8 Goodgymmers rolled up their sleeves and assisted the good folk at Harmony Gardens with an old school hardcore weeding session.

Couples Therapy

Did you know that the collective noun for a group of tadpoles is a knot? Now you do.

Did you know that the Irish for fox, madra rua, literally translates as red dog? Now you do.

Did you know that if you soak comfrey leaves for long enough, not only will they stink so bad that they'll make you retch but also could potentially create some fun, homemade explosive device? Now you do* (please don't blow anything up IRL. Talk to your mates instead)

Did you know that if you ever need anyone to lead a couples therapy session you should never ever ever ask either Niamh or Gramps to lead it? I suppose you could've guessed that one by now.

Anyway, enough with the free public service broadcasting, if you want to learn more lessons like the ones above, you should definitely join a GG live classroom near you pronto!

It wasn't all fun lessons at Harmony Gardens, however. Oh no, sweet Murphy was there too. For those unfamiliar with this absolute gem, Murphy is the official GGHarringey canine rep, whose vet last week confirmed he's roughly around 100 years old in human years. Not that that would stop him from walking to task, joining in the digging, and check notes engaging in a very public and sloppy snogging session with Gramps. Legend.

It wasn't all fun lessons and canine shenanigans at Harmony Garden, however. Oh no, there were also tadpoles. Our Goodgymmers kept taking little breaks to have a look at the little fellas swimming around, while Mike from the Friends group kept a close eye on an unnamed hirsute Goodgymmer who wanted to take some tadpoles for his own pond. No, unnamed hirsute Goodgymmer, that's not allowed. And yes, hirsute Goodgymmer, your fish will probably just eat them anyway.

It wasn't all fun lessons and canine shenanigans and knotty but nice mischief at Harmony Gardens, however. Oh no, we also found the time to do some proper work. Three-cornered leeks were pulled with no remorse as they had taken over one of the beds at the back of the centre. Meanwhile, at the front of the building, a lovely field of self-seeded poppies were being crowded out by weeds but our Goodgymmers came to the rescue. They even managed to find a previously unspotted dog rose. Fun. All in all, a good hour's work if we say so ourselves.

Again, you should definitely come

Seven Goodgymmers started the evening with high hopes and ended the night drawing their sorrows on the banks of the Westbury Banks nature Reserve

Locked, stocked, and frazzled

Our Goodgymmers arrived the Nature Reserve to find that a neighbouring Friends group had borrowed the main tool they needed for tonight's task of clearing the top end of the Reserve to make it a bit more presentable from the street. Undeterred, our Goodgymmers used whatever tools were available to them to get on with the job at a hand.

Our Julie arrived straight from work like the rock star she is but it did mean she had some expensive work gear and her home keys with her in her work bag. Gramps suggested she put it in the thief-proof super-safe virtually-unbreakable toolbox for safekeeping. And then, then the key broke.

After a rather long period of panic, Gramps arrived at the only real solution available to them and called an emergency locksmith.

Our team completed their task for the evening all the while keeping an eye on Gramps' blood pressure. When 8pm came and went without any sign of the locksmith, our Goodgymmers armed themselves with drinks and crisps for the offie and we all settled in the Reserve for the long haul. We needed to make sure our Julie could get home after all.

Eventually, our knight in shining armour arrived and proceeded to do a lot of huffing and puffing. After around half an hour and a few hundred pounds later, we had broken into the box and we were all free to go home. So we all went to the pub to settle our nerves, of course.

Never a dull moment with GGH!

4 runners laid the foundations for an overflow pond.

With Gramps away, another robin came to watch over us working this week. I'm begining to think he's training them.

It was a solid work out this week. Relocating heavy clay from the foundations of the building work at Wolves Lane. Into wheel barrows, over rough terrain, round a little hill, down, and heave it up to form the wall of a new pond!

With half the crew not signed up to any races this year, there was much celebration for Julie's tripple marathon weekend, bringing her total up to 150!

8 lycanthropic Goodgymmers huffed, puffed, and blew the house down at Wolves Lane.

Spinning Straw Into Gold

Elki from Wolves Lane welcomed us with open arms, loads of cutting utensils, and a mountainous 1.5 tonne pile of hay that needed processing so it could go into the compost piles.

Proving that it would be easier to find the proverbial needle in a haystack than it would be to dampen the spirit of our Goodgymmers, they attacked the pile with gusto and purpose.

Latoya, fashionably late due to Gramps/Arsenal/Newly-imposed tariffs on timekeeping/literally anything else she could blame but herself, regaled us with stories of her exploits over her many years of Goodgym missions after on-field debutant Mark enquired about the ins and outs of this facet of Goodgym. Incredibly enough, stories about flying nappies, accidental pond-dipping, and "kidnapping" by the senior community didn't discourage Mark but in fact it seemed to motivate him to try missions - a natural fit to the GG Haringey fam, our Mark. Boom.

After about an hour of shenanigans, we had managed to make our way through about two thirds of the haystack, much to Elki's surprise and delight, and it was time to go off in search of beverages. But not before a quick pitstop to say hello to the terrapins. It wouldn't be a visit to Wolves Lane without a terrapin sighting.

#LongChip

Shout to Dave and Sarah for tonight's pun action.

Join us next week: Monday at Traid for fashionable shenanigans, and Wednesday at Meadow Orchard followed by a social. Come!

5 Goodgymmers proved they're not afraid of the dark as they lend a hand at Woodside Park as the Friends groups gets on with the work of rehabilitating the tree beds at the Braille Garden area of the park

The One Where Ed turned up and saw what the task was and went 'I'll just go home for 2 mins to pick up my headtorch' and disappeared for exactly an eternity. Poor Paul was worried sick - ed. it might have been more like 4 minutes

Armed with just a couple torches since Gramps big light has decided to do one and head on the long journey to Big Light Heaven, our Goodgymmers were tasked with clearing an outbreak of the always-lovely but over-vigorous green alkanet from the grounds of the Braille Garden area of Woodside Park.

Michael from the Friends group kindly gave us a brief historical overview of the garden, created after WWII as a place where blind locals could come and partake in a bit of gardening, with aromatic planting and braille sign making the task easier for them. Time inexorably marches on, however, and with time the gardens fell into disrepair, becoming a couple of overgrown tree beds. Enter the Friends group!

With a small grant in their pocket and the support and expertise of the Wood Green's Postcode Gardener scheme, the Friends group is working to reinstate some of the beauty and accessibility to the gardens. In other words, they know how to pull at our sentimental Goodgym heart strings...

Even though it was a bit dark, our Goodgymmers pulled the deep-rooted alkanets from one of the beds ahead of a planting session this weekend. Slowly but surely, we got rid of a few wheelbarrowfuls worth of alkanets and weeds.

We also did a gentle litter pick and got rid of a number of empty beer cans, clear evidence that the gardens are still very much in use if only for a different sensory experience.

Come 8pm, Gramps called an end to the procedure but not before some selfies and and assurance to lovely Michael that we will be back whenever the Friends needs a hand. He then tried to poach one of our runners but I'm not sore Gotta respect the hustle!

Join us on Sunday for birdwatching, and next week for more GG shenanigans in the park