8 GoodGymers caught the sunset at a woodland garden in Camden!

This wonderful group – Alison, Deirdre (on their first Camden visit – welcome!), Emilie, Imogen, Lydia, Siobhan, and Steve – visited St Paul's Woodland Garden by Camden Square yesterday.

Just a short hop from where Amy Winehouse once lived this special space is a haven for nature and community.

Catherine – our task host – is part of the brilliant Green City Projects team, and they use this space to support people living with mental health difficulties. It was a joy to be there :)

In the race against the dying daylight, everyone kicked swiftly into good-deeding action last night!

The first task was to move a giant pile of bags filled with something called 'hoggin', which Google tells me is a self-binding mixture of clay, sand, and gravel that creates a firm, attractive, and permeable surface, and which I can confirm is very very very heavy!

Not that was a match for this group's muscles, who moved 30+ sacks to a variety of corners in this woodland space :)

Having completed the shifting and the heaving much quicker than anticipated, everyone moved quickly to emptying the 'hoggin', and it really did create firm, attractive, and permeable surfaces!

Thank you so much, everyone! You did a huge and wonderful amount!

Nice lunchtime packing up boxes with Ms M who's moving home after 18 years of living in Holborn. Was fun finding out about her passion for music and friends she's made whilst going through the kitchen cupboards and sorting to charity/ recycle/ move/ bin .

5 GoodGymers planted herbs – and herbs – and herbs – and... more herbs!

There is a very special community non-profit called Think and Do Camden, and they have pioneered a lovely nature-bound project over the past 18 months.

Their bee-line boxes are sustainable, hardy, and ethically-sourced herb planters that attach to balconies.

This past week they've partnered with their third Camden estate (in Holborn) and we were there to fill the planters with all the right herbs!

This special group – Danny, Imogen, Majid, and Olga – spent two hours amidst mint, marjoram, oregano, rosemary, and thyme, and they planted tens upon tens of freshly affixed planters :)

It was a joy to see the balconies spring to green life, and everyone made a truly meaningful and material difference – thank you, everyone!!

In today's post shop discussion, Mr T was determined to make sure that I learned there was a lot more to Glasgow than people realised as we covered his various experiences of living in the city in his youth, and his frequent visits back there and (most colourfully) the people that he'd known there over the years. He'd also had visitors this week from north of the border, and kindly presented me with a wee black pudding to take home for my breakfast, for which I was delighted as it made a change from carrots...

I helped with Ms F's shopping 🛍 today. I arrived at around 6 pm at the door but the buzzer downstairs didn't seem to work (at least there was no sound when I pressed the button). I called Ms F on her mobile 🤳📞 and she let me in.

Ms F had the shopping list prepared upfront and she walked me through it carefully indicating which of the items are supposed to be purchased to make sure we'll use all the Waitrose vouchers 🛒🤸‍♂️.

After asking for a battered haddock 🎣 at the fish counter the lady serving the products asked if this is for Ms F - it seems it's a well known order from her! She asked me to say "Hi" to Ms F when I get back.

I was able to purchase all products from the list (even a bottle of Mr F's favourite rose wine) except of round beans 🫘 which were not in stock.

I came back with trhe shopping after around 45 mins and - as always - was struggling a little bit with fitting in with everything into the tiny lift in Mr's block of flats.

Mr F was really grateful and pretty cheerful when I got back with the shopping. She said she needed a bit of an uplift as someone from her family recently passed away.

6 GoodGymers enjoyed the sunset hour last night!

We started in the sun and ended in the dusk, and we made a healthy difference along the way 😊

A happy trio – Lilan, Steve, and Alex – kicked open the evening with a conversation-filled (books, misinformation, moral panics..!) run to Kentish Town.

Where they met another happy trio – Alison, John, and Lydia – who’d each arrived by foot from different corners of Camden.

Our home for the evening was Cressfield Close Sheltered Housing, where a special community lives and a beautiful garden grows.

Alison and Lydia got to green-fingered business in a flash, taking tools and bags to a garden (belonging to a very kind resident) that needed a proper trim. And trim it they did. Three bags and 60 minutes later, everything looked spacious again.

Meanwhile, Lilan, John, and Steve joined the Ivy League. This creeper had wrapped itself around a wall, a tree, and a resident’s garden. Not that it could match the skills of this hard-working troupe 😊

Thank you, everyone! You all did a huge amount! Here’s to next time!