5 Goodgymmers wiped the slate clean, so to speak, as they helped the Friends of Russell Park get some boards ready for the Noel Park Festival later this month

Tabula Rasa

As the Noel Park Community gets ready for their festival later this month, we were asked to help them get an army of boards ready for the big day.

Armed with white and black chalkboard paint, we were trusted to repaint all the boards without spilling any paint on the floors of the children centre that was hosting us for the evening. Big gulp.

The weather was pleasantly wintry at around 24 degrees compared to the previous few days so all our Goodgymmers were in a happy mood.

Now, picture the scene. Our Mark, happy to have been assigned re-whiting a white board, was almost in a state of zen, applying wide brushstrokes to the wood. A wonderful state of mindfulness that nothing could possibly disturb. Or so you would think. Enter the ruffian.

We won't name the hirsute and loud Goodgymmer but for some reason, this idiot decided to open a pot of black paint right next to Mark's masterpiece with predictable results: a big bad spotifying of black specks all over the white board.

To be fair, Mark took it quite well and only shot the unnamed hirsute Goodgymmer the occasional death stare.

By 8pm, all boards were ready for new artwork to go in them just in time for the festival. Boom.

Join us next Wednesday for a spot of flyering fun.

*5 Goodgymmers cut it close as they hustled to complete the evening's task in time to make it home to watch the Three Lions semi-final tonight. *

It's Coming Home

Busy summer days mean smaller, ninja teams for GGHaringey but we didn't let that stop us from tackling a big task tonight. We were lending a hand to Haringey Council as they get on with their annual basal growth removal programme.

We concentrated on trees in the Noel Park Estate and our Goodgymmers were fantastic. Efficiently and methodical the moved through the road swiftly, as people who were in a rush to get to the pub for the footy.

We had to take a couple of breaks as the suckers on the trees we were removing were covered in dust, causing a bit of grief to a couple of hay feverish Goodgymmers. Nevertheless, we persisted and before you knew, we had completed one of the very long avenues in the Noel Park Estate. WE didn't finish as early as Euclides had promised, our Goodgymmers punished him by adding him to one of the big piles of detritus we collected. Standard.

Fun times!

(Report here)[https://www.goodgym.org/reports/ggh-s-in-decent-expo]

Four Goodgymmers flew the Goodgym flag at the Bridge Renewal Trust's Haringey Expo last Friday.

Dave, Niamh, and Gramps took the early shift. We had loads of interesting chats with potential task owners and also some potential future runners. Gramps even engineered an old school task opp, by volunteering Dave and himself to help the Bridge Renewal's team to transfer a bunch of tables and stalls into the main hall.

The morning breezed by and Louise joined us for the afternoon shift all the way from South of the River. Respect. By the time it came to pack up, we had a list full of potential runners and task owner contact book a little bit fatter.

Boom

Julie and I met outside Lordship Lane Primary School, where the council has trimmed back rather heavily a bunch of hedges, revealing a planting bed full of rubbish.

We arrived ready for a thorough litter pick, and were welcome by the sight of one of the city's canniest mammals - the rattus norvegicus.

Undeterred, but tentatively, we litter picked the bed while passerbys thanked us and complimented us on our bravery. Our bravery was tested when we found Rat City but on we litter picked.

All in all, we filled up a whole road sweepers bag in 30 mins and we have barely scratched the surface. But we will be back!

8 Hardy Goodgymmers braved a very wintry Wednesday night as they litter-picked the wet streets of Haringey.

Nice to see you again!

Tonight we welcomed back Veronika, who we hadn't seen since the uber-lurgy sent the world into a rather unpleasant spin, and she looked like she'd hardly skipped a beat. A natural! Hope the cold and the chat didn't scare you away.

We also said hello again to GG tourist Jack who visited us all the way from Barnet. Likewise hope we didn't scare you away and you come and see us soon again.

The Pick Of The Bunch

It's not a secret to regular readers of these weekly ramblings that our Haringey Goodgymmers will never have a bigger fan/cheerleader/intense-putative-ancestor than good ol' Gramps and that I think the world of you lot, and it's nights like this that will only ever make that love even stronger.

I mean, let's call a spade a spade: that was a horrid night. It was wet. It was cold. It was dark. Our best laid plans for the evening were cruelly dragged away from us with a few scant minutes to go and no one of you flinched when I suggested that we go litter-picking instead. You were all well within your rights to tell me to sod off but instead you came out anyway, into the cold, wet night with a smile upon your face and a much-needed spring upon your step.

And even then, when the streets of Haringey turned out to be in much better nick than suggested earlier in the day, and we had to go exploring to actually earn our good deed for the night, there wasn't even one single word of complaint. It was, as usual, all fun and games. You lot are the best.

We picked cigarette butts and empty vodka bottles to our hearts' content until a certain self-proclaimed 'shorts/t-shirt evangelist' could no longer feel his fingers and it was time to call it a night.

And what a night it was!

Come for a long fun run on Sunday as we try to hit the highest points of seven different London boroughs. Fun.