The Long, Winding and Rocky Road

14 Goodgymers helped their local community in Waltham Forest
Rebekah Stackhouse
Hanna Milton
Francis Bradley
Ant Withstandley
Pippa Higgins
Clara Breakwell
Kirsty Jones
Heather
Ruthiran Kugathasan
Jo Stevens
Saj
Taylor Bennett
Ruby Daly
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Waltham Forest

Wednesday 17th October 2018

Credits
Ant Withstandley
Ant Withstandley

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Report written by Ant Withstandley

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Delays on the Victoria Line thwarted the plans of some of our runners yesterday so sorry to those of you who couldn't make it. Nevertheless, we still had a great turnout on a wet October evening for what turned out to be a colossal run.

New To The Crew

Before we get into that I want to give a big cheer to plucky new GoodGymmer Heidi and long-term GoodGymmer but Waltham Forest newbie Rebekah. These ladies had a baptism of fire and came out the other end as cool as cucumbers so kudos to you both.

Long

We had a new and important task to complete last night. We were delivering leaflets, but not any old leaflets. These particular leaflets were promoting a free, fabulous, innovative and vital family play staged by the wonderful E17 Puppet Project. The Vote is "an interactive romp through the history of women's fight for the vote..."

The next performance of this entertaining play is due to take place on Saturday at Drapers Field, so we targeted houses in the vicinity. The trouble was it was 4km from our base, so we were looking down the barrel of a long run but this lot eat 4km for breakfast so off we trotted.

Arriving at the destination and with heart rates racing we wasted no time on getting down to it. Streets were divided up, and groups of 4/5 went for it like a postman (or postwoman) near the end of their shift and in need of a bathroom break.

can you believe my spell checker is trying to correct postwoman? Get into the 21st-century Microsoft.

With no less than 500 leaflets dropping through the letterboxes of the good folk of Leyton's front doors the team reconvened and were ready to run back to enjoy the delicious and well-deserved cake baked by the fair hand of, Clara Breakwell, or should that be Bakewell? Either way, Clara is yet another of our multi-talented fitness fanatics.

Winding

Unfortunately, at this point, things went slightly awry when I decided to try out Ramon's route suggestion which turned out somewhat longer than planned. To be fair, it was a much quieter and pedestrian free route, but we did arrive back at base exhausted and a little later than scheduled. Ramon more than redeemed himself in the bar later on by purchasing a huge round of drinks - what a splendid fellow he is.

Anyway, sorry for the error folks but you all acquitted yourselves so well, and you ate up the 11km run and task so well done. I am sure you feel great if a little stiff, today.

So our weary travellers made it home to be led in a wonderful Yoga warm down by the serene Jo

Rocky

We weren't done there. Most of us headed to Mirth to enjoy Ramon's generosity and Clara's amazing Rocky Road cakes. Yum, yum.

That's three week's of cakes peeps and strong rumours of another treat to come next week with the ladies again putting the men to shame with their baking skills.

We are back at an old favourite next week when we head to The Mill. It will be a much shorter run, I promise! So don't delay, sign up today

☮️


This task supported
E17 Puppet Project
An arts and education charity

E17 Puppet Project is a local arts and education charity that brings the magic and the art of puppetry to children, young people and the general public living in East London. Our specialism is tackling complex subjects through puppetry/theatre and making them accessible to all audiences. Our last production ‘Vikings and Valkyries’ (High Tide Festival, Walthamstow and London Literature Festival, Southbank Centre) brought to life dense Icelandic sagas, our innovative approach of explaining sickle cell disease (SCD) using puppetry to children and young people living with the condition in Newham was featured on BBC London News, and our Whitechapel Gallery commissioned family day to support their ‘Thick Time’ exhibition introduced children as young as five to William Kentridge’s multifaceted work and themes. We are committed to building resilient communities, pride ourselves on the accessibility of all our events and endeavour to always work with audiences and participants that reflect the diversity of the area. Our Arts Award accredited summer masterclass programme commissioned by London Borough of Waltham Forest always brings together diverse groups of young people (age 11-16) while utilising the arts to give them confidence, skills and creative fulfilment. We strive to support those for whom socioeconomic or personal circumstances might act as barriers to engaging in arts and community activity; as a travelling theatre organisation, we often perform in locations where there has been little cultural activity, adapting to the venues available (including performing live on the streets, and with shadow puppetry projected in supersize.

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