On Monday evening, 4 Goodgymmers ran down to the Arsenal Community Hub for our first official winter time group run. Area Activator Simon, Alfie, Victoria and Annikki (on her 2nd task- welcome!) performed a warm up on the Benwell Road slope (up towards the Emirates Stadium), before setting off on a really pleasant social run through Highbury Fields and Canonbury. On the way, we spotted leftover Halloween pumpkins (or "Jack-o'-lanterns" as Victoria refers to them!) and the first Christmas lights up on display. Our destination (after 1.5 miles running) was the Rose Bowl Youth Centre, where we caught up with the lovely Dawn, the local volunteer coordinator.

3 main activities were available for us this time. Group 1 (Victoria and Annikki) helped with cutting out some over grown tree branches around the entrance of the centre, using saws and long clippers. Our intention was to keep the twigs from scratching visitors on their way onto the property. The branches were then chopped down into really small clippings, for Islington Council to safely remove later in the week.

Group 2 (Paul and Anne) picked up brushes and sweepers, and set their targets on clearing almost all of the fallen leaves off the main playground area, where youth groups and local clubs frequently play. The plan was to reduce the potential for slipping hazards where possible, and our duo did a smashing job over course of 45 minutes.

Alfie volunteered to help with a classic moving and shifting task, which involved taking a full room of donated food bank supplies from one location, and over to a safe storage cupboard. Lots of canned goods and non-perishable items in large quantities- quite a workout! Some of these supplies also needed to be stock rotated too, arranged by expiration date, and discarded where necessary.

We finished our evening with another jog back to Drayton Park (a slight variation on our original route), and a few of us enjoyed some refreshments at the Highbury Library bar for our monthly group social. Great job everyone!

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Market Road Gardens Open Day

This Saturday (6th November), Octopus Community Network have invited the Goodgym Islington crew to attend their open permaculture gardening day at Market Road Gardens. This has been a long running GG Islington task, and a great opportunity to meet local resident gardeners and volunteers!

Meeting at 11.30am at the gates of Market Road Gardens.

Perfectly timed to coordinate with a 9am parkrun in Finsbury Park or Hampstead Heath?

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/market-road-gardens-open-day-november

Last night, Goodgym Islington were treated to a gorgeous Autumnal evening for running around the Canonbury and Highbury boroughs. 11 runners in total joined us at the Arsenal Community Hub on Benwell Road (including new members Audrey and Benedetta- welcome!), where we enjoyed a chat about our weekend adventures (congratulations to Steve on his excellent running at the Adidas City Run yesterday- we also look forward to hearing from our Manchester Marathon heroes too!). After a warm-up on the Emirates slopes, we ran together past Highbury and Islington station, and on to the Canonbury Tavern.

Our task this evening was to distribute flyers for an amazing local project called FoodCycle Islington (a charity that Alison has previously helped with!), who offer hot cooked food for anyone who requires it, no questions asked. The organisation are currently looking for volunteers, regular assistance, funding and new clients, so these local flyering sessions are important to the development of the cause. Area Activator Simon arrived with 250 flyers and a stack of maps for the immediate area, and our 5 teams of Goodgymmers ran across the borough to share the FoodCycle message. Simon stayed put at the Canonbury Tavern watching bags (the pub itself is about two houses away from George Orwell's residence, according to a blue plaque!).

Our team made short work of the flyering task (amazing how efficient a crew of Goodgymmers with maps can be!), so we enjoyed a more scenic run back to the Emirates Stadium, passing Highbury Fields on route.

Wonderful running everyone! We will be returning to Market Road Gardens next Monday for more gardening goodness!

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Cross Country Fun this weekend!

Racing is well and truly back after a long hiatus, so now could be the perfect time to join the Goodgym Race Team!

https://www.goodgym.org/race-team

Goodgym are entered into the Met League Cross Country season 2021-2022, a series of 5 muddy trail races across London. Expect hills, puddles, countryside, river crossings and lots of laughs with good people!

Seriously some of the best running fun available, and 100% open for all runners signed up to the Goodgym Race Team.

The first in the series is this Saturday in Claybury, East London.

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/met-league-cross-country-claybury

Last night, 5 Goodgymmers met up with Area Activator Simon outside the Arsenal Community Hub for a 5km total run to Caxton House Community Centre. Benedict, Steve, Alfie and Rachel made their way up Sussex Way (passing friendly neighbourhood cats on route) before meeting up with the rest of our crew in Archway.

Goodgym Islington have been visiting the Caxton House Community Centre pretty frequently over the past few months (3rd visit since August), pitching in with a big green renovation of lovely plot of planters. The idea is to shift many wheel barrows full of hardened soil from small growing beds, and to move this all to a larger planter. Fresh compost and soil will be added and mixed in at a later date, ready for spring vegetables. Alison, Steve, Benedict and Emily took on the arduous digging and forking task (and did a smashing job- especially after all the hot weather we had), while Aidan was the main wheelbarrow driver and successfully navigated the stairs to the drop off point.

The rest of our team (Rachel, Sally and Alfie) were offered pavement picking tools (skinny brushes on sticks) and knee cushions, and were tasked to chip away at some persistent weeds growing out of the path to the garden. These tools proved to be effective, and we were able to brush a bag of eco-friendly weed deterrent into the cracks to keep the place looking tidy through Autumn and Winter.

We did a smashing job over the course of an hour. Thank you to everyone who brought head torches too- this really makes such a difference for your fellow runners.

6 runners joined us for the return run back to the Emirates (down hill this time!), and we enjoyed a stretch and a chat together to close the evening.

News

Next week, we will be visiting The Rose Bowl Youth Centre.

Sign up here to get involved:

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/group-run-return-to-the-rose-bowl

Also, check out the wonderful work our GG Islington group did at Crouch End Open Space on Sunday here!

https://www.goodgym.org/reports/chipping-in

Headtorch season is upon us!

Area Activator Simon met up with 6 runners at the Arsenal Community Hub on Benwell Road on Monday evening (including first timer Katherine, and GG Lambeth runner Alfie- welcome!). Our crew made our way out to Thornhill Square Gardens, just off Caledonian Road- running approx 3km each way.

Upon our arrival, we caught up with 6 more Goodgymmers (including regulars like Steve, Patrick and Benedict), and local volunteer Chris, one of the Friends of Thornhill Square Gardens.

We branched off into 4 groups between us- Team 1 picked up wheelbarrows from the community shed to assist with moving and shifting a pile of green waste and soil into a compost bin on the opposite side of the park. Team 2 helped to re-arrange and tidy a line of woven willow branches, positioned to allow new shoots to create an organic border around the flower beds. Team 3 set about weeding out the other flower beds, and trimming the connecting grass verges using loppers and secateurs. Finally, Team 4 continued their fine work of clearing the main entrance path of weeds and overgrown plants using shovels, hoes and gloved hands.

Within 45 minutes, we had all completed a plenty of objectives, especially with the darkness starting to fall. Portable work lights were used to illuminate our work spaces, along with our headtorches. We cleared up our tools and all of our green cuttings, and parted ways- 6 runners joined Trainer Simon for the return run (up hill!) back to the Emirates Stadium.

Wonderful work everyone!

Next Week!

We will return to Caxton House Community Centre to continue their lovely neighbourhood gardening project.

Sign up here to join us next Monday!

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/group-run-call-to-caxton-house-community-centre