Camden is a wonderful place where odd things usually happen.

This is why Camden residents rarely look twice.

Some tourists aren't like this and regularly look twice. This has resulted in many Camden tourists leaving the borough with neck aches, cramps, and twists.

They realised too late that oddities are normal in Camden, and that looking twice really isn't polite.

However I do wonder whether our wonderful group took second glances as we made our way through sunny and busy King's Cross.

Thirteen of us - Alison, Auriela, Charlie, Danya, Gosia, Helen, Imogen (on their first good deed - welcome!!), Jackie, John, Michael, Siobhan, and Steve - met at the (remarkably special) Story Garden.

Carley, our brilliant host, was waiting for us with a caravan of wheelbarrows and trolleys, each piled with tools, bags, and high-vis jackets.

This was the moment when our team of red t-shirts trundled everything over to the other side of Coal Drops Yard.

Our destination was the Story Garden's new (and gorgeous and permanent!!) community site on York Way. It's called The Triangle because it's shaped like a triangle, and it's mid-way through being built and transformed.

We were there to rescue and prepare a mound of earth that will soon be sewn with bee-loving flowers.

And yesterday - rescuing and preparing meant collecting, snapping, and bagging the thousands of weed sticks that covered the mound - the group's laughter and wood-snapping sounded like a happy family sat around a bristling bonfire :)

Many industrial bags filled and with the twilight fading, we made our return journey through the evening city - and I think the addition of huge bags of sticks made even Camden regulars take a second look...

...thank you for a wonderful evening, everyone! Your work made a big difference!!

Wednesday nights in GoodGym Camden are always a chance for celebration, but this week we had the joy of a very special celebration!

Jackie and John gift our community so much, and they've been doing so for 10 whole years!

With that in mind, our wonderful group of Auriela, Caitlin, Emily, Gosia, Jackie, John, Natalia (back from France - welcome back!), and Steve had 3 tasks this week:

• Make a meaningful difference at the American International Church (as always) ✅
• Enjoy each other's company + make sure you laugh at least 5 times (as always) ✅
• Surreptitiously sign a card for Jackie and John (we don't do this every week) ✅

Over 40 minutes, our brilliant group achieved it all!

Having prepared the dining room and assembled (and dressed) the beds, we congregated in the Church's back room to celebrate Jackie and John - and - thanks to Gosia's generosity (thank you!), a couple of happy sparklers added some fizz to the moment ☺️

Here's to next time!

(Check out Gosia's wonderful Insta video here!)

There is a large hall in Tottenham Court Road's American International Church.

It's the sort of hall you can imagine Charles Dickens in - he'd probably say something profound like - this is a nice hall.

And it's usually home to West End casts rehearsing plays and musicals - if you sneak in on a Wednesday night, you'll usually glimpse costumes and sets and a large double bass.

But last night we were tasked with turning the hall into the evening's winter shelter. And by 'we', I mean our wonderful group of our first good-gymers Auriela, Kiera, and Kayla (welcome, all!) and our Camden regulars Alex, Emilie, Emily, Gosia, Louise, Jackie, John, and Steve!

On arrival and having been welcomed by our brilliant host, Brooke, a smaller group of Auriela, Emilie, Kiera, and Kayla headed straight to an empty room that they soon turned into a welcoming dining room!

And while our smaller group were good-deeding, our larger group were doing the same - the hall popped with beds and the beds got dressed with warmth!

After 30 happy minutes, we turned out into evening Camden just as the shelter's guests were starting to arrive - nice one, everyone!!