"Say again?" > "What did you say? > "I think they said..........."

These were the whispered sentences (amongst giggles) that filled the beginning of our evening. We were playing a game of (warm up) Telephone. Which is where folks pass a message (via whispers) around a group whilst trying to avoid subtle (then large) differences emerging.

Our wonderful group must have played Telephone before. Single words were too easy for these expert whisperers and listeners. Yet full unique sentences weren't. I can't quite remember the correct sentence in our last round, but I do remember it ending up as something like "SOMETHING SOMETHING HAHA FENCE SEA FLOOR.

We soon took our warmed bodies on the short stroll to the King's Cross Story Garden. Met by Megs and Karari, we soon split into two groups.

Charlie, Matt, Jackie, and Steve each grabbed large brooms and voluminous buckets of soapy water, and they began scrubbing, wiping, and hosing a large poly-tunnel. It'd attracted the season's muck and detritus, and this group were there to clean it. In 25 minutes, they brought a clear shine to the outside (and inside) of this space. Their work has made a wonderful difference.

At the same time, Gosia, John, Natalia, and Rose picked spades and wheelbarrows, and they started work on a freshly dropped (and quite huge) pile of wood chip. Local tree surgeons donate wood chip to the garden, and the team use it to create natural and walkable pathways. It is natural sustainability in action. This crew were a blur of digging, wheeling, and raking, and the pile shrunk by the minute. By the end of the session, we were all (wood)chipping in :)

Thank you, everyone, for your time, work, and positive energy - it made for a special evening and a big difference!!

Here's to next time!

P.S. if you want to see Gosia's masterfully creative video from the evening... just click here!

Every garden has a story... there are the soil and the seeds, then the shoots and the leaves... and I really didn't intend on that rhyming, but as I'm here... perhaps you grew veg next to the hedge, turned vines into wine, cut blooms for your rooms... and maybe you planted an orchard of trees, together with new friends... your community!

But whilst every garden has a story, not every garden is the Story Garden! Which was our own place of community yesterday evening.

Our wonderful group of Alex, Anne, Cat, Chloe, Jackie, John, Nivia, and Steve met by the Crick, warmed up whilst reciting the alphabet, and swiftly turned on our heels towards the British Library and the green space we'd be helping.

GoodGym has a few tasks that epitomize GoodGym. These include bramble bashing, moving unwieldy objects together, digging large holes, and (as was our task yesterday) filling skips!

Met by the brill Holly - the Story Garden's Manager - we got swiftly to our skip.

One group (Alex, Anne, Chloe, and John) took command of one area, sorting and then shifting an assortment of cardboard, wood, and metal.

Whilst one group (Cat, Jackie, Nivia, and Steve) headed to the garden's far end, sorting and wheelbarrowing an assortment of... cardboard, wood, and metal!

Over an hour, our fabulous group filled the skip under the evening's darkening sky - amazing work, everyone!!

Thanks so much for your company and work, and see you next time!!

Barbra Streisand celebrated her birthday on Wednesday - Happy Birthday, Barbra!!

I know this because of the OnThisDay website. And Wikipedia. I double checked on Wikipedia. I trust Wikipedia, but I didn't trust OnThisDay.

But now, of course, I do. And they tell me that Wednesday would also have been William of Orange's 491st birthday - big numbers, Will!

Then there's Lou Thesz - who was a wrestler; and Philippe Pétain - who was a French general; and the list goes on and on. But...

...does it mention GoodGym Camden... why heck, it doesn't! What would Barbra say, OnThisDay, hey?

Because it was big news as our merry group met outside the Francis Crick on Wednesday evening - GoodGym Camden was 11!!

Dan, Faye, Jackie, John, Lucy, and Steve met in spring light and we started the evening with a gentle warm up game of Get to 33!

Warmed and chatting, we strolled next door to the special King's Cross Story Garden. Housed above the British Library's car park, the space is a cared-for curation of nature and crafts, sat snug and peaceful amidst King's Cross's hub-bub.

Chimen (who was on their first good deed - welcome!!), Emre, and Louise joined us on site, where we were welcomed by the lovely Holly, the Story Garden's Manager.

Our task was simple - get things out of the way - preparing the way for the removal team, who will be taking stock over to the garden's new permanent home a stone's throw away.

We got to it, dismantling gazebos, shifting pallets, lifting portable saunas, and then making things tidy and neat once again.

Over 45 minutes, this team of 10 made such a difference, and we did so whilst sharing our own stories and laughter.

Thanks, everyone, I really appreciate your work, and I hope to see you at another session soon!!!

This morning me, Alison and first-time Goodgymer Nemia met up at Story Garden to help unload a scaffolding delivery. We had all taken a different approach to the rain - I decided a jacket wasn't going to protect me so just wore a t shirt on the run in, Alison discovered her lightweight rain jacket was not really a rain jacket, and Nemia was definitely the driest with her trusty brolly. Anyway upon arrival we discovered the scaffolding truck was delayed so Holly kindly made us some hot drinks while we waited.

After the tea we helped put the roof back on the yurt (the ropes tying it on had been undone by baby foxes playing). Once this was done the scaffolding finally arrived 30 minutes late.

Sadly I had to run off to start work so I left the others to help unload the lorry. Alison reported to me that several hundred scaffolding boards were unloaded (good work!). She turned up at work covered in woodchip - probably not what her colleagues were expecting in central London.

A little over two since the last Camden Good Gym Group Run, we’re back all be it with a very short run before our task. With the meeting point and task being neighbours we made a short 1km loop around the block.

It was also great to be working in Somers Town planting some under story planting for the orchard trees we helped plant a few months ago, it was fantastic to see them all still alive, in leaf and in some cases in blossom.

Special thanks to Emma form the Story Garden (Global Generation) her first time hosting us.

We learnt a bit about the different plants, like vinca (periwinkle) that provides great ground cover.

Great to welcome a new Camden Good Gymer, Emily, making it a total of three Emily’s on the task this week!

Very successful community mission working with The Story Garden. Supporting one of their community outreach projects to revamp the outdoor space in a local housing area in Somerset Town.

Work had already begun to create a new orchard to revitalise some tired raised beds.

We completed the planting of four fruit trees, 2 pear and 2 plum, giving the a good start by digging in lots of well rotted manure and staking them to give them stability while they establish.

As well as the tees we help to fill newish constructed raised beds with top soil and manure, a lot good calorie burning activities. Each bed is allocated to a different resident to grow food!

Soon the fruit trees will be planted with ornamental plants and flowers around them, we might be back to help with that!