9 Goodgymmers delighted in a plethora of prismatic arcs as they lent a hand at the tiny forest in White Hart Rec.

Snatching victory from the soggy jaws of defeat

In what was thoroughly wet, wet and... wet day, our Goodgymmers headed out to Blue House Yard undeterred, ready for a soggy run under the inclement weather. However, proving the old adage right, that if you do good, good things will come to you (and you will get fit?), as soon as we had congregated at the start line, the skyes were tentatively clearing and we ran to White Hart Rec mostly dry. Victory!

We were welcome by Michael from the Friends of Woodside Park who entrusted us with giving this lovely wild space a thorough clean up ahead of an Earthwatch scientific survey that is taking place in the next week or so.

Our Goodgymmers were keen to get started before the rain returned, but we got momentarilly sidetracked by the treat of not one, not two, but (allegedly) three rainbows above us. Either nature was showing off or someone up there is really into our lovely red GG t-shirts and impressive squat form.

There were loads of Insta-ready posing and they were really a beautiful sight to behold.

Alas, the promise of half-drunk cans of G&T and discarded Lime bikes awaited us to remind us that not everything that is green is good for the planet, so our Goodgymmers tore themselves away from the rainbows and litterpicked to their hearts content.

Paul, Mark, and Dave were our most intrepid explorers and headed deep into the heart of the (tiny) jungle, while the rest of the team concentrated on the meeting square area of the site - covered as it were on a large tapestry of cigarrete butts. In true do-gooder syle, we even collected all the detritus that could be recycled on Michael's trusty wheelbarrow and Paul and Veronika made their way across the rec to put it all into a recycling bin. Heroes.

After about 45 mins, and with the heavens heavy with imminent rain, Michael brought our proceedings to an end by thanking us and leaving the door open for us to return whenever we want. A good days was had.

Join us next week as we pay a second visit to the Hornsey Medical Centre to help them create a pleasant space for their patients to relax.

On a slightly chilly June evening, five Goodgymmers met task owner Michael at Woodside park to weed a flower bed.

The bed was full of beautiful plants but had been slightly overtaken by weeds. Michael advised as to which plants were weeds and which plants should stay, because to our untrained eyes everything looked quite pretty, really. But the Blue Alkanet and overgrown brambles had to go, along with the non-native beer bottles and energy drink cans. We also welcomed newcomer Sheril under the Goodgym "bring a friend" initiative - well done Latoya on your indoctrination I mean induction efforts.

The team got so stuck into clearing the weeds they didn't want to stop as 8pm neared. The good news is that Haringey council have agreed to maintain the bed once a month. So although we didn't finish the job we made a very good start, and can be confident that our hard work was not in vain.

So at 8pm our worthy Goodgymmers departed, to continue the evenings revels at an alternative location I regret I unable to divulge.

5 Goodgymmers proved they're not afraid of the dark as they lend a hand at Woodside Park as the Friends groups gets on with the work of rehabilitating the tree beds at the Braille Garden area of the park

The One Where Ed turned up and saw what the task was and went 'I'll just go home for 2 mins to pick up my headtorch' and disappeared for exactly an eternity. Poor Paul was worried sick - ed. it might have been more like 4 minutes

Armed with just a couple torches since Gramps big light has decided to do one and head on the long journey to Big Light Heaven, our Goodgymmers were tasked with clearing an outbreak of the always-lovely but over-vigorous green alkanet from the grounds of the Braille Garden area of Woodside Park.

Michael from the Friends group kindly gave us a brief historical overview of the garden, created after WWII as a place where blind locals could come and partake in a bit of gardening, with aromatic planting and braille sign making the task easier for them. Time inexorably marches on, however, and with time the gardens fell into disrepair, becoming a couple of overgrown tree beds. Enter the Friends group!

With a small grant in their pocket and the support and expertise of the Wood Green's Postcode Gardener scheme, the Friends group is working to reinstate some of the beauty and accessibility to the gardens. In other words, they know how to pull at our sentimental Goodgym heart strings...

Even though it was a bit dark, our Goodgymmers pulled the deep-rooted alkanets from one of the beds ahead of a planting session this weekend. Slowly but surely, we got rid of a few wheelbarrowfuls worth of alkanets and weeds.

We also did a gentle litter pick and got rid of a number of empty beer cans, clear evidence that the gardens are still very much in use if only for a different sensory experience.

Come 8pm, Gramps called an end to the procedure but not before some selfies and and assurance to lovely Michael that we will be back whenever the Friends needs a hand. He then tried to poach one of our runners but I'm not sore Gotta respect the hustle!

Join us on Sunday for birdwatching, and next week for more GG shenanigans in the park