25 Amazing GoodGyming GoodGymers ran an amazing 8k to Clissold Park to shovel, shift and rake our way to path creating glory! Then celebrated Amanda’s 50th GoodDeed with pizza and an amazing cake & cookies!

Our longest run in years!!! Great to get some serious distance under our feet this evening with an adventure up to the Corner of the borough as we helped Hackney Parks lay some wood chip pathway around the perimeter of the park to allow year around usage even in the wettest of weathers!

With time of the essence we got away fast from the Bakehouse and made steady running progress up to Stoke Newington to meet at Clissold park. With 4k under our belts we got straight to work gathering tools and shifting the mulch from the big pile to barrows and onto the in much need very muddy pathway! The production line was swift and the efficiency super high! With less time to play with than normal due to our longer running we did an amazing job of getting so much done and creating with so Side ways thinking chip raking strategy over 100 metres of pathway!!

With an awesome effort on the wood chips we zipped back to base to celebrate Amanda’s 50th GoodDeed in typical Hackney GG style with Pizza and the most amazing cake and personalised cookies maybe ever!!

Great night, see you next week for a visit to Dalston!!

Joel

21 Group runners and 23 social superstars rounded off Hackney’s 51st and final Group Run of the year! While Toyin hit 💯

GoodGym first timer Millie know how to pick a top session for her first!! Hope you enjoyed the night as much as me!

Going down as one of the best Group runs in GG history!! We have a milestone, great group, dressing up, physical task that we completed in nick of time, 23 person social, glorious Pizza and out of this world cake!!!

Congratulations to Toyin for joining the 💯 club and the new fresh milestone T-Shirt will be winging its way to you very soon!! Amazing dedication, hard work, positivity, smiles and cakes has literally been the Hackney’s Fuel this year in particular!! Thank you x

Off to the task on a little loop after a delayed start. Arriving at Wilton with a big job to complete we split into 2 groups and got to work like elves in the night!

Weeding, trimming, potato harvesting to the Max!! Filling up tonne bag after bag to release the garden to get to Spring glory! The mulch madness got under way at a steady controlled pace before we got gathered extra energy, power with multiple backs (apparently) this back switching super power gave the barrow runners the fuel to run and tip at an all time rate so the raking crew could do their spreading thing and somehow re mulching the whole garden in the nick of time!!

All bags dragged away and tools tidied the smell of Christmas Pizza was calling strong so we dashed back to base grabbed our bags and picked up some reinforcements for our Christmas Party!!

With numbers at an all time social high amazing to have you all along for a lot of Pizza and cake fun!! Cake was eaten well into the night and the only discontent was the argument of which of the most amazing homemade cakes was the favourite! The quadruple chocolate Profiteer roles won for me!! Unbelievable!!

Thank you all and everyone who has run with Hackney for a magical year of GG fun and games!! Have an amazing Christmas and New Year, look forward to hearing all about it on the 7th of January!!

Merry Christmas

Joel x

p.s thanks to Chi, Patrick and Liz for the pictures. well most of them 🤣

8 Goodgymers ran 6k to Abney Park Cemetery to shovel, shift, tip and rake exactly 17 tonnes of high grade mulch!

Our epic mulch fest around Abney is in full swing for another Winter!! After welcoming in GG first timers ** Lara and Lizzie** to the squad we set off a little fewer in number that usual.

Strong in mind and strong in body a powerful 3k run up to Stokey and the enchanting Abney Park cemetery to meet park keeper Quentin.

With the reduced people volume we grabbed the tools and headed up very freshly chipped pill of mulch!!

Straight into rhythm we got shovelling night time!! Monumental efforts from Alice and Clair on the shovels keeping the barrows stocked up and moving strong!!

Laying out as much if not more pathway that a group double the size a quality 45 minutes of graft was put in with a real sweat worked up!

As we were just about to finish the apocalypse hit and we dashed back to put away the tool and split for home as fast as possible!!

Great effort team!

See you next week for our last session of the year and Christmas social!!

Dress up and see you there

Joel

13 Hackney GoodGymers ran 4k in a round about way to London Fields to clear 7.6 tonnes of leaves (official weigh in just complete ish). From the children’s paddling pool in the Lido.

I seem to have messed up the register. If you came along tonight but are missing email me at joel@goodgym.org and I will add you back in. Sorry!!

Smashing the most indirect run in GG history to get us going 2.5k to meet Park Ranger Bruce at the Depot where we grabbed our performance grabbers and got to work!

A massively wet and thick pile of leaves had been blowup to an end and got stuck right in grabbing them, packing them, dragging them and finally lifting them into the back of a big truck!

With a big job in front we hit our stride early and often working hard and fast!! With a bit of help from Bruce’s expert lead stacking in the truck we had the satisfaction of completing the task in perfect timing for us to tidy away say our first Merry Christmas of the year to Bruce! Before we headed off back to base!!

Thanks for the graft!! See you all next week!!

Joel

10 Hackney GoodGymers braved the big chill to remove all the invasive blue hen plant (not real name) from the over run growing beds!

A proper cold night in London Town meant we spent all the pre run debating how many layers to put on for the run!

A combination of coats and vests and everything in between took to the streets as we ran the round about way to a new task near Havkney Downs!

Meeting Rose from the Ferncliff community gardeners we got gloved up and armed with tools then went to work!!

Like in London fields the flower beds had been overrun with an invasive plant which were taking over and sucking the life out of the other flowers so we had to deep very deep and pull pretty hard to dislodge some of the most extensive root network in Hackney.

Making piles and piles of the naughty not Blue Hen plant we only had one case of mistaken plant identity from our perennial culprit!!

A quick drop off into a mini compost heap in another area of the community garden and we were away!

Thanks for coming out to play and look forward to seeing you next week for our last Hackney Parks visit of the year!!

Reminder of our next Social on the 3rd of December for Toyin’s 💯.

Enjoy

Joel