7 GoodGymers came down to Tottenham Green for a quick litterpick and lots of bulb planting.

After an evening of “the god of tube connections” being displeased, we met up with Laura from the Friends of Tottenham Green and got to work litter picking. There were crisp packets, tiny bottles and half empty beer cans (which mostly didn’t empty out onto anyone’s shoes!)

Then, we crossed the road armed with rakes, spades, trowels and buckets of bulbs. We dug some trenches and planted a mixture of daffodil and tulip bulbs at different depths - bigger bulbs deeper in the ground, smaller bulbs closer to the surface. All ready to make a bright, colourful display in springtime to be enjoyed by humans and bugs alike. 

9 Goodgymmers braved the High Road in Tottenham during match night to lend a hand at Tottenham Green as they started getting the site ready for bulb planting.

Funckeredd To The Maxx

We were pleased to join Laura from the Friends group who had been out of action for a while with Covid. Glad to have you back!

It's always a pleasure to do a task at Tottenham Green, in many ways it feels like going back home. Just ask Nurjehan or Alex, for instance, who described this task tonight on more than one occasion as their favourite. 

And tonight was no different. We started the evening with a bit of litter picking and, oh boy, did the Green need it. Within 15 minutes our team had managed to fill up around 6 bags full of bottles, cans, and even a duvet. Always thinking about the environment, our team sent a couple of Goodgymmers to the recycling bins on the North side of the park to dispose of the litter responsibly.

Meanwhile, we got on with the task of clearing the pathways of leaves and some hardcore weeding. Special mention here to the wonderful and thriving hedge bindweed with its wonderful heart-shaped leaves that was ruthlessly and efficiently obliterated by Frankie and Carolina. Haven't seen that many destroyed hearts since they refused to call that ship Boaty McBoatface.

Aaaaanyway, towards the end of the evening, we were tasked with some buddleia maintenance which of course meant some hardcore chopping and we rounded things up piling the garden detritus on the composting beds in the church yard.

Highlights of the evening including Nurjehan force feeding people her cupcakes, Carolina completely dragging Gramps by saying she had seen him running and thought that 'he was just walking and taking a break,' and the introduction to our Goodgym Haringey Lexicon of the wonderful funckeredd but you really had to be there for that one.

Next week, we're moving our task night to Monday to coincide with Halloween! And we're celebrating by having a themed double good deed evening... Task 1 here and task 2 here. Join us!

It all started one hot sunny day during the heatwave, when Sarah and Niamh decided to best way to cool down would be to do a walking tour of Abney Park Cemetery. Alas, they arrived too late to join the official tour so decided to conduct their own, which mostly consisted of getting lost looking for Bostock the lion. They met a friendly Australian woman who said she could show them the way, then as the whole party got even more lost the woman told them of another walking tour that takes place around Halloween...

This is how Sarah and Niamh, one blustery evening in October, found themselves back in Stoke Newington listening to spooky tales told by the Ghost Master. A whole bunch of other Goodgymmers also decided to attend, together with partners and Nyx The Batdog, who completely stole the show. In true superhero fashion, she even defended her crew against one of the ghouls who had been sent to scare us! Prodigal Goodgymmer Rebecca joined us straight from an afternoon of spooky childrens activities such as making slime.

We learned that the word for people who live in Stoke Newington is "Stewingtonians" while taphophobia is the name for the unfortunate condition (suffered by one Stewingtonian) of being afraid one will be buried alive. The spooky Dusty Sally kept beckoning for us to follow her, until finally Niamh got close enough to hear what she wanted!

There were definitely more laughs than scares though, and a great time was had by all.

10 Googymmers skillfully sharpened their tools and ran to lend a hand to the Noel Park Big Local with some hardcore tree surgery (Ok, like getting-out-an-ingrowing toenail- kind-of-tree-surgery rather than posterior-fossa-decompresion-kind-of-tree-surgery but tree surgery all the same)

You got the kind of lovin' that can be so smooth, yeah

(TW: contains a laboured and painful 90s reference. Proceed with caution)

Not content with dueting with rock legend Santana and spending 12 consecutive weeks topping the Billboard Hot 100 charts, Rob Thomas took time out of his chart-topping rock start schedule to make his GGHaringey debut tonight. No diva antics from him though as he air guitarred his way through the job at hand quickly and without any complaints. Super star. Hope we didn't scare you off!

And kudos to Charlie for today's pun. Boom.

A Cut Above

Our Goodgymmers gathered around Dave at Blue House Yard as we all marvelled at the fact that he was planning to run to tonight's task wearing some rather fancy office shoes as he had forgotten his running shoes at home. That shows both commitment and a wanton disregard for potential blisters - Gramps, perhaps unsurprisingly, is a big fan of both.

We ran a couple of kilometres to the Noel Park Estate where we armed ourselves with loppers, secateurs, litter pickers, and refuse bags and we wandered the estate looking for a group of London plane trees that were being crowded by smaller self-seeded trees and sprouts from their root system, colloquially known as 'tree suckers' by those in the know. A team of Goodgymmers started getting rid of the suckers methodically and mercilessly, while a smaller sub-team litter picked after the Chopper Team as we always tidy up after ourselves. We were brought up right, you know? Dave and Julie were in charge of the fancy trolley and made several trips to the park next door to add the fallen suckers to a big pile of garden detritus that Noel Park Big Local is in the process of turning into mulch for recycling as compost within the community. Tasks don't get any more wholesome than that, in my books.

When it looked like we were about to wrap up for the eve, a fitness session was suggested and a group of us did a Waterfall running session while the rest transported the last of the suckers to the park.

We all then gathered for selfies, some impromptu twerking from a Goodgymmer who will remain unnamed, and future shenanigans planning.

Join us next week for more fun and games (and "doing good and getting fit" blah blah blah ;)

5.5 Goodgymmers took an intimate stroll to the Haringey Learning Partnership for an evening of mulching that nearly blew one Googymmer's mind, literally straight out of his head. 

Flipping Good News Corner

At a time when the UK seems to be riding a reality rollercoaster of eschatological/scatological proportions (delete as appropriate depending on your beliefs), let us rejoice in the news that our very own Carolina, who reached the 10 good deeds milestone tonight with a smile, is now Goodgymming for two! A GGHaringey baby is on the way and that is frankly the best of news. We celebrated tonight the only way we know, by handing her a spade and asking her to shovel some mulch. Standard. We're all very happy for you, Carolina, and in case you're in the market for ideas, let me say that we all think naming bubs Baby Gramps sounds like the kind of news the UK could do with right now #JustSayin

A Leaf Blow Job Of Trascendental Proportions

On a rather chilly night, 5.5 goodgymmers battled with the desire to stay snug on the sofa and instead met Luke who needed a hand at the Haringey Learning Partnership.

Earlier in the day, the HLP had received a donation of a mound of freshly mulched wood chips for their flowerbeds. The mound was an impressive size and had been deposited in the car park. It now needed a group of avid volunteers to bag it up and move it into the HLP's compost area for processing and our Goodgymmers were just the team to do it.

Our five Goodgymmers worked indefatigably and were the picture of a well drilled and undistracted machine... That is, until Hubert arrived at the scene.

Hubert, oh, Hubert. What can you say about Hubert that could make him justice? With a strong power head and a large and firm blower tube (yes, I looked up the names of the parts) to many he would be just a leaf blower but for a brief breath of time in this lukewarm speck on the corner of the cosmos, he was the belle of the ball. Gramps made an initial approach for their affections, but it was Julie who communed deeply with Hubert. For a fleeting moment, Julie and Hubert choreographed a dance of fallen leaves that swirled and twirled around Sam, Carolina (and Baby Gramps tbc), Charlie, Luke and Gramps with the precision of a cosmic ballet. Before too long, this beautiful and transcendental experience led inevitably to the moment when Gramps demanded that Julie aimed Hubert's blower tube straight at his face - nearly blowing his head off. We'll miss you Hubert.

Anyway, I'm glad that didn't get weird.

With Hubert's help, we wrapped up the evening with a Nurjehan Special (we finished just before 8pm) and we all went our own ways, savouring our brief dalliance with the sublime.

You really should join us next week!