Twelve runners set out on a beautiful Monday night for short trot down to the Old Harlesden Police Station where a huge task awaited them out the back...

Abraham was there to meet and greet, and introduced us to Colin, who explained that a new art complex called CREATE SPACE will soon be opening there and will be available for local community use, and that they are fighting to make it a great space for everyone, rather than letting it be developed into blocks of flats. Anyone looking for more information about volunteering or signing up as members can contact colinlearatceatespace@outlook.com (0749 232 1626).

Colin led us out to the previously unexplored territory round the back of the station, (where the creepy old Willesden gallows are located!!!) and set us all to work, with Sadhana, our intrepid (and prolific) photographer catching all the best action moments!

There was (quite LITTER-ally) heaps to do;

• moving wood

• weeding

• sawing branches

• moving piles of mattresses

• litter picking

• fighting unruly ivy...

...but the team were undaunted - we had no trouble with the rubble! and cleared some space in that place! Bravely ignoring slugs and wee beasties, brushing past clumps of nettles and thistles and enduring their nasty stings, we worked on for 50 minutes, searching for doc leaves to soothe the pain, but to no avail... We packed up and set off back for the Queensbury with just a sliver of daylight left - yay for spring!

Before you go... The next GoodGym monthly drinks will be on Thursday 6th April from 6.30pm til late, upstairs at the Marquis of Cornwallis, WC1N 1AP (near Russell Sq). All the details are here: https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/gg-monthly-social-april I hope you can make it!

The next is a 'save the date' for the GoodGym Olympics, which will be held on Saturday 10th June at the Parilament Hill Track from 1-6pm; the idea is that different boroughs compete in events like 400m, and the elimination mile, to more novel events like a welly throwing competition and even hopefully a wheelbarrow race with real wheelbarrows. Each area will be encouraged to make their own flag for the event and even have a GoodGym Bake-off (ala a summer fate style), so hopefully it will be something for everyone.

Bye for now, till next time! XXX

Pun credits go to Debs!!!

9 wonderful women and 1 heroic "He" (Enrique) ran through the breeze and the big freeze, took on the trees and left feeling rather pleased. Just your average evening for Goodgym Brent then! Pow Pow

It was all go go goooo this eve as the mighty Brent team hit the road, running 5k to and from Harlesden Community Gardens to help with some log lifting and compost shifting. YAY And what a good cause to give back to, these guys truly are an incredible hub for the community, offering local young people the chance to learn about organic, home grown foods and caring enough to provide an oasis sanctuary for all those that reside in the area. Terrific.

Demonstrating to us her fine leadership skills Debs took the lead at the front of the pack and even had the team working their butts off with double backs and squats to and from on route!!! We'll make a coach runner of her yet!

Speeding our way through the streets of Willesden there was no stopping this nifty crew, bobbing, weaving, leaping and streaking (just to confirm no indecency). In no more than 20mins we had arrived into the welcoming embrace of Gabriel, our Angel from the North (West) who wasted no time in pointing out the load of logs that needed shifting from A to B...... Hummmmmmm we thought and as we surveyed the mountain of trees was this guy barking mad could we finish this epic task in time..... Of course we can it's GG BRENT! POW POW

So it was Hey, Ho, it's off to work we go and go we did with gusto and grit forming an assembly line of helping hands all working in complete coordination with nobody at logger heads. HAAAAAAAA

As I personally took on the dangerous task of lighting the efforts with my massive torch.... Yes Dangerous - because I was being eaten alive by beasties in the bushes, the rest of the crew heaved and huffed their way through and even had time to finish off with a clean, sweep up and haul into the compost heap of leftovers for good measure.

Of course the time flew past in beautiful harmony as the team were cheered on by myself and Debs, singing a beautiful rendition of "Paint with all the colours of the wind" from Disney classic Pocahontis. Time's up.... Thank goodness they can stop singing now..... and it was goodbye from us, but not before we enjoyed a quick turn on the children play equipment with Sadhana knocking out her most impressive plank to date and Luscious NOT lusty Liz working the abs with pikes on the swings. Impressive.

Turning on our heels, we flew back off into the eve with fast pace and lots of grace, just for the thrill, up Huffington Hill and full steam ahead back to base camp.

What a fantastic night, I can honestly say I've never laughed so hard or had so much fun. But hey, that's Goodgym and the best gang of straight-up weirdos in town, my beloved Brent.

See you next time.

DO GOOD. FEEL GOOD. INSPIRE.

10 lovely ladies and 1 lucky lad, repped the red tee massive, ran 8k and tasked all the way to Stonebridge Park!! POW POW

Run Report by Samina!!! Today we ran the full and frantic 5 miles, through the streets of Neasden, over the bridge and down the North Circular to our beloved Sufra, community food bank to help with their allotment and community gardens development.

Clare AKA "Mouse in the house:", took the lead on the front pack and guided the group through Neasden with Enrique also near the front pointing out Neasden landmarks in the “Curious Incident of the dog at nighttime” (Oh yes we have all the famous playwrights in Brent DON'T CHA KNOW). Also in Monday's team was newcomer Sabina, back for a second week in a row, regular raucous ravers - sister sledge Tabitha and Deborah, 'lets get a move on Speedy legs' Liz and fresh from her North London half marathon, queen of the medal hoard Sadhana.

Bringing up the rear was Ellie, supporting Ozlen and Thais on there first ever 8k, which they smashed to smithereens!!! Oh yes that's just how we roll in Brent! Badass!

After running down the busy North Circular route leaving the dazzling light and sights of...... ah hemmmmm: Tesco and Ikea behind us, we finally saw the arch of Wembley and turned our last corner to arrive in under 30mins at Sufra food bank where we thirsty bunch were greeted with glasses of water in the kitchen and Liz rightly reminding me that the food including biscuits and bananas wasn’t for us!!!

Within 5 minutes we were guided outside by the always smiling lead of this amazing project - Mohammed. YAY to St Raphael’s garden to collect 50 tyres from around the yard. The team Rolled up our sleeves as well as the tyres and kept rolling, rolling, rolling, in fact, to get those tyres energetically from around the yard, after which they were neatly piled high whilst Enrique and Tabitha tried to video us in action.

Joining us on the task was the resident feline visitor to the site and when the task was done, Ellie stroked its shiny black fur. As for Me-Owwwwwww I just cracked on with the next part of the task - Loading rocks into the wheelbarrows to create drainage for the site. It was a not-so-glamorous job, but someone had to rock it.

and as the other task of collecting the stones was in full swing, Ellie could been seen through the gates lunging desperately trying to exercise her spare tyre away.

We then joined forces outside the gate with Tabitha joking ‘we’re so tyred’ and ah haaaaaa the pun of all puns was born!!! YES!!! So as the team left those tyres behind, we began the last leg of running back down towards the North Circular before parting company with Sadhana and her jazzy new leggings, under the glowing arches of the Macdonalds M. So the rest of us began running all the way back to the Queensbury, where it was laughs, chats, fast-feet and a jolly good(gym) time, all the way home.

Last thing on the menu was one final stretch and wave farewell, ending yet another Magical Monday in wonderful Willesden.

See you next time!!

Monday-Funday was excitement city, when 9 Brent beauties, set out to run 5miles, do some good and throw out a massive dollop of crew-love all over West London. BOOM

As always, my beaming Brent bevy of beauties awaited me this Monday eve, ready to rock some community love all the way to Stonebridge Park.

New to the mix was - Sabina who my joined ravishing regulars: Sadhana, mouse, Steph, Liz, Amy, Elisa and Debs and after mega announcements, race updates and a sprinkling of Italian lessons from Debs and Elisa, the team wasted no time hot-footing it out the door, to set to work on the first leg of the tour.

With the 2.5miles distance in our sites, I led pace from the front with mouse scooping up the rear. In no time at all we had steamed all the way over from base camp to Dollis Hill, our first marker along the way. Next up, along the north circ, 2nd marker, 3rd and 4th all melting away as we flew past - Sadhana's bridge, Ikea and the Wembley Arch with Debs shouting proudly omg i've run all the way to IKEA YIPPPEEEE

Finally arriving on Pitfield Lane, the whole distance was dashed in 30mins flat, even though the crossings seemed to take a hundred years to go green! This epic time of course also included one brave effort from she-warrior Steph hurting her ankle on route. But like the badass she is, she moaned not one jot and with the help of the magnificent mouse supporting her sister in arms, we all reached our destination for the night - Sufra community food bank, with bags of time to get stuck in and help with the task for the night.

Sufra Community Food Bank, had one request of us this week, shift the massive mountains of soil from A to B, to pack the massive, empty tanks due to be stuffed with veg that would grow, ready for summer plucking. So with shovels and wheelbarrows a plenty we got to work. Confession time........Of course I say 'we' when really the gallant girls did all the back breaking work, while I photographed the epic efforts. Standard!

In 30mins the girls had shovelled, shifted and wheeled 50% of this mountain and managed to pack 4 troffs to the brim AMAZING WORK. Sadhana even had time to complete her planking challenge and pose for some seriously sexy snaps!!

After the work it was full steam ahead, back to base and at full pace. Thank goodness for Mouse who volunteered to lead the last leg, as poor Steph really couldn't run on hers and for the first time in Brent GG history there was an order for an Uber!! But a necessity measure when one of the troops needed a helping hand, or should I say Leg back.

Back at base we regrouped and stretched and hugged out the last of the love for what was an unbelievable team effort, proving goodgym isn't just about spreading love to the community, it's also about supporting and caring for each other and working as a team to help each other along the way too.

See you next time for an even bigger dose of crew love!!

DO GOOD. FEEL GOOD. INSPIRE.