When he first joined goodgym our Dharmesh set himself the tough target of completing 100 tasks in 12 months and put his heart and soul into achieving that target.

Achieving the parkrun 100 took a little longer, partly because you can only do them once a week and partly because he has been busy getting married and becoming a Dad ❤️ It was definitely worth celebrating so a few of us joined with his lovely family last weekend at Valentines parkrun with a bonus cuppa in the cafe afterwards.

Well done Dharmesh, good to see despite sleepless nights you still manage sub 24mins 🥳🥳🥳

With the planned babybank task dropping out, a litterpick seemed the quick solution.

The post-task social remained, so where Elegia joined Peter & James (first time in charge!) at our 'home' of Wanstead House to go for a run & pick, the rest of the crew ( Linda, Sharon & Aj) met a bit later on at Wanstead Station to walk across to the restaurant in Leytonstone, picking litter on the way there.

For a change we popped down to Wanstead Park, now the light allows more free roaming around. Elegia mentioned how the park looked surprisingly clean!

A few people came online to do Goodgym Yoga.

Yoga talk Get rid of the Fuzz Dr Gil Hedley explains brilliantly in his online talk that in order for the body to be optimally healthy and feel physically good, it’s important to move at the beginning of the day. Overnight, our muscles rest and while they’re not moving, layers of connective tissue and bodily fluid – fondly known as ‘fuzz’ – builds up between them. That urge to stretch we get upon waking is essentially an act of releasing the fuzzy build up found between muscles. If we don’t move and stretch however, this layer continues to thicken and build up, causing stiffness, chronically ‘tight’ muscles and common aches and pains. 

🌼🌺HAINAULT STATION COMMUNITY GARDEN🌺🌼

We had a beautiful sunny morning to meet up by the station, three goodgymmers and 4 local volunteers assembled at the station and got to work very quickly! And despite two no-shows, we had a great group for all the tasks that needed to be done!

We had lots to do: - Take rubbish and many cigarette butts out of neglected planters - Fill watering cans with a very interesting system we have of using a hoover hose and using sinks at the station men's toilets (it's as grim as it sounds! but can't look into a gift horse's mouth - just grateful for water source) - Weed and pick litter out of the lush green planters - Fill the planters with fresh compost - Plant out a selection of green, shade loving plants as they will be under the bridge with not a lot of sun - Water everything thoroughly - Sweep up the mess we made along the front of the station

We had a nice post-task cuppa after a couple of hours of hard work, sitting in the sun, chatting, talking with locals - a lovely time! Well done everyone and thank you for your brilliant help to make an area of Redbridge that much better!

smorgasbord /ˈsmɔːɡəsbɔːd/ noun a range of open sandwiches and delicacies served as hors d'oeuvres or a buffet. a wide range of something; a variety. "the album is a smorgasbord of different musical styles"

Initially perhaps not the most logical title, but it actually covers things quite well...

• a wide variety of baby clothing and accessories to be sorted
• a wide variety of GG crew coming together
• a wide variety of transport methods used, mainly involving feet & bikes & train

As always, conversation flowed while bags full of donations got checked and sorted, from health & well being to linguistics and reclaiming old school words (ask Sharon about that one 🤣)

Bags of donations empty, sorted clothing expertly packed up by Adam and it was time to make our goodbyes again - back in 6 weeks!