The gorgeous Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park covers 27 acres and is home to a wide range of wildlife and plants.

Volunteers offer support to Park Manager Ken and his team to help manage the site, including the maintenance of its many pathways.

16 GoodGymers gathered this evening to help remove cow parsley from one of the pathways.

We welcomed Jasand Carina to their first Monday night task before Ken greeted us with a short briefing, tonight's pun and some good guidance on the task ahead...

Why cow parsley?

Cow parsley can spread rapidly and dominate open spaces, overshadowing smaller plants. Managing its spread helps keep a balanced and varied landscape.

The team spent a productive hour in the overgrowth, performing many squats to carefully uproot the stems, and taking it in turns to wheel loads around the corner to the green waste pile, before hurling armfuls of greenery onto this great big green mountain.

By the end of the evening, pathway clearings were more visible (see Emma’s before and after pics) showing immediate results of tonight’s effort.

It was gone 8 when we gathered gloves, forks and wheelbarrows and headed to the nearest bench for our final group pic! Ambling back through the park, we concluded it was something of a relief to enjoy a task in the daylight, complete with warm sun.

Until next time.

Area Activator Simon and community leader Eslam met up at Timbuktu Adventure Playground last night, along with Emily, Michael, Haseeb and first timer Xia (welcome!). It was wonderful to return after the Easter holiday weekend, back to help the team at Islington in Play to maintain this well loved children's play park.

https://islingtonplay.org.uk/take-part/playgrounds/timbuktu-adventure-playground/

After unlocking a slighty tricky door, our crew were offered shovels and forks and we cracked on with turning soil and wood chips across the playground. The intention was to create soft landing areas for children playing on the climbing frames and rope swings- soil and mud starts to harden up over the Summer months.

Half way through our session, we switched our attention to cultivating the garden plot area at the back of the playground. We turned to earth for various flower beds, ready for future planting projects. Emily was in charge of picking our plastic and debris from all of the flower beds too, collecting up almost an entire bucket from the garden along.

Congratulations everyone. A great job, well done!

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GOODGYM ISLINGTON NEWS

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SESSIONS IN APRIL

Group Run- Highbury Quadrant Estate 6.45pm, Arsenal Community Hub Monday 28th April

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/group-run-highbury-quadrant-green-space-garden-maintenance

Community Mission- Sunnyside Community Gardens 7.15pm, Sunnyside Community Gardens, Monday 5th May

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/community-mission-sunnyside-community-gardens-composting-b58e17f0-7881-4f9a-a24b-8438fce2b8e1

Group Run- Sunnyside Community Gardens 6.45pm, Arsenal Community Hub, Monday 12th May

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/group-run-sunnyside-community-gardens-composting

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Post Group Run Social - Clissold Park Tavern

Monday 28th April, 8.15pm, Clissold Park Tavern

Following our group run session at Highbury Quadrant Estate, we are planning on celebrating a month of good work and excellent tasks with a trip to the Clissold Park Tavern. Smashing location for warm evenings, great food and refreshments on offer. Sign up here!

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/post-group-run-social-clissold-park-tavern

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Achilles International VI Guide Running Sessions

Every Thursday, 6pm, Various London locations

On Thursday evenings, the all abilities sports charity Achilles International holds a group run session at a London location.

Here is a list of our upcoming events and sign up pages. Runners, supporters and guides of all abilities and experiences welcome!

Paddington Rec Track Thursday 24th April https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/come-and-guide-run-with-achilles-international-paddington-rec-track-807ac766-ce7f-4496-8589-c8023e7fa0cc

Green Park Thursday 1st May https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/come-and-guide-run-with-achilles-international-green-park-summer-session-f62d4df4-cda9-44bc-a79f-d3cf33e87cd3

Stratford Olympic Park Thursday 8th May https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/come-and-guide-run-with-achilles-international-olympic-park-stratford-route-6575e329-1470-4a07-959a-abcd36058c26

Arsenal Emirates Stadium Thursday 15th May https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/come-and-guide-run-with-achilles-international-emirates-stadium-47950339-2d63-4a65-8ca5-95eec0655f99

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Track and Towpath Social Running Sessions

Every Wednesday (fortnightly), 7.30am, Mile End Athletics Track

If you are looking for accessible training sessions that can be included in your schedule, then come and join Area Activator Simon for his fortnightly runs.

Track training is always more fun with others, and these are designed to be sociable and open to all!

Structured training sessions, followed by refreshments at The Yurt Café, Limehouse!

Wednesday 30th April

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/track-towpath-morning-social-track-session-mile-end-9

Wednesday 14th May

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/track-towpath-morning-social-track-session-mile-end-10

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Elizabeth House Food Hub- Lunchtime Sweep Up Task!

Tuesday 22nd April, 12.45 - 1.15pm, Elizabeth House

On Tuesday afternoons, during term time, the team at Elizabeth House Food Hub have requested for an extra pair of hands to help with cleaning and tidying up their donation centre.

Expect some satisfying sweeping and surface cleaning to assist this busy team!

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/elizabeth-house-food-hub-lunchtime-sweep-up-task-a114780d-ada1-4ae5-b9b8-5a7a423cbe5d

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Green Guardians Spring Sessions

The Garden Classroom, Newington Green

Wednesday 23rd April

Wednesday 30th April

Wednesday 7th May

Wednesday 14th May

Wednesday 21st May

Next session:

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/the-garden-classroom-newington-green-green-guardians-volunteer-morning-19ddd78f-ccad-4835-8ed8-d05c36c01c66

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Market Road Gardens

Tuesday 22nd April

Tuesday 29th April

Tuesday 6th May

Tuesday 13th May

Tuesday 20th May

Next Session:

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/the-garden-classroom-market-road-gardens-tuesday-volunteer-morning-9c2513bb-9baa-4c11-a62a-b8308f4e5590

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Penn Road Gardens - April Volunteer Day Sunday 27th April, 10am - midday, Penn Road Gardens Every last Sunday of the month, the residents of Penn Road invite keen volunteers to help with maintaining this lovely community spot just off Holloway Road. https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/penn-road-gardens-open-morning-april-eca3427e-f335-4bd4-8c90-aa709fe9cf8b

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Camino Ultra - The London 100 - Aid station supporters at Queen Mother's Sports Centre, Victoria

Saturday 10th May, 6am - 12 midnight (flexible), Queen Mother’s Sports Centre, Victoria

London 100 is Central London's ultramarathon. With 3 challenge distances (100km, 50km, and 25km), the event has distances for experienced ultramarathoners, and for those stepping up from marathons or half marathons.

From a superb indoor Central London race HQ, four 25km routes explore north, south, east and west of the capital.

As part of the event, the amazing Camino crew are seeking volunteers to help tired runners throughout the day.

As there will be be 4 different running distances in action, the team would hugely appreciate helpers who can arrive throughout the morning, afternoon or evening.

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/camino-ultra-london-100km-aid-station-support

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Hackney Half Aid Station and Marshal Volunteering

Sunday 18th May, 7am onwards, Marion Place, Pritchard's Road (TBC)

The team at Motiv Sport have asked if our Goodgym team would be interested assisting with the 2024 Hackney Half Marathon on one of the 6 water and aid stations.

All volunteers that help in 2025 are offered a free place in any of our running events in 2026 (Hackney Half, London 10K, Oxford Half).

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/hackney-half-aid-station-and-marshal-volunteering

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Friends of Canonbury Square- Volunteer Morning (May)

Saturday 17th May, 10am - midday, Canonbury Square Gardens

The Friends of Canonbury Square Gardens host an open community gardening session on the 3rd Saturday morning of every month.

Usual tasks would include bulb planting, trimming, laying compost, maintaining flower beds and litter picking.

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/goodgym-islington-friends-of-canonbury-square-volunteer-morning-may

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Mack on Track 02: marshals and pacers wanted!

Thursday 22nd May, 6.30pm, London Marathon Community Track, Stratford

Mack on Track is a super inclusive 5000m track running event, with a twist. The objective is to help as many runner as possible get (or come close to) their personal beats for 5km by providing trusted pacers to do so.

The team are looking for helps to assist with registration of participants, alerting runners about when each pace group starts and cheering on the athletes!

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/mack-on-track-03-marshals-and-pacers-wanted

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London 10km with Saucony- Water Station Volunteers!

Sunday 13th July, 7.30am onwards, Carlton House Terrace, SW1Y 5AH

An incredible event that offers runners to opportunity to race through traffic free streets in the Capital!

Motiv Sports (who also operate the Hackney Half and Oxford Half marathons) have requested Goodgym assistance to help at their 2nd aid station on the day.

Food and water provided, and a free entry for any 2026 event on the Motiv Sports roster will be offered to all volunteers!

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/london-10km-with-saucony-water-station-volunteers-7fc3f823-de75-4b32-9ada-ec2e94c7a51a

With the morning light beaming, we gathered in Borough Yards (an amazing place to grab a coffee, some food or even a cinema ticket if you're in the area!) and the excitement of a Saturday morning doing good fell upon us.

Our task today was one of utmost importance, sanctioned by the King himself. He decreed the surrounding green spaces of the Tower of London must match the excellence of the Crown stored within.

The King’s decrees aside, the infamous FNL speakers jumped into action and at 10am we set off from Borough Yards for our 6km run to reach our destination, Tower Hill Terrace. The council had called in the big guns (not you Sam), GroundEcotherapy to help transform the area to a space people could enjoy when visiting one of London’s tourist hotspots.

After an insightful intro with Ivo from GoodGym, and Paul from Grounded Ecotherapy we managed to shift 5 tonnes of soil and LECA (a sort of lightweight clay ball) up a few flights of stairs and completely empty 4 huge planters so new drainage could be put in. What we did today allows the planters to finally be fit for use. The next task is refilling them which you’re welcome to join us for.

Imogen correctly identified our group as definitely having the best time of any runners out this morning, mentioning how great it was to put all this energy into something that is also good for the community!

In less than an hour we felt well and truly accomplished. Haseeb even noted how good it’ll feel to walk past Tower Hill Terrace knowing we helped create it once it was all finished. It was still morning, we’d ticked off a sun fuelled run and helped improve a community space for one of London’s most visited locations. Only one thing remained, a quick return journey to our meet point and a surprise non-alcoholic brew waiting for us courtesy of Athletic Brewing.

Hopefully the feel-good vibes have fuelled an amazing Saturday for you. We do this combination of fitness and volunteering a lot (literally every week) and you’re welcome anytime. See what else is happening here

You’ll also find GoodGym at FNL’s upcoming Couch to 50k festival in Battersea Park. We’ll be hosting some exclusive training sessions in the weeks leading up to the festival. Come say hi, don’t be a stranger if you’re going.

A big shout to Borough Yards for hosting us as we met in the morning. Please do check them out here.