Goodgym Haringey got together last night with a very special purpose in mind - to celebrate a departed friend, whose love for life, disposition for a good laugh, and thirst for just a few more Ks was intoxicating and contagious. The thing about death is that it doesn't care about fairness and sometimes it takes from us people who just had too much damn living ahead of them, leaving those of us still around with such a deep sense of loss. Nurj knew this and last time I saw her at the hospital, she made me promise her in that matter-of-factly kind of way of hers that I needed to make sure her Goodgym lot as she called us would be ok afterwards because after all she wouldn't be around to do so. Bloody strong to the end, our Nurj.

So, as a way of keeping a promise, the Goodgym Haringey family decided to bring some new life into this wonderful London borough that she so loved. We planted a baby tree, which will be around for many years to come, and where us Goodgymmers can go and share a quick laugh or the latest juicy goss with Nurj. A Royal Beauty by name, this tree will be all colours and fancy things as seasons change so we know Nurjehan would have approved. And also, as her Goodgym lot got together last night for the customary rummage through a community garden on a lovely warm Wednesday evening at the end of another Summer season, sharing a laugh, some memories, and some tears, I know she would have smiled at her favourite Goodgym in the country and felt proud. We'll never stop missing you on Wednesday evenings, good friend.

11 Goodgymmers rooted for glory as they lent a hand at Floyde's Garden to help them prep the site ahead of a very special landscaping project.

Many hands...

With the recent passing of our GGHaringey Stalwart Nurjehan, the good folk at Floyde's Garden have kindly offered to host a tree planted in her memory, which will become the focal point of a brand new landscaped square for the gardens.

First order of business was digging up a number of deep-rooted dead trees and a multitude of brambles to create a blank canvas of sorts for the new planting scheme.

To that end, our Goodgymmers gathered at Blue House Yard where we kept warm with some light exercises, including introducing some of the new folk to the wonderful world of wall sits, before running a cool 2k to site together. Once at the gardens, we were met by Laurie - from Noel Park Big Local who look after the site - who talked us through the tasks at hand.

Before you knew it, we had lept into action and were digging and leveling to our heart's content.

We were also tasked with helping to rescue some bricks from the works on the adjacent playground so they can be recycled as a small plaza around Nurjehan's tree.

Within an hour our Goodgymmers had completely cleared the site and helped the pile of recycled bricks grow even taller so we had a little nosey at the progress on the playground works next door.

We then did the only reasonable things on a cold night like this and ran to the closest watering hole for much-needed refreshments.

We'll be at Traid next Tuesday and all being well, we should be planting Nurjehan's Tree on Wednesday - watch this space.

6 Goodgymmers jumped into action as the Tottenham Community Sports Centre came calling with a massive bag of gravel and a car park that needed some love. Boom!

One Foot (Not) On The Grave

Big up for Ren who joined us for her first ever run and task. She didn't even flinch when Gramps insisted they run to task through a cemetery and she even zombie danced when he also insisted on a cemetery photograph. A natural. Come again <3

Post-Big Half Hanger Issues

Ren, Raj, and Gramps ran the cool 4k to task where they met with Veronika, Ed, Latoya who was still basking in the wonderful post-Big Half glow.

After a bit of confusion when Gramps thought a random punter was our task owner for the night, the rest of the crew understood the assignment and followed the actual task owner to the Centre's car park where they received some clear instructions: please introduce this massive bag of gravel to our car park.

Our crew, led by a Latoya who was definitely feeling pretty post-Big Halfy indeed, understood these clear instructions to mean: FLIP THIS MOTHERFLIPPING BAG OVER. And so it began. It was a sisyphean task of sorts, if instead of rolling a rock up a hill, you have a bunch of rather otherwise intelligent Goodgymmers thinking they could just pick up an 800k bag of gravel and tip it over. But, by Zeus, they tried.

When reality finally caught up with our team, they armed themselves with shovels and fork instead and the task then began in earnest.

Every couple of shovelfuls, Latoya and Ed would try to pick up the bag again while newbie Ren buzzed like a bee wanting nothing to do with the futile bag picking until she was eventually brought over to the dark side. Veronika and Raj took turns at levelling the gravel and shaking their heads laughing.

Eventually, without as much fanfare as we expected, the bag was indeed tipped and we had blasted our way through the task way before 8 - talk about gravelling at the speed of light!

Afterwards, we had time to take some pics in the boxing rink, and Veronika and Gramps ran back to HQ while the rest of the team went off in search of food.

A brilliant night.

6 Goodgymmers armed themselves with litter pickers and headed for the gardens of the Wood Green Library to give the Library's Friends a hand clearing this very busy community space.

Silence, please

We congregated for an evening of hardcore litter picking at the Wood Green Library, expecting a bit of a mess and it didn't disappoint!

This much-loved but very busy community space acts as the de facto town square at the very busy Wood Green High Road and on busy days like Wednesday, the poor gardens end up looking a bit worse for wear.

Enter our Goodgymmers.

Dave, Clare, Raj, Latoya, Niamh and Gramps were at their best behaviour and methodically made their way through the gardens. So many ciggie butts, Reader. So many.

This task is always, perhaps ironically, quite loud and tonight one of the punters utilising the square's ample benches for a spot of public inebriation took offence at a group of people volunteering their evening away, clearing up other people's litter. What a bunch of wrong'uns.

Undeterred, our Goodgymmers took it all in good spirits and we collected a big total of two full-ish road sweeper bin bags by the end of the evening.

We then made our way to the Mall on the High Road in search of an owl and some soft pretzels.

Boom.