Fifteen fabulous GoodGymmers ran 3km to help maintain beautiful Longlane Pasture 🌲

Meeting at the Phoenix, we welcomed Karnika for her first GoodGym run: welcome! We also celebrated Task Force Jodie's 100th good deed!! 🔥 Well worth a cheer for both I'd say.

We set off with Jodie backmarking. It's about 1.5k so we took it at an easy pace with plenty of chatting.

On arrival, we met with Wayne and Donald who explained our tasks for the evening: raking, clearing brambles, and shifting big piles of weeds/brambles. We split into three teams and got to work.

Team Pitchfork, led by Abi, got stuck into a huge pile of brambles and set about moving them to a central pile for burning. Team Sequitur, (Jodie, Fiona and Mumtaz) did a loop with the wheelbarrow and their cutting implements chopping back brambles and weeding. Team Rake, made up of everyone else, set about raking up he leftovers from some recent mowing and building it into a big pile. There were not quite enough gloves to go around so most of us settled for one each - a little touch of MJ style influence perhaps.

We had about half an hour and used it all up completing these tasks. There were a few scratches - shorts are not the the ideal clothing choice for cutting brambles perhaps - but we got it done. The final task was to consolidate our big pile into the central pile so it was all hands on deck to get it all moved. It was brilliant, occasionally thorny, work and much appreciated by the regular volunteers. It saves them loads of time and helps the space stay looking it's best.

We teamed up for a team photo 📸: using our MJ inspiration once more for the thriller album cover, this time with 14 single gloved volunteers in some green pasture.... Quite the effort I'm sure you'll agree.

From there it was a nice relaxed run back to the Phoenix for stretches.

Great work everyone - looking forward to next week already.

D

Twelve fabulous goodgym runners ran to help Stephens House and Gardens. We started gathering at the coffee tables outside the Pheonix cinema chatting and enjoying the evening sun. At the allotted time (7pm) we started our warm up and played a quick game of truth or lie much to the amusement of all. We then set off on the 3km run to the gardens with Jody as the back marker. To make the run fun we used the back roads and alleys of East finchley. It really is a maze of little streets and alleys great to keep you on your toes! We reached the gardens in good time and met with Alison Dean, the chair of the charity, who explained a little about the trust and what we would be doing. Stephens House and Gardens was bequeathed by ‘Inky’ Stephens exactly one hundred years ago to the people of Barnet. The house generates funds by letting rooms in the house and running a onsite cafe in the converted stables. Worth a visit for a coffee or bite to eat! We set about our task of cutting back bushes along the boundary of the park and filled two large garden bags. We tidied up and set off on a short run around the 10 acre garden. We gathered at the house and the only statue of Spike Milligan for a group photo. After a short sprint we gathered again for a breathing exercise much to the amusement of many! Re-energised with oxygen and mirth we ran back to the Phoenix cinema with the sun starting to set.

Thanks to all who came tonight…. you did good!

and Congratulations to Graham for his black 50 shirt ...give him a shout!

If you don't know much about Spike see below

Legendary comedian Spike Milligan would have turned 100 this year. Starting with The Goon Show in the 1950s, Milligan revolutionised comedy with his brilliantly surreal imagination, inspiring the likes of Monty Python and Eddie Izzard. A century on from his birth, we recall some of the British-Irish comedian’s finest jokes, witticisms and one-liners.

“I thought I’d begin by reading a poem by Shakespeare, but then I thought, ‘Why should I? He never reads any of mine.’ “ “Money can’t buy you happiness but it does bring you a more pleasant form of misery. ” “I have the body of an 18 year old. I keep it in the fridge.” “I don’t mind dying. I just don’t want to be there when it happens.” “My father had a profound influence on me. He was a lunatic.” “How long was I in the army? Five foot eleven.”

Read more at:( https://inews.co.uk/light-relief/spike-milligan-jokes/)

Fifteen fabulous GoodGymmers ran 3km to the cafe in Highgate Woods to pick up litter.

Meeting at the Phoenix, we were joined by Charlotte for her first ever GG run - go give her a cheer! Welcome. We were also joined by GG tourist Alex who has also been in the lake district with team GG over the weekend. My legs are still a bit sore.

After a quick chat we slowly made our way to the park for a warm up. It was gloriously sunny we want to take advantage of it as much as we can! From there, it's a short run over to Highgate Woods and the cafe by the park.

We met the keeper, Cindy, who equipped us with grabbers and bin bags and pointed out the areas that needed attention. Dividing in to teams of two, the team set off around the park collecting litter. Cindy explained that the park area in particular is very popular with dogwalkers, sunbathers and kids parties so there is plenty of potential for litter.

Half an hour later, we had loads of litter and piled it all up ready for the compactor. Cindy explained a bit of the woods history - mentioned in the Doomsday Book, it's an ancient area of woodland owned and managed by the City of London Corporation since 1886 for the benefit of Londoners. Worth a visit we think.

After that we had a quick fitness session: tempo runs, core exercises, a sprint and a lap of the field. Suitably tired, we headed back to base for biscuits and stretching.

Thanks for coming everyone - I'll see you next week for our gardening task at Northway Gardens.

This week's Barnet Biscuit was: Double Chocolate Digestives.