6 Goodgymmers did their best to literally put on the Ritz in Russell Park last night as they brought down an unsteady bug hotel then rebuilt it to a much safer spec in a kid's playground. Boom!

You Can Check Out Any Time You Like...

As the good folk at Noel Park Big Local get ready for the grand opening of their new playground this Saturday, they requested our help in securing a bug hotel that had been built with some questionable foundations and was presenting a risk in the brand new playground.

Our Goodgymmers, armed with gloves and boundless enthusiasm, got on with the task at once. Niamh, making her glorious return, took it upon herself to rally the troops with her inimitable style - in other words, the evening was dominated by innuendos about drilling and enjoying a good Bosch™. You were greatly missed, Niamh <3 And many thanks for today's musical pun.

Dave even found time to take a factory-sized broom to the outside of the playground and swept a small mountain of leaves to prepare the area for some power-washer action that will happen later this week, much to Julie 'I love power tools and putting people in bins' Fisher's chagrin.

After an hour, a much more steady and secure abode had been constructed for our our friends of the bug persuasion and the new playground looked in amazing shape for this weekend, if we say so ourselves.

Boom!

6 Goodgymmers swept the evening cold vibes under the carpet as they imbibed into a good spot of the GG classic that is leaf sweeping.

Alas, Poor Dave

Dave and Jack met Gramps at BHY for a nice run to Russell Park, where we had been summoned for a bit of path maintenance as the leaves were making the area particularly slippery.

We were joined at task by Paul and Veronika at first, while Latoya went into her regular Wood Green walkabout as she looked for Russell Park. Reader, it wasn't the first time, and rest assured, it won't be the last!

Once we were together, we got on with the job at hand, most of us struggling a bit under the cover of darkness - except for Veronika who seemed to have developed an allergy to the light from my portable lamps. Hmm.

Before you knew it, we were nearly done so Jack and Veronika even had a bit of time to do a bit of weeding some wild garlic out of one of the flowerbeds in Floyde's Garden.

We all then headed back home/ BHY while Latoya rolled out the extremely impressive list of races she's running this year. Let's just hope none of those are in Russell Park.

Seven Goodgymmers met on a very cold night to do some digging for Laura at Tottenham Green.

To get us ready for bulb planting we did a warm up of some side step squats and fast feet. The dreaded Sally squats did not make a show but there was squatting none the less. This kept us warm far a little whilst we waited for Laura to arrive.

She needed us to dig a six inch trench for a bulb lasagne. Which this Haringey lot has now renamed planting onions.

With gloves, digging forks and a shovels the team began the hard graft of ploughing the space for the bulbs.

At first the task seemed never ending but before you know it the trench with ready for the bulbs. In true lasagne style it was layered with a line of bulbs, then some, leaves, soil, a different type of bulbs, and a final layer of soil.

After one hour the team had finish the task and were ready to head to warmer territories.

4 Goodgymmers cooked up a storm on a chilly Wednesday night as they helped the Friends of Tottenham Green in preparing a bulb lasagna on the beds by Seven Sisters High Road

On The Edge of Glory

Ingredients

• 1 bucketfuls of narcissuses
• 1 bucketful of crocuses and muscaries
• 1 bucketful of snowdrops, chionodoza and cammassias
• A generous sprinkling of fallen leaves
• 1000s tbs of good topsoil

Method

Get yourself a team of sunny and smiling Goodgymmers to clear a disused flowerbed and prepare it for planting.

Then, using a fork (or a spade) dig a massive trench along the bottom of the bed.

While the bed is being dug, make sure any leftover soil is cleared away from the trench.

Once you're satisfied your trench is deep enough, generously sprinkle a thin layer of fallen leaves for compost and create your first layer of bulbs. Start with your narcissuses for best results. Then cover your bulb layer with a generous helping if topsoil.

Repeat the same process with the crocuses and muscaries, the with your snowdrops, chionodoza and cammassias, and voila - you have made yourself a bulb lasagna.

Now it's time to let Mother Earth cook for about 3 to 4 months.

Yum.

We'll be back at Tottenham Green next week, helping them finish planting all their Spring bulbs - come!

6 Goodgymmers armed themselves with litter pickers and headed for the gardens of the Wood Green Library to give the Library's Friends a hand clearing this very busy community space.

Silence, please

We congregated for an evening of hardcore litter picking at the Wood Green Library, expecting a bit of a mess and it didn't disappoint!

This much-loved but very busy community space acts as the de facto town square at the very busy Wood Green High Road and on busy days like Wednesday, the poor gardens end up looking a bit worse for wear.

Enter our Goodgymmers.

Dave, Clare, Raj, Latoya, Niamh and Gramps were at their best behaviour and methodically made their way through the gardens. So many ciggie butts, Reader. So many.

This task is always, perhaps ironically, quite loud and tonight one of the punters utilising the square's ample benches for a spot of public inebriation took offence at a group of people volunteering their evening away, clearing up other people's litter. What a bunch of wrong'uns.

Undeterred, our Goodgymmers took it all in good spirits and we collected a big total of two full-ish road sweeper bin bags by the end of the evening.

We then made our way to the Mall on the High Road in search of an owl and some soft pretzels.

Boom.

Tonight Goodgym Haringey were back at their long-standing regular task location (and original base) Tottenham Green.

This task had been a long time coming. After years of looking after the garden of the former nursery building on site, it was time for the Friends of Tottenham Green to hand it back to the council so the building can be refurbished and turned into a new cafe. But not before plundering it of anything remotely useful!

First the team got stuck into litter picking the various flower beds around the green. Meanwhile Sarah was given the task of cutting all of the burdock plants back to the ground before their seed heads could disperse thousands of seeds into the surrounding soil. She also helped task owner Laura harvest some hollyhock seed heads so that the seeds could be saved before the garden is bulldozed.

The garden was also full of moss which Laura says makes really good compost. Sam and Raj spent some time shovelling it all up so it could be put on the beds at the side of the garden.

Soon all of the tasks were complete, and although it was time to say a permanent goodbye to the old nursery garden the team can look forward to the new cafe opening.