Last night 13 GoodGymmers made their way to the Brighton Community Workshop and Tool Library, to help them with some cleaning and sorting as they prepare for some renovations and improvements.

We also welcomed Sarah and Annie at their first GoodGym session in Brighton!

Some of us were on shelf duty – offloading and clearing the units before putting everything back neat and tidy, while the rest of us were on wood-sorting duty – reorganising hundreds of pieces of board, timber and off-cuts to make them more accessible for those using the workshop.

Many hands make light work, and within just half an hour we’d made a huge difference to the space and our hosts were so grateful. When our work was done, a few of us headed over the road for our monthly social, and our return to the infamous Pub Quiz at The Kemp. After an epic music round and a lucky guess about the number of whiskers on a cat (it's 24...) we came 5th and won a whole TEN POUNDS to put into the social kitty 😊

In honor of our winnings, we asked ChatGPT to write us a poem…enjoy!

A group of runners, swift and bright, Laced up their shoes and took to flight. But on this day, they faced a test, Not of speed, but of wit’s best.

With knowledge wide, and minds astute, They gathered round, ready to loot The answers that would win the prize, With focus sharp and gleaming eyes.

Questions flew, a tricky race, But these keen minds kept up the pace. From history’s depths to science’s core, They answered all and then asked for more.

At last, the scores were tallied high, A cheer rang out, a joyful cry. They’d conquered both the mind and mile, Their victory earned with clever style.

So here’s to the runners, fast and wise, Who crossed the line with quiz-winner’s prize. They proved that brains and speed unite, For every challenge, they take flight.

Here is WHAT's ON NEXT at GoodGym Brighton!

Plenty to amuse you to join us soon for the GoodGym January Challenge!

19 Goodgymers ran 5-6km to leaflet for the Met Police and help Waterside Adventure Playground!

Welcome along to Frankie, tourist from Hackney. Thanks to you all for coming along on such a cold evening.

In the news this week - it's all about Saturday's double - people are doing Finsbury Parkrun and then coming to Islington's Starter Session - come join :)

Waterside Adventure Playground:

Eleven of us headed south via Higbury Fields and Essex Road to help the wonderful Waterside Adventure Playground. This awesome play area is on the canal close to Angel and has been part of the community for years, as has Dawn the Manager we met.

The task was simple but essential, each armed with a fork we dug and turned over the woodchip/soil to loosen up the hard ground around the climbing frames - this makes it safer for the kids when they jump and fall. Upon arrival quite a few of the group didn't expect for us to be able to finish the whole task but with ever better fork skills it was only 15 minutes that we'd covered the whole area.

After a group picture everyone had a go playing on the equipment and having some fun! We took a slightly different route home and were awarded with our efforts with home made biscuits from Meg - yum!

All about safety last night!

Leafleting for the Met by Steve Lee:

The GoodGym Islington Flyering Squad were tasked with delivering flyers on behalf of the London Met Police warning of scammers in the area pretending to be from utility companies to gain access to houses. Boooooo.

The team ran 3k to the starting point in the centre of the areas identified as most at risk from this cynical crime. Splitting into three teams of three, we shared out the areas the Met Police had designated as red, orange and yellow levels of risk. We had a big area to cover and a lot of flyers to hand out, but juuuust in case, we agreed on sharing out a much larger section marked pink that teams could tackle if they surged ahead and got everything done.

Good thing we did, too, because all three groups not only delivered flyers through the doors of their entire areas, but all three also completed their special bonus areas and met in plenty of time to head back. Must be the cold weather keeping everybody moving quickly!

Once regrouped, we had a brisk jog back as the temperature kept lowering, and a cheeky indoor warm stretch while Paul’s group arrived.

Sign up for next week here when we'll be helping Thornhill Square Gardens.

PB out

23 Goodgymers ran to help Cecil Sharp House and St Pancras Community Assoccasion!

Welcome along to newbie Annie - great to have you along.

In the news this week:

1. Danny spoke about volunteering at the Fulham 10k next weekend, full details here.
2. Come along to the social tonight in Bethnal Green - see more here.
3. A massive well done to Abi whose 50th Good Deed it was last night - amazing!

SPCA Report:

After only a 1km run a group of 13 arrived at St Pancras Community Assoccasion, this fantastic charity help the local community through support, programmes and sports activities.

We met Graham who split us into three teams; Katherine and Sarah were tasked with laminating Yoga Posters and putting them up around the streets of Camden. Natasha joined them on the run around town, they put up 15 posters and made it to the canal!

Team two (Cordelina and Rachel) hooved, swept and mopped the floor in the children's playroom. This helps the caretaker massively.

GOODwork!

Everyone else was tasked with gardening - trimming back overgrown plants, digging up roots and sweeping up soil and leaves. The team worked over two areas, one in the main garden area and the other alongside the netball courts.

After a group picture and thanks from Graham we headed off for a run along the canal and back home.

Cecil Sharp House:

Frances led a team of ten to the wonderful regular task Cecil Sharp House, the task this FALL was to clear all the leaves from the pathways in the walled garden and from the entrance. Overall the team collected 15 bags of leaves that will go to be composted into leaf mould (fantastic for the plants!).

Susannah wanted to pass on many thanks to everyone for their hard work! On the way home the guys did some intervals between lamposts and a sprint finish to finish - nice!

Sign up for next week here, we have a new task helping Belsize Park Library and another task (tbc).

PB out

31 Goodgymers ran 4-6k to help paint vegboxes for Friends of Grenville Gardens!

Welcome along to newbies - Christina, NJ, Annie, Mary, Sophie and Jess thanks so much for coming along! Last night was GG Islington's highest attendance for over a year and also exactly a year since we've been meeting at the Arsenal Hub - awesome!

In the news this week:

1. It's the GoodGym Monthly Social this Thursday in Angel at the Islington Townhouse! Full details here.
2. Cross Country Season starts next week, 5 races for £5 - yes deal! If you want to join see the full details here.
3. Hannah talked all about the "Our Borough, Our Planet" Event, an open meeting taking place on Oct 8th from 6.30-8.30pm in Islington Town Hall. The aim is to bring local residents and environmental groups together to work towards a vision for a zero-carbon Islington. More details are here

After a nippy intro and a warm up we headed in two groups to go help Friends of Grenville Gardens (aka FROGG), unfortunately Sue who was supposed to meet us was in a car accident last week so we had to take care of ourselves. Our task this week was to paint the park's veggie boxes!

We collected together the 11 brushes and 11 containers of paint, and then in pairs we got to work - with one person painting and the other holding up lights and holding the container full of paint. The 15 veg boxes need two coats of paint to protect them from the embending weather... Winter is Coming...

Veggie McVeg Vegbox

Thanks to Steve Coman, who used to be a painter and decorator, for leading the painting team! The remaining people weeded, swept leaves and collected debris to put in compost bins. Nice!

Once all the paint was gone we packed up, we ate bourbons and put the brushes in a bucket of water. Steve led a group on a longer run home, while Kike led a group directly down the hill back to the Emirates. Once there we focused on the socket to pocket arm technique and played the meet & retreat game - cool beans!

Thanks for coming guys, sign up for next week here when we'll be helping Sunnyside Community Gardens.

PB out