Many thanks to everyone who nominated us and to the outgoing Mayor of Haringey Sheila Peacock for recognising the work we do in our community by giving us one of the Haringey Heroes 2020 Awards. Party time!

How many Goodgymmers does it take to plant a bulb?

Big up to Charlie, Julia, Kapil, and Neil who braved the elements with me for a rather spirited 5K jaunt around Finsbury Park before we headed towards our pre-lockdown HQ, where the rest of the team awaited us.

For old time's sake, we indulged in the classic 'Circle Name/How Many Burpees Can We Get Kapil To Do' game before making our way into Tottenham Green where Laura was waiting for us with a cornucopia of tasks. 

Earlier this week, we'd heard the Friends Of Tottenham Green had been collateral damage in some austerity budget shenanigans and had not received any bulbs for planting yet. Spring will not be cancelled on our watch, so a GGH fairy godfather donated a few hundreds crocuses, daffodils and other sweet little flowers and we were ready for action - to paraphrase Neruda, 'you can cut the budget for all flowers, but you cannot keep Spring from coming.'

11 Goodgymers quickly divided into five teams: three bulb planting squads, one litter picking crew, and one hollyhocks seed sorting gang.

They were indefatigable in their efforts, let me tell you. They pulled up dandelions and planted bulbs with such skill, it was a joy to watch. Sam in the litter picking squad even tried to litter pick an old telly at some point - such was their commitment. And let's not even discuss Niamh, showing off her hairy hollyhocks to whoever walked past. What a night.

But all good things must come to an end and so we tidied up after ourselves, took some photos, elbow bumped our way into a long goodbye, and then ran our separate ways home, dreaming of spring.

Boom!

You should definitely join us next time, after all, we come Mayor of Haringey Approved now! :)