Before we get into the nitty-gritty of our latest group, here are some important announcements.

Would you like to volunteer at The Hackney Half?

In addition to a fun day out in the sunshine (probably), you get Free Virgin Sport bib, i.e. entry to one of the Asics10K or Oxford Half this year, or the next Hackney Half in 2021.

Essential info and sign-up

• Date: 17th May
• Location: Hackney Empire (15mins walk from Bethnal Green Central Line)
• Task: Handing out water with a load of other GG people
• Sign-up here

GGWF Taskforce Member Ercole has set up an excellent Community Mission on 8th March.

Sign-up to the Leyton Jubilee junior parkrun Volunteer takeover here. It's like an adult Parkrun but much shorter and far more rewarding. What could be better than helping to facilitate youngsters doing a 2km race?

The next monthly social will be at Yardsale Pizza on Wednesday 4th March.

Check the WhatsApp group for details. If you are not on the group, email hit me up

Wednesday's Group Run

Thanks to the miserable weather on Tuesday night, we picked up a couple of GG Hackney regulars this Wednesday. Of course, it's always lovely to see Alex Passa who is no stranger to us here at The Forest, but we also got to meet Clair Sim who despite chalking up a whopping 175 good deeds, has not joined us since our launch almost 2-years ago.

It was also lovely to welcome the ever cheerful Helen Farebrother-Naylor who joined us for her first Group Run today. Of course, Helen was chalking-up run number two after joining us on a January Challenge Community Mission. I feel sure that there are more to come.

So why do I keep referencing chalk? I thought you would never ask! Well, you see we did a bit of painting tonight. Frankly, GGWF has become pretty handy with painting over the winter having splodged on gallons of the stuff on various wall in various places. The thing is it is always white! White, white white. Now white is no bad thing (unless you are Captain Ahab), but I think everyone was longing for a different shade of something. In part, our wish was granted with the opportunity to do a chalkboard feature in one of the rooms. Only a few people did this while everyone else stuck with the white, but it was enough. Good lord, it took me a while to explain the pun, didn't it?

As this was another task as our base, there was the option of a lovely Tour De Walthamstow afterwards. I was delighted to see that most people were up for it so out we headed to the damp tree-lined avenues surrounding Lloyd Park. With only a couple of wrong turnings by yours truly, which were quickly corrected by our every reliable backmarker, Señor Raymond Umunna we completed a decent 5km run with a lovely hill climb at the end. Magnificent stuff all round.

Next week we will be doing the same thing in a different place. Sign-up here

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