This week, we were back at St James Garden with Friends of St James' Garden to finish what we started last week.

4 runners met on hope street where we were thrilled to welcome two newbies: Mel and Mel. Hope to have you join us again soon!

As St James garden is so close to our meeting point we treated ourselves to a few hill reps before heading on over. Very impressed with all the runners for persevering!

Once there we met 7 more goodgymmers and were tasked with weeding all the pavements around the Husskinson Memoral. I think you can tell from the before an after pictures what a huge impact we had!

Thankfully the weeds and grass came up surprisingly easily - the turf almost came up like a carpet and we were able to clear a huge area. Well done to everyone!

On a warm sunny evening in Liverpool 15 GoodGymmers could be found in St James Gardens. Invited to join Friends of St James Garden's Michael and Vikky (who is also a Goodgymmer) and Lucy and Will from Shiverpool we could be found weeding the paved area around the Huskinsson memorial.

One of the great things about a session like this is it offers you an opportunity to take this time out of your day to suit what you need whilst helping out a local group. With clear directions to follow you are all in the same area but with the space to either focus on the task enjoy the fresh air and reflect on the day or to work by someone and chat whilst you weed. And that is how an hour flies by whilst the space turns from looking a little neglected and overlooked to being cared for once more and plans for a Goodgym trip to Isle of Man start to take shape (keep watching for more on this).

It was an evening of welcomes and farewells. We are so pleased to welcome Nina to Liverpool Goodgym. Nina originally with Haringey Goodgym has relocated and we look forward to seeing her more. A sad farewell to Renata as she moves away and on to the next era of her life. Please come back and see us when you visit and it was lovely to meet you.

It was also an evening of newness. Heetu led the runners through their paces on her first full session leading (Heetu is preparing for her run leader course which basically formalises what she excels in anyway). He5rtu had us running up and down the Metropolitan cathedral flight of steps making it fun and despite the steepness of the steps and the heat of the day laughter and encouragement could be heard as we all got into the swing of it step session finished we ran the length of Hope Street to the Anglican cathedral with bounds of energy and enthusiasm to start the task Well done Heetu.

This evening, as all our sessions do, showed the difference we can all make by joining together with kind intention in unity and understanding

Many thanks to Friends of St James Gardens for inviting us. We are back with them again next week.... why not join us.

10 Goodgymmers wrestled away from their warm duvets on a very chilly Sunday morning and headed to the Westbury Banks Nature Reserve for a smorgasboard of tasks.

Big Noise Corner!

Everybody make some noise for Nina, Naoko, Jacob, Ed, and Angeliki who all joined us for their first ever Goodgym task. They all bounded full of hope and enthusiasm as they met Gramps at the basketball courts in Turnpike Lane for our first taster session of the year and they were ace. Hope to see you all again soon - unless you're about to set off for a 4-month tour of the Caribbean (wink, wink, Nina) in which case, hope to see you in the summer. Bring Gramps some rum, please.

"I've only ever run for the bus"

Actual words, actually spoken by an actual person at a Goodgym task this weekend! Wonderful Angeliki not only did smash her Goodgym debut on Sunday but she also did her first actual run ever as an adult. With us. On a freezing weekend morning. She very sneakily only pointed this out halfway through a fun fitness session at the end of the task (!) as she was asking what other Goodgyms she could go to. Yes, that's a tear in Gramps eye. No, it's not the rum talking #DryJan Running looks good on you, Angeliki! 💪🏾

"We love the smell of stirred pond in the morning"

The Wood Green community has big plans for the WBNR this Spring and we were beckoned to help this weekend.

So 8 runners, 2 cyclists, and 2 1/2 walkers met at the Reserve to start clearing the accessible paths ahead of some community workshops later in the year. Storm Xxx had knocked down some big trees and Ed, Nina, and Angeliki armed themselves with heavy duty loppers and started clearing up the biggest branches from the paths. Jacob, Latoya, Kathleen, Charlie and John concentrated on some hardcore weeding of the main accessible path at the bottom of the site. Meanwhile, Naoko, Jase, Marie and little Artemis carried out a very thorough litter pick.

It was a busy hour and our team did a cracking job, leaving the Reserve pretty clean and half of the accessible path cleared. The ground was too cold for tree-planting so we protected the young trees as much as we could and we are looking for a date in the diary to return and finish the job.

Once finished, Jase, Marie, and Artemis walked home and Naoko and Jacob also cycled homewards. Latoya, Angeliki, John, and Nina walked back to Turnpike Lane to wait for Charlie, Kathleen, Edward, and Gramps who ran back for a quick fitness session. We played some twisted Rock/Paper/Scissors before Latoya inevitably tortured us all with Moby's Flower - if you know, you know.

After a good ol' GGHaringey high five, we also said goodbye and went off our merry ways.

As taster sessions go, that was a peach. Boom

Ready for more? Meet us on Wednesday for Tottenham Green shenanigans!