26 amazing GoodGyming GoodGymers ran 6k to Abney Park Cemetery to clear a kilometre if concrete path of mud and muck.

Big shout out to the GG first timers this week!! Very warm welcome!! Hope you enjoyed the session and will be back for more very soon!!

Huge thank you to everyone for helping me out!! From ** Amanda and Vinney** offering the use of their bikes, Chi and Clair leading the running, ** Liz** dominating the photography and all the well wishes, very much appreciated!!! Thank you!!

So 3k running up to Stokey to meet Quentin at the imposing gates of the magnificent Abney Park Cemetery. Grabbing the carefully placed tools and heading deep into the park to where even the many Abney regulars were not quite sure where we were.

With the dirt pathways having been lovingly reinforced over the last 6 months we turned our attention to the network of concrete paths that after the rough weather had become very muddy and debris filled. As these pathways are very narrow there is no way around some of these hazards so it was down to us to clear the way!!

With a massive group and some pumping music from the neighbours we worked to a serious beat and tore up and down, left and right along every path in sight!! Clearing with expert precision and the occasional lunge for optimal scraping angle!

With most of the pathways in the back half of the parks beautifully cleared we munched on some pannetoni from Liz and zipped back to base!!

Thank you all from coming out tonight and look forward to seeing you again next week!

Enjoy

Joel

30 Awesome GoodGymers ran 4k to London Fields to build and create a dead head fence for Hackney parks then 18 of the crew celebrated a few GG anniversaries at the February social!

With the combination of storms Ciara and Dennis causing us a change of plan from Abney to London Fields. We still had a bumper turnout of 30 GGers.

Welcoming in our new runners and heading out on a couple of local loops to to get the body warm for the task ahead. With feeling coming into your fingers and toes we rounded the corner with 4k of running under the belt. We grabbed the tools and headed off into the park to load up on twigs and branches to make and repair the dead head fence through the woodland trail.

Barrows, rakes, barrows at the ready we searched the parks and loaded ourselves up with the masses of fallen mini branches and twigs which got the wrath of Ciara’s path!!

Working hard so that we stayed warm we got so much done in 50 minutes of epic action before the time and cold hit and with a huge regeneration to the parks dead hedge complete!!

We dashed back grabbed our stuff and headed for well earned Pizza with an 18 strong crew.

Thank you all for coming along!! Big shout out to Pamela for the pun, Chi and Liz fir the extra pictures and Toyin for arranging the pizza extravaganza!!

Have a great week

Joel

24 Hackney GoodGymers ran 5k to Wilton Estate community garden with a massive soil shifting, mulch spreading and weed grabbing task!

Welcome to our GG first timers Alix and Louis.

Hackney first social of the year next week celebrating (Clair’s 3rd, Amy’s 4th and Anne’s 6th GoodGym Birthday!!) Post group run we will be heading off probably to get Pizza in Broadway market, come along!!

A long loop to get the fingers and toes warm for the task ahead smashing out 3.5k along the canal and up to Wilton Estate to meet the team who were ready and waiting to for us!

Grabbing gloves and tools we rolled over to the huge soil, top soil and mulch delivery and got shovelling!!

We had groups weeding the big bed we have put a lot of work into over the last couple months as well as the side beds where the brown bins were filling fast!

The Shovellers were sending soil out to all corners of the garden moving well over 2 tonnes of premium soil, half a tonne of top Soil and 2 tonnes bags of mulch to create a lovely thick mulch bed ready to keep the weeds at bay.

We flipped into high gear to plant 200 bulbs and rake the mulch into perfect form before we cleared up and zipped away dashing back to base dead on 8:30 with a great physical task dominated!!

We will have more of the same next week at Abney Park Cemetery, see you there for more Tuesday GG fun!!

Enjoy

Joel

p.s thank you Liz for the pun!!

29 Happy Hackney GoodGymers ran 3k to help Wilton Estate Community garden in a mega weeding expedition!!

Amazing to see so many fancy to kick off 2020!! Loving the bumper GoodGym first timer crew, hope the session is the first of many with both Hackney and GoodGym!!

Remember we run the same time and from same starting location for the next 49 straight weeks so make it a habit and join us as regularly as you can for some community minded running fun!!

The task!! One of Hackney’s longest running tasks with GoodDeeds having been collected here for the last 6 or so years it was great to have Wilton Estate Community garden there to start off the year!

After a indirect 2.5km run to the gardens with everyone catching up and meeting up after our Christmas break! Thanks to Toyin for backmarking!! We arrived at Wilton ready for action, meeting task owners Gilly and Ulus who guided us through the tasks. We split up Into 3 groups and got straight on it! We had the mulchers who were finishing off the last of the huge mulch pile we decimated just before Christmas. This time shovelling, barrowing, tipping and raking the smaller garden that we previously cleared.

A high quality mini group got stuck into a smaller flower bed with a few prickly tangles to contend with to rid the over grown bed of the big bad weeds ready for planting!

Then a major task of the evening, the massive jungle like bed that we tackled in the rain 2 years ago got it’s just deserts. With a monumental clearing effort from 16 grafting GoodGymers!! In 50 minutes turning the Jungle into a clear flower bed ready for some Spring time bloom!!

Completing and exceeding the tasks we filled a massive 8 tonne bags of garden waste and dragged them to be collected in the morning. With 8 minutes to play with Chi asked if he could start the year with a little most conditioning and got everyone’s heart rate up and core muscles working with a short bit very effective fitness blast!!

With time short we zipped back to base in the nick of time before we stretched out and disappeared into the night with a smile on our faces and a big impact for a great community garden!

Next week it is a 3k run each way to Abney Park Cemetery where we will be dominating another great physical task!! Sign up and see you there!! If you have a head torch it’s a good one to bring it along for.

Joel

p.s Thanks to Chi for the extra pictures and Liz for the WhatsApp group Admin!!