A massive 41 GoodGymers filled planters, wheelbarrowed, hoe'd and cleared twigs for three Camden charities

Corrr blimey what a lovely night, it was wet, it was windy and definitely not Spring BUT we had a massive fourty-one people down at GG Camden, the most this year so far! Thanks for coming!

Welcome to the newbies – Katherine, David, Claire, Emma, Kimberley, Tom P, Ellie, Alex, Susana,Rosa and Tom - great to have you along.

In the news this week:

1. Steve Lee hit 50 Good Deeds last night, earning himself a black t-shirt – wahey! Give him a cheer!
2. Lina did her first 5km time trial at the weekend with GG Race Team, sign up to the next one here.
3. Well done to the Brighton Half Marathoners at the weekend, Jacob got another PB and Damian got a post-shoulder surgery PB – nice one guys!
4. Its GoodGym monthly drinks tonight down in Lewisham, Pritesh will be there with a wonderful speech and a smiling facing. Go on down – sign up here.
5. Lastly I am going to Kenya for the next three weeks so me and my beard won’t be around. The wonderful Polly, Frances and Pritesh will be covering for me while I am gone. Don’t miss me toooo much.

After all that news, a headcount involving three Steve’s and two Chris’ we got warmed up. After raising our heart rate nicely we split into three groups, we were helping the following organisations:

1. St Luke’s Community Centre – this is a fantastic centre that runs lots of projects and programmes for the community, including having an amazing green space!
2. Alara – this is a wholefoods provider that also runs various green projects, including Kings Cross Orchard Project.
3. Castlehaven Community Centre – nestled in the heart of Camden Town this centre runs projects for both young and older persons, plus they maintain two parks.

St Luke’s Report:

Frances led 15 runners for our second trip to St Luke’s Community Centre, to help our friends at GoodGym Islington finish off their mammoth task of filling the planters with soil.

10 people got straight to the task, shovelling, wheelbarrowing and turning the soil until the job was pretty much done. Another five strong-armed people helped move bags of compost out of the shed – with a human chain formed, they got the job done quickly so they could help everyone else finish the planters.

Shed photo!

After a quick shed photo, we hit the roads back to base, missing most (but not all) of the heavy rain showers.

Alara Report:

Polly led a group of 12 runners to go and help Alara, with this being just a 1km a way they had a nice warm up before tackling the task.

Splitting into groups the team wheelbarrowed compost from THE HUGE PILE into the Permaculture Garden and did some hoeing around the space to make sure it’s spread evenly.

Cookie Fuelled

Fuelled by Alara cookies the group smashed through the task and then headed to Granary Square for a loop and some conditioning exercises.

Castlehaven Report:

PB led a group of 10 runners North along Royal College Street, past Camden Overground station and to Castlehaven which is just behind Camden Lock!

Once equipped with gloves and bin bags from the Des Res we split into two groups, with Meredith’s team heading to the north park and Jess’ heading to the south park. The aim for the night was to bag up any and all twigs, branches and wood that was left over from Storm Doris last Thursday.

Upon first impressions there didn’t seem many twigs about, but after 30 seconds we realised we had our hands full. Over the course of 20 minutes we filled eight bags of debris and there was still plenty more to do – we’ll be back!

Canal Vote

After a quick vote we decided to head west along the canal and not the road, it's a bit of an experience in the dark but sticking together it’s quite the adventure. We ran a mile along the canal and met Polly’s Alara crew before heading back for a group stretch.

Once again thanks for coming along, sign up here for next week, the wonderful Polly is leading!.

PB out.

Four of us paid another visit to Ealing Road Baptist Church last night. After a 2.5k jog we met with Roger outside the premises who was wearing a new hat and explained how his wife often hides the hats of his that she doesn't like. I don't know why I included this in the report, it just seems funny :-D

So, to work...

Graham and Alicia set about emptying two large cupboards of various tinned food, packets of pasta, biscuits, tea, a dodgy perfume set and some strange biscuit/cream cheese combination that looked a bit scary.

While at the same time Andy and Simon carried some chairs upstairs and then organised a bookshelf.

As usual we got loads done in a short space of time and had a little while for Roger to offer us various items of food that were unsuitable for the food bank, such as out-of-date mince pies, which we sampled for a bit of fuelling for the journey back.

On the way home we stopped for a mini "leg-buster" challenge. A short lunge walk, followed by five squat jumps up and down a kerb and then repeat twice more. Gets you to just about the point where you don't want to walk any more. Ow.

That's it, I'm off now. Thanks for having me GoodGym Hounslow. It has been great fun and I'll see you at Gunnersbury parkrun on the 4th March

Ana from Wandsworth is taking over next week. Sign up here

Simon

Welcome first timers Tim, Alicia and Catherine joining us this evening.

A late cancellation meant that instead of heading back to Ealing Road we went flyering around the streets of Hounslow to let locals know that GoodGym is happening nearby.

Members Andy and Lily ( in brand new red t-shirt) led teams of three for a bit of a leafleting competition. Points were awarded for getting rid of flyers most quickly.

With local streets covered we turned our attention to some fitness and another chance to win some points.

First the step-up challenge. Who can do 40 steps the quickest? Andy gained a point for his team when we led with the right leg but Donna came out on top for Team Lily when it was left leg first.

With the scores at 4-2 to Andy's lot we had a go at a couple of relay races. Team Lily grabbed victory for the first round while Andy's came out on top for round two.

The prize? Andy got to cut Simon's leftover birthday cake back at base.

We had a munch and a bit of a stretch, left some leaflets at reception and headed home.

Great night of getting fit and doing good.

We are definitely at Ealing Road Baptist Church next week. See you there!

Simon