31 GoodGymers were out in force around Camden last night - the rain held off just long enough for us!

After a power cut at the Living Centre, we had to regroup at the Coffee House (our usual pub ending point for the run) and leave our bags there.

NOTE: This will be the same drill next week as there's another power cut planned for Wednesday 26th Feb. Make sure you come to the Coffee House, 60 Chalton St, Somers Town, London NW1 1HS for 18:45 next Wednesday.

After a quicker than normal intro speech, we had not one but two big milestones to cheer:

• Beth hit 100 Good Deeds and wore the Camden Cape with all the felt, bells and whistles on. It was a particularly windy night last night, so lots of cape-flapping in on the run (and ceilidh at Cecil Sharp!).

• Our very own Liz continued climbing the Heroes leaderboard by hitting 400!! Please do give both of them a big ol' Camden cheer before you read on.

There was so, so much cake in the pub that was it was difficult to peel ourselves away to go running in the wind, but Reader, we did and we did well.

Coffee House Report (written by Liz)

Having volunteered as tribute to look after the bags in our usual pub, I spent my time scaring people away by alternating between reading science(TM) documents (not aloud), and by overloading them with cakes/biscuits whenever they ventured too close (cakes/biscuits courtesy of Beth). The scaredy-cakes worked, and everyone's gear was still there at the end of the run.

C4WS Report (written by Chris)

The team of 12 runners, led by Chris, headed off earlier than the rest of us to get down to C4WS to make the beds for the homeless as normal. We've only got a few more weeks running there now, so if you'd like to make beds and you haven't before, come along on Wednesday nights - our last evening of bed-making is on the 25th March.

12 runners made 12 beds - 6 men's, 4 women's and 2 volunteers up on the stage. Nice. After that it was a longer run around Camden, coming in at 5.8km in total before the C4WS team arrived back at the pub ahead of the ceilidh-ing crew.

Cecil Sharp House Report

Hitting the pavement up to Cecil Sharp House, we arrived in good time for Susannah but unfortunately she was nowhere to be seen! We searched around and spoke to the reception team but nobody could get through. We couldn't into the shed to get the tools and there was no information left about the task so we couldn't get stuck in as we normally do so instead we danced!

While we were waiting to see if Susannah was just running late, the staff let us come out of the cold into the dancing room (and Strictly rehearsal space, apparently!). The inimitable Lizzy with her font of dancing knowledge then became the impromptu ceilidh instructor and, luckily, we were even numbers so everyone had a partner. After a few practice run-throughs of the different steps, it was time for the real thing and boy, was it a wonderful sight.

A few times through, it was time for us to run back to the Coffee House, full of beans and with empty stomachs ready for the cake-geddon that was to follow. For the lack of doing good in the community, we certainly came away feeling that we'd done some good in the GoodGym Camden community - the laughter was never-ending as we were dancing.

I think we saved a night of a few mishaps. Well done all. There'll also be a ceilidh social at Cecil Sharp in April, so come along to that!

NEXT TIME

COMMUNITY MISSION: This Saturday, a team of us are going to the Great Croft Age UK day centre gardens to help out with some weeding and organising. Jade and the team are working on the next phase for the garden and need our help to get the plans in motion. We'll meet at 1pm on Saturday by the gates to the gardens on Harrison Street - sign up now!

NEXT WEEK: February has been a strange month for tasks - everyone seems to be on holiday or not replying to emails. We'll definitely be going back to C4WS but the second task is TBC. Get your name down and I'll look forward to seeing you there with us. Meet at 18:45 at the Coffee House, NW1 1HS instead next week, instead of our normal meeting place!

25 GoodGymers came out to do good not once but TWICE on an otherwise dreary Wednesday night in Camden!

For the first time this year, there were no newbies joining the herd so we motored on through the intro speech in record time. After some stretching out, we all ran to the American International Church together along the backstreets, arriving with 15 minutes to make the beds and head on to the second task - a mini-litterpick along Regents Canal.

C4WS (American International Church)

Jonathan was there to greet us as normal and we got stuck in, making 16 beds in record time - 4 women's and 11 men's (an extra being Jonathan's up on the stage) - finishing just before the homeless people arrived for a good night's sleep out of the wind and cold at 7:30. In a spare moment, Jonathan told me that a Syrian family had moved into a sheltered housing building directly behind the church, having previously been users of the homeless shelter. They'd arrived 3 weeks ago and were getting settled - yesterday's task was getting a flatpack wardrobe from IKEA built - and I mentioned that Helen from Scope Camden was always looking for volunteers who'd like to improve their English by working in the shop, so hopefully we can connect both places together.

From there it was full steam ahead to Granary Square for a litterpick. HUGE thanks to Liz for the ploggers and bags and Abi for the gloves (from Story Garden no less!). It wouldn't have been the same task without you two! Please go and give them an extra cheer! Thanks go to Suraj for the killer pun for this week's report.

Mini/Maxi Litterpick along Regent's Canal

After arriving at Granary Square, we got the plogging bags and litterpickers ready. 3 teams of 8 were set out to clear different sections of the Regents Canal with another fifteen minutes to get stuck in. Cigarette butts were the butt of most jokes out on the plog and many ploggers perfected the use of the litterpickers to pick up the tiniest butts. Fifteen minutes later and 6 bags full (3 of recycling and 3 of litter), it was time to head back to the Living Centre. Abi's team decided they wanted to do a maxi-plog and carried on homewards, picking up extra litter as they went.

While we were out on the run, I couldn't help but notice how great it is that so many of you are talking to each other and catching up, or finding out about a new member of the herd. That's what GoodGym is all about and it's wonderful to see!

NEXT TIME

COMMUNITY MISSIONS ON A TIGHTROPE: The wonderful Liz has organised a full day of activities for you at the Camden Highline. Much like what the Americans have done in New York with the original HighLine, Camden are working on a similar concept here in the Big Smoke. The first Saturday slot is from 9:30-11:00, the second kicks off from 11:30-14:00 and the final volunteering slot of the day is from 14:00-15:45 - so lots to get stuck into if you have some free time this Saturday.

CAMDEN QUIZLETES: In the first of many upcoming Camden socials, John has organised a pub quiz for 12 of us (on two opposing teams) to battle it out for. It's at the Hanbury Arms on Thursday 20th Feb and there are still THREE SEATS FREE on the second team, so get yourself signed up here!

NEXT WEEK'S RUN: We'll be splitting the group once more next week, with one half going to C4WS and the other going to the Home of English Folk (and Dance) that is Cecil Sharp House to help Susannah in the garden with some weeding, clearing and tidying up. Add your name to the list here.

In the meantime, happy running and see you next week.

29 runners wrapped up and braced the cold last night to blast GoodGym Camden into a good start for February!

We were joined by another new face joining the herd - hey Alex! - hope you enjoyed yourself in the spoof Inside the Factory tour (more on that later) and will be back with us again soon. Why not go and give him a cheer for becoming a fully-fledged GoodGym runner now?

After a quick intro speech, Louise took 10 runners over to the American International Church to make the beds, and I explained a little more about our bigger task at Alara Wholefoods before we got outside and stretched.

C4WS Report (written by Louise)

Nine runners came on our 13th visit to the American International Church, helping make 17 beds for the homeless people's shelter. It was almost unlucky, but we narrowly avoided duvetgeddon in the hunt for a rogue bag of bedding! With our human chain in action, we achieved in a few minutes what would have taken an hour for the busy volunteers at the church. Afterwards we took a longer route to Granary Square for a quick fitness session and to take in the new light displays.

Alara Report

17 of us arrived at Alara dreaming of mulch and granola. Alex was there to greet us and, boy, was there a bit to get through tonight, even if we were so many.

Two types of mulch needed to be shoveled (by hand and spade - see pictures!) and moved into two different areas with buckets and wheelbarrows - one of the types was fresh and was used in the permaculture garden and the other was a bit more ripe and needed to be shoveled onto the beds above the tires. Another team were in charge of litter-picking the gardens outside the front of the warehouse. It's lovely to see how much difference about 20 minutes of litterpicking can do to brighten up an area that was otherwise dotted with crisp packets and gum packets. One last team was tasked with lifting and lugging the big branches that were in between the layers of the riper mulch and moving them to the back of the garden. With everyone working flat out and rotating tasks to keep warm, we got everything finished by 8pm and then the real fun began.

Alex outdid himself this time with showing us their operation at Alara; we got a behind the scenes Inside the Factory (BBC2) style tour! From seed milling (a huge pallet-full stacked up with at least twenty 10kg bags takes around 3 hours apparently) to compostable bagging, it was fascinating to see how the production line comes together to make the delicious granola we all know and love. After the factory tour had finished, Alex wizzed us over to the warehouse and gave us all a box of their new fancy product; acai bowl powder!

The extended factory tour meant that we didn't have time for a few laps of Granary Square, but instead ran home via there so we could catch a glimpse at the new light displays. Very Canary Wharf of them, don't you think?

NEXT TIME

Community, Community, Community: Liz has set up a few tasks for us next weekend at Camden Highline. There are three in total and you can sign up to all of them right here.

Next week: We're going back to C4WS next week as normal, but there'll be a bigger task that I'm working to confirm in the meantime. Should know more in time for the Monday weekly email. Get your name down for next week's run here.

LET'S GET SOCIAL! As I mentioned at the end of the run, we've got a Camden Socials WhatsApp group. John has organised a pub quiz for us on the 20th February (Thursday night) that you can sign up to there. The next social after that will be axe-throwing in March (organised by yours truly), so plenty of variety on top of our regular appearances at the pub after Wednesday runs.

See you next week!

Happy running in the meantime