🎵 "Oh what a beautiful morning..." 🎵

When Goodgymmers John and Jacqueline mentioned they were coming up from London to do a Parkrun in Liverpool, Sallyann quickly mobilised to arrange a warm Liverpool welcome. Despite it not being the usual monthly Goodgym Parkrun date - and therefore no prized stickers on offer to tempt people - she rallied a fabulous turnout.

On a gorgeous crisp bright autumn morning, we welcomed back Laura after her break from maternity leave, it was so lovely to see her again and amazing to see how it felt like she'd never been away. Miriam made great strides in her running, taking place in her second ever parkrun, and after a running break Heetu was back in the game.

Jessica smashed it by running a 5k before she even reached the park, the 9am parkrun was her second that day! Dike casually let slip he accidentally ran an unplanned marathon earlier in the week - he set off to do 15k, but kept going for all 40+! Leonardo did some excellent recruiting and we hope to see some new members soon off the back of his conversations. Lucien remains dedicated to supporting the runners and turned out to cheer everyone on, and Amina & Steph did the hard part and joined us for the run even though they sadly couldn't make it for breakfast. And I frantically tried to keep up with Sally Ann, who - despite having only recently returned to running after injuries - was absolutely smashing the speed and did an amazing job on her return to Princes Park.

After Parkrun and the classic photo, we headed over to new favourite cafe Maw for a well earned breakfast, where John and Jackie were delighted with the vegan cake selection. It turns out they're very well travelled for both Parkrun and Goodgym, and John makes the most of the numerous GG areas in London by attending sessions in several of them. John, next time you're in Hackney, send our love to Dan! We compared area notes and admired the Goodgym sticker adorning John's phone - any chance for a bit of exposure! As we chatted like old friends we were pleased Liam was able to join us for a coffee.

The large group of red t shirts attracted quite a bit of interest and we were approached by several people interested in joining us. And after such a beautiful morning, it's clear to see why. Even the sun shone on us, and with a wide range of running abilities everyone was welcomed and supported, no matter where they were on their running journey. It was a gorgeous start to the weekend and we all left on a high, surrounded by positivity and lovely people doing lovely things.

8 GoodGymers braved the full moon and fireworks to make a HUGE difference in Camden Town!

Our evening was a night for the senses — up above we were illuminated by the brightest and fullest moon ever seen over Camden — and everywhere we were surrounded by the bangs and pops of bonfire rockets!

Not that anything could dissuade this group from making a wonderful difference!

Jackie, John, Lydia, Sally (back to Camden again — it was great to see you!), Siobhan, Steve, and Victoria were quick to grab brooms and rakes and bags and gloves, and they got merrily (with much conversation in the air) to our task for the evening: ALL THE LEAVES.

In Cecil Sharp House's special garden there sits a magnificent tree. It is old and wise and probably has the best stories in town. But it does have one problem: ALL THE LEAVES.

And so this special group got to grips with this problem — THE ALL THE LEAVES PROBLEM — and we soon had ten then twenty then nearly thirty bags packed and ready for composting.

We'll be back in 3 weeks for our next run at the leaves!

Thank you, everyone!! It was great to see you!!

It was fantastic to welcome Claudia to her very first task last night - great to have you join us! It was also a pleasure to have GG record breaker John back in Westminster, and to see Jacquie and Kamil for our session too.

It was our return trip to St Andrew's last night - little did we know that we'd get a task that truly put us through our paces!

The brief - move six heavy tables from the garage to the storage area. The challenge - the stairs! And not to only that, but these tables were heavy. Really heavy!

Not to be deterred, we happily shifted the bases first. This did involve some technical corner based manoeuvering but didn't pose too much of a problem.Then came the table tops! This was the true work out for the evening.

First one went up - tough but not too bad. Then the second one came and we had a stroke of luck with two gym goers willing to give us a hand. Unfortunately their good will only last the space of one journey, so the last four were left to us. Muscles engaged, we lifted, shifted and pivoted until all the tables were safely in their new home. What a test of endurance! Adrian, who runs the club was really pleased we managed the task, one that he said they would have struggled to make happen - so great work everybody.

Next Tuesday we will have another session - I"m just confirming exactly what it will be so watch this space but hope to see you then!

Winter has truly arrived. How do we know? Well there are the leaves, the GoodGym tasks in the dark, but mainly: the return of Anna’s signature sleeping-bag coat, ready for many months of constant service

She was soon joining forces with Tom (once he’d found us), Lobo and Mile End Emma, carefully sifting earth from holes in the concrete ground, in the style of the BBC’s ‘Time Team’. After rehousing several worms, they replaced the earth with new concrete, freshly mixed by Lucinda, who was adding another skill to her cv

Elsewhere Ilana, newly-Eastern Emma and Kevin were using paint to bring new life to some sad-looking chairs. By the time they’d finished, the chairs were transformed, two of them a pleasing shade of green and another now bright light blue

At the other side of the estate, Josh, our new signing from Liverpool, climbed ladders with Chris, Rohan and Ryan to work on a large tree, trimming numerous thinner twigs and then many thicker branches, using loppers and saws, to prevent any pedestrian-tree confrontations, while carefully preventing any debris landing on a car parked under the tree. Four wheelbarrows were groaning under the weight of our detritus, and two huge white bags were considerably over-filled

No-one seemed keen to leave, and we stood nattering for some time before deciding we really ought to get going, or we’d miss next week’s trip to Cranbrook. See you there: https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/the-big-monday-night-task-november-garden-clearing-challenge-at-cranbrook-community-centre

On a crisp autumn morning with a gorgeous mix of cloud and sun, four of us gathered at Usk Street Allotments to lend a hand on their wildlife plot. The air was fresh and the perfect Sunday setting for a bit of outdoor graft.

Our mission? To tidy up the wildlife plot and get it looking its best before the colder months set in. That meant plenty of weeding, clearing nettles, and trimming the edges that had encroached onto the surrounding pavement - with a fair bit of log moving thrown in for good measure!

The sunshine made for a brilliant atmosphere, and even though one quarter of the team might have been feeling the after-effects of a Halloween party the night before, spirits were high. Between tugging at stubborn roots and ferrying logs to neaten up the borders, there was no shortage of teamwork or laughter. By the end, the plot edges were looking sharp, and we had cleared a strip ready and waiting for some beautiful new roses to go in soon.

With good company and plenty of banter, even the most stubborn weeds didn’t stand a chance - or stop us turning the morning into a bit of a sitcom.

Allotments like Usk Street are such an asset to the community - providing a green haven for local residents, a home for wildlife, and a space to grow, relax, and connect. But keeping them in good shape takes ongoing care, so it was great to contribute to that effort. A big thank you to Katherine for welcoming us and showing us what needed doing. The wildlife plot is now looking so much tidier and more inviting - a small but satisfying difference made on a gorgeous autumn day.