onwards, Carlton House Terrace, SW1Y 5AH
An incredible event that offers runners to opportunity to race through traffic free streets in the Capital!
Motiv Sports (who also operate the Hackney Half and Oxford Half marathons) have requested Goodgym assistance to help at their 2nd aid station on the day.
Food and water provided, and a free entry for any 2026 event on the Motiv Sports roster will be offered to all volunteers!
Digging that strut
Monday 14th December 2020
Written by Simon Fitzmaurice
8 Goodgymmers braved the soggy weather (but actually unseasonably warm temperatures) on Monday evening at the Barnard Park Adventure Playground. Our crew included Kathleen and Jack participating in their first community missions.
Sarah, the volunteer coordinator for Awesome CIC (who run a collection of adventure playgrounds across London) directed us to a collection of shovels and rakes laid out across the playground. Our main objective was to dig holes by the main struts of the play apparatuses to check if the wood is safe, solid and most importantly, not rotted. It is a huge job for a small team, so 8 extra pairs of hands is certainly appreciated!
Eilidh and Jack also helped with clearing the main open play space (used for football and sports games) of leaves, fallen branches and mud. Anything which could be a slip hazard for school children and youth club visitors.
By the end of the session, the weather improved, layers were removed due to hard work and 9 holes were digged up, checked and filled in again. Smashing effort everyone- well done!
Rakers got to rake, rake, rake, rake, rake...
Monday 12th October 2020
Written by Simon Fitzmaurice
10 Goodgymmers braved a cold, wet and windy evening last night to help the Awesome CIC crew with a big task at Barnard Park Adventure Playground. The team on the site have been very busy maintaining the space for the return of school children and after-school groups, and have requested our assistance over the next few weeks.
Continuing our progress for a few weeks ago, our crew grabbed shovels, spades, forks and rakes, and made their way to the massive zip line. We then started piling woodchip into the crash pad, to form a nice soft landing for the playground users. The tricky part of the task involved moving the woodchip evenly across the area, rather than dumping it in just one spot, so we were required to walk the bark chippings to the top of the crash pad to allow Aidan, Abi and Dom to rake and shift the chippings across the space (the wheelbarrow owned by Awesome CIC was sadly vandalised).
As we came to the end of our task, the massive pile of woodchip started to look tantalisingly manageable, and there was a definite unspoken push to complete the task within the hour! Our team suddenly sped up, and chippings seemed to disappear into the crash pad at an alarming rate! By the time we finished, the woodchip pile was almost completely gone, with just a few bits of debris remaining. A stunning effort- well done everyone!
A trip to Barnard Castle... 👓
Monday 28th September 2020
Written by Simon Fitzmaurice
What a lovely autumnal evening for a return to a well loved task location! 5 Goodgym Islington regulars made their way to the Barnard Adventure Playground off Copenhagen Street for a solid session of wood chip shoveling. Aidan and Steve C met up with Trainer Simon at the Packington Gallery Food Bank for a 1-2 mile run to and from the task location. Sam and Marie caught up with us in Barnard Park, just as we met up with Sarah, the manager of the children's play centre.
We grabbed our spades and forks, and got work! About 3 tonnes of wood chip had been deposited near a huge zip line, and we topped up the main playing area with loads of extra padding. It was still fresh and warm, and very satisfying to scoop up and transfer! Marie, Sam and Steve took on the main digging role, while Aidan and Trainer Simon tried to deposit the bark evenly across the crash pad.
An excellent 45-50 minute workout between us- we certainly put in a cracking effort tonight, and to a good chunk out of this tough job! We will be back again next week for more adventure tasks, so watch this space!
Barnsbury Barnstormers
Saturday 18th July 2020
Written by Simon Fitzmaurice
7 green fingered Goodgymmers (and a space dog called Laika) braved a very warm summers day to help out at Barnsbury Square Gardens.
Many of our team were meeting each other for the first time since the start of lockdown, so we made time to have a solid catch-up while we worked!
Lucy, (one of the Friends of Barnsbury Square) offered our crew a collection of forks and spades, and we set about loosening the dried up soil around the park, to prepare the ground for future planting. Fortunately, we were able to find cover under shady trees to avoid the glaring afternoon sun!
After a solid hour of hard graft, we packed up tools, said "Goodbye" to Lucy and Laika, and a few of us enjoyed a post-task refreshment at the Draper's Arms down the road. A successful Saturday for all!
These roots were made for forking
Monday 17th June 2019
Written by Paul Bown
26 Goodgymers ran 4-5k to help Barnsbury Square Gardens and Single Homeless Project!
Welcome along to newbies Poppy, Nikul, Rachel, Nicoletta and Sam - great to have you along!
In the news this week:
- Make sure you get signed up for the GoodGym Olympics (3rd August) by the end of June! Full details here, represent Islington!
- Join the unofficial GoodGym Facebook group here.
This week GoodGym is partnered with the Great Get Together, a scheme which was started by Jo Cox's family and friends to bring us more together, we have more common than we do apart. Everyone joined in with the wristbands and stickers, and hopefully spoke to someone new over the evening.
Barnsbury Square Gardens Report by Aidan:
A lovely sunny day for a trip to Barnsbury Square Gardens. Lucy was ready, waiting for us and eager to get started! Several tasks for us to take on tonight. The gardens are loved by the local community but sadly that means the grass has to take a pounding and as it is clay based soil the gardens can dry up easily. Helpful then that we had plenty of forks so we can loosen the ground and free up the ground.
Also plenty of leaves to pick up which clears the soil to get much needed rainfall. To finish off, their beautiful flower beds need edging to frame their gloriousness.
Lovely running
Some lovely gardens with plenty of great dogs, worth a visit! Fun fact there are two air raid shelters underneath the centre ground. Graham led us back with eager Steve offering up an extra 1km around the Fields.
Single Homeless Project:
Just as we were collected together Regina called to tell me the woodchip had not arrived for the task. There was still plenty of gardening we could do to help this fantastic charity, which provides hostel accommodation to those in need.
After 2k of running we arrived to help Regina, she got us doing the following tasks:
- Two people litter picked through the back and front garden - lots of cigarette butts!
- Four people weeded and tidied the front garden
- Three people tidied the paths in the back garden, putting any woodchip that had overflowed on top of the carboard.
- Three people took on an extremely spikey bush, cutting it back and then digging out the roots.
Once all the above was done we bagged up more weeds and debris, swept up and then took a group picture.
After running home along Holloway Road we did a fartlek session around the Emirates, stretched and went to the pub for pizza and beer.
Sign up here for next week when we'll be helping Caledonian Park and probably Single Homeless Project.
PB out
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