Just Leaf it out

Todays task was going down to William Brook school to help out with clearing leaves in the playground and organising a bookshelf. As I met the group, they were talking about their favourite vegetable. It seems like Broccoli was the overall winner. I am not fully convinced with Broccoli but Majority rules. The run was under 2 miles but there was a healthy mini debate at what would be the best route to take via the two tallest in the group about the shortest route. When you don’t know where you are going, most routes will seem long. Jo was keeping Kelsy going with her “One foot in front of the other” motivational statement. As we got there, we got welcomed by the site manager who showed us to the two tasks of the evening. The group got split into 2 groups between the brains who helped with the Library and the Brawn that did the leaf clearing. The leaf cleaning crew did a great job with specific team with someone sweeping and the other using the makeshift bucket to pick up the leaves. We also used two rakes together to try and grab more leaves. that they finished quite quick even leaving a Goodgym sign on the soil. The Library team had a Ciaran the infant schoolteacher who had a clever system of how to organise the books. He organised them in colours of the tags as well as splitting it between Fiction and Non-fiction. The books were also split even further to specific topics. It was great to see the teamwork.

After the task we got treated to a 5 min abs session and a fun Yoga session by Jo. The Yoga session was a treat and probably made most people feel pleasurely worked out. She surely has earned some new fans for her Sunday classes.

The run was a nice coast back with me learning Kevin is a DJ. This group is full of talent.

Dont forget the Rough Runner at finsbury park in 2 weeks and the GoodGym 10 year party.

We have been talking about going out for a post-run bite to eat for the past few weeks and yesterday, we finally got our act together. After a flurry of WhatsApp messages in the afternoon, a table was booked at Sodo Pizza for 8.30 pm. I avoided my usual afternoon of intermittant snacking, and was particularly looking forward to the evening's activities when I arrived for our weekly Group Run.

To add to the excitement, we welcomed not one but two new runners to our crew with the bonus of a long distance tourist visiting from Liverpool. So welcome again to Rucha, Kelsey and Alison, it was great to see you all.

Before we could scoff pizza, we had some good deeds and exercise to complete. So we wasted no time in heading out on our 2-mile run to Willowbrook Primary School. As soon as you walk into this fantastic school a feeling of instant karma washes over you. I think its a combination of lots of natural light, the comfortable looking sofa that is begging to be sat upon, and the stunning and beautifully presented collection of art, all working in harmony to bring a smile to your face.

This calming feeling is matched when you enter the playground because in addition to a pirate ship, sandpit and other playthings, Willowbrook hosts a lovely collection of trees and plants that instantly connect the whole site to nature. Admittedly, I haven't been there when 600 children have been running around the place, but surely art and nature are two of the most important things we should be treating young people to?

Anyway, I digress. The reason for our visit was that some of nature had got a little out of hand. In addition to the splendid collection of trees, flowers and plants were innumerable less attractive weeds and tree suckers that needed removing. With the help of two of Willowbrook's finest, Alison and Alfonso, we were quickly set-up with the tools and equipment we needed to rid this place of its turbulent weeds.

Forty minutes later, we left an almost weed free Willowbrook and headed back for pizza. I have to say Sodo did not disappoint. They were very understanding that our numbers had swollen from ten to thirteen and the pizza was superb.

Talking of superb, we will be back to old favorite St Mary's Churchyard next week so do join us. Sign-up here

It was back to school for the hard-working volunteers of GoodGym Waltham Forest today with a lovely spring evening run and a ground breaking task at the delightful Willow Brook Primary School .

Before we get to the evening's proceedings there are a couple of news items:

Save the date

Sunday 16th June will be a fabulous Community Mission for GGWF when we are invited to take over at Waltham Forest Junior ParkRun. More details to follow in my next email

Virgin London Marathon

A truly magnificent event whether you are taking part or spectating. I encourage anyone to get downtown and watch the action. East London provides some great vantage points to see the everyone from the Elite Athletes to the array of fancy dress costumes on show. If you fancy getting all GoodGym for the event, there is a cheering station at Victoria Embankment check it out

Okay back to our playground chores

After a decent 3 km school run admirably led by Ercole, we arrived at Willow Brook to be greeted by Alfonso, Alison, and school Head and running enthusiast Gra...errm Mr. Clifford!

We had a decent showing tonight with fourteen altogether including new to GGWF Kimberly and Mireille. I met Mireille at GoodGym Hackney over a year ago and since then she has clocked up a formidable 82 good deeds. It was also great to see Amarjit back with us after swanning around South America for several months (well jelly) .

Sadly after constant pounding with footballs, rucksacks, careering school children, wind and rain the delightful picket fence the bordered the back of the playground has departed. The demise of the fence has opened up the playground to include some lovely trees (poplars maybe?), and I am sure they will serve as an excellent addition to playground activities from now on.

Where we came in was that some levelling was now required to even out the undulating landscape. Levellers were a 17th Century political groups that counted one Gerrard Winstanley among their number, and I have always hoped this near namesake of mine was a distant ancestor. It would salvage the family from the series of scoundrels that seem to crop up in the more recent annals of the family tree. Of course, music fans will also recall the 90's folk-rock band of the same name. But I digress, tonight The Levellers were at Willow Brook Primary, and they were levelling the land with enthusiasm. Pickaxes were swinging, mud was flying, and the earth moved.

Next week we are back to continue our task at Greenleaf Road Baptist Church. We will also be heading to Lloyd Park for some time trialling so don't miss out folks and sign up now

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This Saturday is Earth Hour when we can acknowledge the damage human society is inflicting on the planet by switching off at 8.30 PM. To mark this event, GoodGym has teamed up with WWF to hold sustainability focussed events this week throughout the Land, including last night's task. But before we get to that, here are a few items of important news.

Walthamstow ParkRun this Saturday

GoodGym Waltham Forest (GGWF) Run Trainer, Ant, is planning on running Walthamstow Parkrun this Saturday. Why not kick off the weekend with a nice 5 km run and join him/me (I'm not sure why I'm talking in the third person here). If you are unfamiliar with Parkrun, you can find details and register, here

GGWF is 1 🎉

Incredible as it seems it was on April 11th 2018 that a ragtag group of beautiful people walked into Mirth Marvel and Maud and ran out onto the streets of The Stow to do great things. Come rain or shine we have been doing the same every Wednesday since then. Our first birthday run will take place two weeks hence with a visit to the delightful George Mason Lodge. There is talk of cake and drinks afterwards but I am open to suggestions at how we mark this auspicious event, or you could surprise us. Any ideas and suggestions welcome.

GGWF is 40

See what I did there? Perhaps I should clarify. Unbelievably the GoodGym project has now established fifty areas around the UK. What a story and what a difference we have made. Being part of this movement is something special, so each area is celebrating this success, with a photo to represent the number we were at launch. I am proud to say they GGWF is currently in third in the like listing with our cryptic pic. Thanks to Raymond, Fergus, Ros and Francis for the modelling work. All the photos can be viewed and liked here #GG50areas

Back to the business of our Earth Hour run to Willowbrook

We were joined by a great crew tonight. As well as our usual regulars we were lucky to be joined by GoodGymGoodDeed Maestro, Paul Grey. It was great to meet Paul and hear some of the wealth of GoodGym stories he has gathered during his 137 outings. We were also joined tonight by newcomers Michael and Filip, both of whom are just starting on their GoodGym journey but I am sure one day they too will sit atop a glittering pile of good deeds.

Regardless of past performance this triumphant trio swelled our group substantially and were all a welcome and hardworking addition to the evening's collective.

We also had a couple of birthday girls in the shape of Pippa and Nerys. Both of whom bought a cornucopia of cake along with them for some post deed deliciousness. Happy birthdays to you both, the cakes were magnificent.

But I seem to have skipped to the end without telling about the run and task, so on with the story. We headed to Willow Brook Primary and a testing 3 km run to get us there only slightly late where our eternally patient and always smiling contact Alison was waiting for us with her team headed by Alfonso who proceeded to set us up on the night's task of leaf and litter clearing.

Head torches at the ready for our last full dark task of the long, long winter the team got cracking, and in no time a hopper was bursting with leaves and other bits and pieces that had been languishing in an unloved corner of the playground of this otherwise much loved and splendid primary school.

After that is was back on the road for another 3kms when we reached the end, the ravenous runners devoured the delicious delicacies baked by Pippa and Nerys.

Next week

We visit a new destination to do a bit of a litter-pick. Sign-up here

Two weeks hence

We celebrate our first birthday at your favourite care home and mine, George Mason Lodge. Sign-up here

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Last night's run was our final February outing and although March can be a tricky month, we have one eye on April when the clocks go back and we will be once again GoodGyming in the sunshine. Not long to go and at least we have the relatively balmy weather to enjoy in the meantime. After a slightly late arrival and apologies from the Run Trainer, we gathered in a huddle around a table in Mirth to plan our night.

First off came some news, which in summary went a bit like this:

1. Next Thursday (7th March) is the GG monthly social. Details shortly to appear online but all you need to know is that it is next Thursday in Mirth, Marvel and Maud. I'm pretty sure it starts at 6.30 pm so you can either stop by for a swift half or get on it big time.
2. Next Friday (8th March) is International Women's Day. To support this day and to encourage more women to get involved with GoodGym we will be actively promoting this day and you can too by using the #WD2019 and #BalanceforBetter tags in any social media posts on or around that day. We also encourage any runners to bring a female companion along to next week's run.

Okay, back to last night's action. We were back to everyone's favourite primary school Willow Brook in Leyton. We have a decent turnout, and it was great to see a straight hat-trick of Group Runs from Jim, at this rate you will be eating the Hackney Half for breakfast in May, Jim, keep it up. It was also lovely to see Heather and Rebekah for their first GGWF outings of 2019. Big up to Rebekah who hit deed number 25 last night. Well done Rebekah, halfway to your black t-shirt!

After a 3km run to our task through various twists and turns that had me thinking I wish I had tied one end of a ball or sting to Mirth, Marvel and Maud before we set off, we arrived to meet the admirable Alison who waited patiently for us long after all her colleagues had departed for the day. Thank you, Alison, you are a star and sorry we kept you waiting, my bad.

Once in we headed for the playground where we were once again barrowing stuff from point to point. Lats and backs at the ready the crew made short work of the task and we filled a planter with soil and restocked the Mud Kitchen ready for the early years to get messy at playtime the next day. There was an unsuccessful attempt by me to organise some burbies to take up the slack with the lack of spades and barrows, but only the plucky Kirsty and Nerys decided to participate. Everyone else frankly bottled it!

After completing our chores, we headed back out to the streets and back to base.

Don't miss next weeks activity sign up here.

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Before we get into tonight's fun, here is some news:

Tomorrow is the first monthly social of the year. I am sure it will be a right laugh as always so if you are in the neighbourhood, please pop along and represent the Waltham Forest massive. Of course, if you can't make it, next month's date is not to be missed as it will be on our home turf in the illustrious surroundings of Mirth, Marvel and Maud.

You can also represent GoodGym at the Met League XC in Ally Pally this Saturday. It 8kms of hills and mud. Great fun and spikes highly recommended.

The Run

A pleasant 3kms each way admirably led by Ercole out and Ramon back

The Task

It was back to school tonight. The charming Willow Brook primary to be precise. With wet weather forecast Alison, our contact at Willow Brook wisely decided to switch the task to sandpit filling. Our task involved digging, barrowing, dumping and spreading. Magnificent seven proved to be the perfect number for this, and there was enough equipment for everyone to get stuck on, and all the sand was shifted to its new location.

Alma Mater

There was a nice ring to tonight's task as it turned out that back in the day, the legendary Ramon was an old boy at Willow Brook. I am sure his initials are carved into a desk somewhere, but we didn't get a chance to look round that much.

Well done everyone who participated today, I thought you were all magnificent. I loved the fact that as soon as we returned the heavens opened.

Do come along next week as we are back at Leyton Marshes to finish off the plogging we did at the start of the year. I'm hopeful we won't experience the biting cold we did last time but if we do, I will mix it up with some keep warm running drills. Sign-up here, see you there.

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