Last night, Goodgym Islington held a special Bank Holiday group run session, combining a lovely run down The Parkland Walk with the excellent work promoted by Trash Free Trails. A deviation from our usual meeting location, Area Activator Simon caught up with our running group (including first timers Da Marcus and Katya, and returning Goodgymmer Paul - welcome!) outside the Woodman Pub in Highgate, ready to try out some Plogging.

Plogging is the environmentally conscious activity of collecting litter while jogging, or performing another physical exercise, such as walking or hiking. The word is a portmanteau of the Swedish word "plocka upp" (to pick up) and the English word "jogging". The activity originated in Sweden in 2016 and has since become a global phenomenon, combining fitness with community and environmental action.

Our crew ran and cycled together down the Capital Ring Trail, while picking up the occasional dropped bottle or can on route (the path has been well maintained by The Friends of the Parkland Walk). The former railway line is famous as being a unique wooded trail cutting through Haringey and Islington, and is a must for anyone looking to explore the boroughs!

About 2 miles down the path, we arrived at Finsbury Park by crossing over a railway bridge. The amount of litter and debris greatly increased as we entered the park, particularly towards the latter part of a Bank Holiday Weekend. We peeled off into small groups, and filled up multiple heavy duty black bin bags with refuse in no time, while jogging towards The Museum of Homelessness in Manor House. Goodgym Islington were part of the original volunteering crews at MOH back in 2023, and we are thrilled to see how much progress has been made since our last visits!

To finish up the evening, we plogged all along the side of Seven Sisters Road (a wind block for rubbish blown across the park), and stopped by the funfair entrance near Blackstock Road. After an hour and a half of plogging, we had gathered at least 9 hefty bags of rubbish, that would otherwise have ended up in bushes and wildlife habitats. Well done everyone!

A group of us celebrated a job well done by visiting the Someday Canteen opposite Finsbury Park station for pizza, tacos and refreshments. Area Activator Simon also marked 6 years as the Goodgym Islington coordinator, and hopes for many more to come!

---

GOODGYM ISLINGTON NEWS

---

SESSIONS IN SEPTEMBER

Group Run- Isledon Gardens 6.45pm, Arsenal Community Hub Monday 1st September

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/group-run-isledon-gardens-nature-trail-e1e80f64-79ea-42ab-9d6f-7abc764b3d0d

Community Mission- Light of the World Church Gardening and Painting 7.15pm, Lighthouse Community Centre, Evershot Street, Monday 8th September

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/community-mission-light-of-the-world-church-gardening-and-painting

Group Run - Caledonian Park- Autumn Path Building 6.45pm, Arsenal Community Hub, Monday 15th September

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/group-run-caledonian-park-autumn-path-building

Community Mission - Highbury Quadrant Estate Gardens 7.15pm, Highbury Quadrant Estate Wildflower Gardens, Monday 22nd September

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/community-mission-highbury-quadrant-gardening-e8d683c9-f13e-44fa-b3cc-adc3a0c00ec0

Group Run - Thornhill Square Gardens, 6.45pm, Arsenal Community Hub, Monday 29th September

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/group-run-thornhill-square-gardens-a8ed6638-d46f-44f9-a2f5-e26ee2c54c2c

—-----------------------------------

Achilles International VI Guide Running Sessions

Every Thursday, 6pm, Various London locations

On Thursday evenings, the all abilities sports charity Achilles International holds a group run session at a London location.

Here is a list of our upcoming events and sign up pages. Runners, supporters and guides of all abilities and experiences welcome!

Stratford Olympic Park Thursday 28th August

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/come-and-guide-run-with-achilles-international-olympic-park-stratford-route-f1e7bda3-ccf3-4506-96bc-b1d6c90cdf61

Arsenal Emirates Stadium Thursday 4th September

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/come-and-guide-run-with-achilles-international-emirates-stadium-0564ad66-99ad-4f45-aa08-2e42959ff2ad

Paddington Rec Track Maida Vale Thursday 11th September

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/come-and-guide-run-with-achilles-international-paddington-rec-track-cb3577ca-7ca3-4561-8ad9-6b0fec2aefd1

—---------------------------

Penn Road Gardens - July Volunteer Day

Sunday 31st August, 10am - midday, Penn Road Gardens

Every last Sunday of the month, the residents of Penn Road invite keen volunteers to help with maintaining this lovely community spot just off Holloway Road.

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/penn-road-gardens-open-morning-august-de813053-fd30-4336-abe6-9266377ac4da

—--------------------------------------

The Post Big Half After Party

Saturday 7th September, 11.30am onwards, The Mitre, Southwark

Come to the after-party for a social with your fellow GoodGymers and celebrate your achievements!

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/post-big-half-after-party-eed83bcd-77c9-425e-8264-84af1a37ce12

—-----------------------------

Compton Terrace Gardens- Volunteer Session

Saturday 13th September, 10am - 1pm, Union Chapel, Islington

A smashing community mission for those partaking in Highbury Fields or Finsbury parkrun on a Saturday morning!

A friendly gardening group started to look after the park about 10 years ago. We are always looking for more help - with planting, mulching, pruning, and all the other things a garden needs.

Everyone welcome, no special skills needed! Lots of fresh air and a nice chance to meet local people. We meet once a month on a Saturday morning near the shed in the middle of the Gardens.

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/compton-terrace-gardens-volunteer-open-morning-september-804ac5e0-41e6-49f0-8960-0aeb611b1cc4

—-----------------------------

Golden Olden Community Gardens - Monthly Volunteer Open Day

Saturday 20th September, 10am - 2pm, Opposite Whistler Street, Islington

Olden Community Garden is a charity that maintains this lovely green space, with the object to promote a community garden for the benefit of people living or working in the London Borough of Islington. Olden Garden gives local people opportunities for education and recreation, with the aim of increasing involvement in the community and reducing isolation.

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/golden-olden-community-gardens-monthly-volunteer-open-day-8b35a77f-abc6-48bf-a700-e29f2e7d4dde

—---------------------------

Camino Ultra Epping Forest 50km and 25km Eco Trail- Aid Station Superstars 2025!!!

Sunday 4th October, 9am onwards, Rangers Road, Chingford

DaznBone (aka Darren Strachan and David Bone) and the Camino Ultra team are putting together the logistics for their next 50km ultra race (running from Wanstead Flats, up the green corridor to Epping Forest and back), and have invited the Goodgym crew to get involved!

On the course, there will be 4 major aid stops, and we have been invited to take over the first refresh point and the penultimate aid station.

This will involve providing water and snacks to runners of all abilities during the key stages of their race, and to support them with smiling faces and enthusiasm!

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/camino-ultra-epping-forest-50km-and-25km-eco-trail-aid-station-superstars-2025

Last night was full to the brim with bank holiday heroes spending their evening doing good in the local community and getting themselves a nice old workout in the process!

• Welcome to Paul and James who both came along for their first run last - give them a cheer!

• A huge well done to all of you that got out there running this weekend. Especially to Sam who did his 50th parkrun, Stephen and Oliver who incredibly raced at lunchtime in the Vitality 10k, John who smashed the Vitality Westminster Mile on Sunday and Matthew who did a half marathon lap race.

It was brilliant to see so many of you last night given that it was a day off for most of us. We kicked off proceedings with a warm up that featured a range of dynamic movements, and an equally important discussion about our fave ice creams. In this very official poll, it was - drum roll - Solero that came out top. A true classic!

Our job last night was at Paradise Cooperative garden, a charity that was set up to connect food, nature and people through sustainable urban farming and community gardening. They combine participation, education and celebration in cultivating under-used land in Wandsworth. It was a 2.5km run away, so we set off in the last of the evening sunshine at a good pace.

We soon arrived (after a few squats and planks along the way) to find trustee Brendan there waiting for us with a list of jobs. It was great to see the place in the light as we have often had to rely on our headtorches, and discover all the beautiful things that the team there have been busy with. Most noticeably is the new pond, which we were tasked with raking around, and all the gorgeous plants coming into fruit and flower (noticeably some quite delicious strawberries that miraculously survived our visit!). We also got stuck into moving huge logs, creating new seating areas, weeding. moving railway sleepers and having a go on the rope swing. Hard work, but a lot of fun, too!

Before we left Brenda thanked us, and let us know that the work we did tonight would have taken two regular volunteers a week to complete. What a brilliant way to spend a bank holiday -well done gang!

Next up was a quick fitness session in Wandsworth Common, starting with a game to get our heart rates up, then moving on to some tough clock sprint circuits where some teams were kinder to others when it came to keeping time! With squat holds, planks, press ups and mountain climbers, this was a good all over body workout, so well done team.

A quick run home was all that was left of our bank holiday GoodGym fix. Nice running everyone. Next week we have our final visit to the community garden in Battersea that we have been helping transform into a safe and welcoming place so it can be opened to the local residents. Sign up here to see all the details. Until then, have a great week GoodGymers!