First we had eleven, by the end of the headcount we had twelve and by the end of the warm-up we had thirteen of us ready to get our fingers turned veritably green as we helped at the Gladstone Park Allotments!

With everyone together at last we headed off towards Gladstone Park, despite all my map checking I still managed to take us up one wrong turn but we didn't go far and what's an extra half a kilometre?! It was great to be running in the light although there was still a chill to the air. Kudos to Liz who not only came along in just shorts and tshirt but was also was fresh from having run her first half marathon in Wales on Sunday - amazing effort!

Wrong turn

Once we got to the allotments we were met by Carol who had heard about goodgym through North West TWO, a residents association for the Cricklewood area. She took us down to the plot we would be working on where we also met Michael. The main task in hand was weeding between the plots and in some of the over grown plots too. Everyone donned gloves and got straight to work pulling up the weeds and clearing around the allotment plot. Nadeige, Emily, Caroline and Uthman teamed up to replant some of the strawberry plants that had get tangled amongst the weeds. It was a great team effort and we replanted the strawberries in half a plot whilst clearing the weeds from another half. Nadeige got so into it we thought we were going to have to leave her behind to as she wanted to finish the job!

Teamwork, good for the soil!

We worked hard for about 40 minutes and had made a massive difference - Carol and Michael both remarked that we'd got a huge amount done in the time and it had made a big difference for them. Before we left Carol kindly provided us with some cordial and garibaldi biscuits. With everyone refreshed we said our goodbyes and headed back to base. The temperature had dropped significantly so the pace back was quite a step faster. Everyone did great and we even managed a session of squats in the park!

It was superb evening and after stretching off and hearing the news about the GoodGym Olympics (we need a team this year!) and the London Marathon Cheering we split and some headed home and some stayed for a much deserved drink!

Next week we are doing some leafletting, it's going to be a short task so we'll finish with some fitness work or if we are lucky we'll have a couple of tasks - sign up here!

Cheers, Pritesh

Eleven of you joined me in Willesden Green this week matching my 'world record' attendance numbers as we had our first run in the light as we enter British Summer Time. A BIG GG Brent welcome to Emily, Hannah and Helen who attended for the first time - great to have you with us. Welcome back to Karen who hadn't joined us in some time and for you regulars - well we love to see you too!

Old favourite

Tonight we were heading off to visit Colin at the old police station in Willesden Green, it's a volunteer led project converting the old police station into a community hub for all kinds of things to then be able to take place there.

It's a short run down to the station and we were impressed to see that much of our previous work was blooming at the front of the building - all the planters were full of beautiful flowers!

Colin gave a us a bit of a tour so that we could see some of the activity that had been ongoing, the front reception was pretty much complete, some screen printing equipment had been installed and as previously mentioned much of the gardening had been done.

Our task tonight was to do some more planting and move rearrange some of the flowers that were yet to be painted. Along with this there were various odd jobs to be done - plenty to keep us busy!

Kittens!

Colin being Colin he couldn't help but add some extras on to our tour and our work...first up everyone got to meet the little kittens that live on site - cue all the cuteness! I decided to take on the 'evil taskmaster' role and eventually got everyone split up and on to the tasks.

Everyone worked hard for a good 30 minutes including a 'five minute challenge' for the 'planters' outside - it made for a fun finish and just when we were ready to leave Colin found us one last task!

One more task, one more task, one more task

Clare, Danny, Pete and Samina. rather 'un-abley' assisted by myself took care of that last job helping Colin to move a planter from the police station site across the High Road to the Islamic College.

One swift group picture later and we were off for a run back - we headed back on a slightly longer route that took us out to Gladstone Park (check out the parkrun there every Saturday) and then back to base. A quick stretch off later and we were all done with some of the group staying at the pub for a deserved drink.

We're doing some leafletting for Cricklewood Library next Monday (bank holidays don't stop us!) so sign up and join us!

Cheers, Pritesh

What a difference a week makes – we gathered in the Queensbury on a positively balmy night compared to last week.

Tonight we were running around 4km to Stonebridge to help Jack from the Canal and River Trust with some litter picking on the Brent Feeder that runs from the reservoir into the canals and eventually to the Thames and the Channel!

An awesome twelve of you, including Katharine who joined for the first time, grouped outside to have a quick intro and get ourselves together before the run.

Sharks

I took everyone through what we were going to be doing, gave a shout out to Danny and Simon who had both ran in the Big Half on Sunday and told everyone about the GoodGym Monthly Social which is this Thursday in Greenwich. Apart from the odd moment of miscommunication – watch out for the ‘sharps’ not the sharks’ near the canal all went well and with Tabitha and Deborah backmarking we set off to Stonebridge.

Keep on running

We take a back streets route to the canal so we that we don’t have too many pedestrians and crossings to negotiate and we kept up a good pace and arrived in Stonebridge in around 30 minutes. After Jack showed us all the tools and safety equipment we needed we split into pairs (harder than you might think) and then split across two sections of canal and litter-picked away! We worked solidly for around 25 minutes and had filled nearly 10 bags full of litter! Great job team and well done to those that braved getting things out of the canal too – we loved those long reach litter pickers!

Litter picks!

With all the bags tidied up and all the equipment returned we gathered for a group photo with Jack. He told us about some of the upcoming tasks we might get up to (it’s not just litter-picking to be done) including a bat survey, some planting and even wading in to the canal to manage the reeds and we’re hopefully looking to work on some different sites too! Whilst Jack was telling us about this one of the local residents stuck her head out and asked about helping too – we’ll either join forces or have some competition but either way it’s good for the canal!

Bag and bags

With everything taken care of we headed back to the Queensbury (thanks to Kathy for backmarking) and had a stretch before heading home with a deserved happy glow. Next week we’re nipping over the border in to Camden (shhh!) and helping the wonderful Abbey Community Centre digging in their community garden (3k run each way). Sign up here, look forward to seeing you all.

Cheers, Pritesh

Monday evening in Willesden Green and a crack team of six meet in a pub to see what's in store for them this week...

Practice Run

So a lovely bunch of you joined me on a damp and grey February evening and to make matters worse we were in the sorry position of having no task! No matter, you all said you were up for a practice run to the section of canal that Brent looks after to help me out with our task in a couple of weeks.

A big GoodGym welcome to Nadeige who joined us for the first time in Brent. A welcome back for the first time in 2018 for Caroline, nice to meet you for the first time Pete and good to see Danny, Liz and Uthman again this week.

Paper Map

With everyone signed in and my intro and head-count done we set off towards Stonebridge. Liz kindly backmarked for us ensuring that no-one was left behind and I exuded confidence leading the way with map clutched in hand promising that I had learnt the route.

Remember your green cross code

Not long after we'd left we encountered our first crossing and Caroline got a little shock as I insisted we wait for the green man, with that all settled we were sure to cross properly and I think there were no hard feelings ;)

The group kept a steady pace with Danny and Uthman occasionally stretching their legs ahead of us and we reached our destination in a decent 32 minutes. We had a look around the patch of the 'Brent Feeder' that we'd worked on before. It certainly looks like it will need our helping hands when we come down in a couple of weeks which is a shame but we're hopeful that our continued efforts on the canal will change attitudes in the area around littering. While we caught our breath I talked, puns, socials and more puns and we chucked in a little fitness session and Uthman showed he was really up for it by getting some press-ups and a plank in too!

With that it was time to head back and we were pretty much on the same pace for the journey back. Kudos to Danny and Uthman for 'reps' of Roundwood Park and well done to everyone for a great run (8.54km by my calculations, forgot to strava it - map above) and for the high spirits all evening.

Next week we have a new task helping Mencap in Willesden Green, you can sign up here, it's a shorter run but if we have time we'll do some fitness too. If you're inspired by the run today then sign up for the task on March 5th where we'll be doing some clear up work on the canal!

Cheers, Pritesh