31 GoodGymers were out in force around Camden last night - the rain held off just long enough for us!

After a power cut at the Living Centre, we had to regroup at the Coffee House (our usual pub ending point for the run) and leave our bags there.

NOTE: This will be the same drill next week as there's another power cut planned for Wednesday 26th Feb. Make sure you come to the Coffee House, 60 Chalton St, Somers Town, London NW1 1HS for 18:45 next Wednesday.

After a quicker than normal intro speech, we had not one but two big milestones to cheer:

• Beth hit 100 Good Deeds and wore the Camden Cape with all the felt, bells and whistles on. It was a particularly windy night last night, so lots of cape-flapping in on the run (and ceilidh at Cecil Sharp!).

• Our very own Liz continued climbing the Heroes leaderboard by hitting 400!! Please do give both of them a big ol' Camden cheer before you read on.

There was so, so much cake in the pub that was it was difficult to peel ourselves away to go running in the wind, but Reader, we did and we did well.

Coffee House Report (written by Liz)

Having volunteered as tribute to look after the bags in our usual pub, I spent my time scaring people away by alternating between reading science(TM) documents (not aloud), and by overloading them with cakes/biscuits whenever they ventured too close (cakes/biscuits courtesy of Beth). The scaredy-cakes worked, and everyone's gear was still there at the end of the run.

C4WS Report (written by Chris)

The team of 12 runners, led by Chris, headed off earlier than the rest of us to get down to C4WS to make the beds for the homeless as normal. We've only got a few more weeks running there now, so if you'd like to make beds and you haven't before, come along on Wednesday nights - our last evening of bed-making is on the 25th March.

12 runners made 12 beds - 6 men's, 4 women's and 2 volunteers up on the stage. Nice. After that it was a longer run around Camden, coming in at 5.8km in total before the C4WS team arrived back at the pub ahead of the ceilidh-ing crew.

Cecil Sharp House Report

Hitting the pavement up to Cecil Sharp House, we arrived in good time for Susannah but unfortunately she was nowhere to be seen! We searched around and spoke to the reception team but nobody could get through. We couldn't into the shed to get the tools and there was no information left about the task so we couldn't get stuck in as we normally do so instead we danced!

While we were waiting to see if Susannah was just running late, the staff let us come out of the cold into the dancing room (and Strictly rehearsal space, apparently!). The inimitable Lizzy with her font of dancing knowledge then became the impromptu ceilidh instructor and, luckily, we were even numbers so everyone had a partner. After a few practice run-throughs of the different steps, it was time for the real thing and boy, was it a wonderful sight.

A few times through, it was time for us to run back to the Coffee House, full of beans and with empty stomachs ready for the cake-geddon that was to follow. For the lack of doing good in the community, we certainly came away feeling that we'd done some good in the GoodGym Camden community - the laughter was never-ending as we were dancing.

I think we saved a night of a few mishaps. Well done all. There'll also be a ceilidh social at Cecil Sharp in April, so come along to that!

NEXT TIME

COMMUNITY MISSION: This Saturday, a team of us are going to the Great Croft Age UK day centre gardens to help out with some weeding and organising. Jade and the team are working on the next phase for the garden and need our help to get the plans in motion. We'll meet at 1pm on Saturday by the gates to the gardens on Harrison Street - sign up now!

NEXT WEEK: February has been a strange month for tasks - everyone seems to be on holiday or not replying to emails. We'll definitely be going back to C4WS but the second task is TBC. Get your name down and I'll look forward to seeing you there with us. Meet at 18:45 at the Coffee House, NW1 1HS instead next week, instead of our normal meeting place!

A whopping 35 runners trooped out of St Pancras & Somers Living Centre on Wednesday night to get out and do some good in Camden.

We had two newbies join the herd - welcome Collette and Katie - as well as TWO big celebrations of the milestone variety:

Becs (as in the Rebecca Clarke, GoodGym Media and Comms extraordinaire) reached her 50 Good Deeds milestone tonight and Laura Lambert hit 100 Good Deeds! Stop reading right now and go and give them a cheer! Well done to you both. Big milestones deserve cake baked by Liz, but more on that later.

As normal, the team split with 10 runners going with John to C4WS and the rest of the rabble coming with me to see Helen in the Camden Scope shop on the high street.

C4WS Report (by John)

A group of 11 threaded their way through the crowded streets of St Pancras and Bloomsbury, avoiding swiftly opened van doors on the way, for our 12th visit this winter to the homeless people's shelter at the American International Church. We knew the routine by now, setting up a human chain to move sheets, mattresses and other bedding from a storage area to the warm area where less fortunate Londoners can spend a night away from the streets and enjoy a hot meal in comfort. In a few minutes we achieved what would have taken an hour for the busy helpers in the church. Afterwards we jogged back to Granary Square for a fitness session: three laps round St Martin's School of Art at a steadily increasing pace, before a relaxing warm-down on the swivel chairs at Coal Drops Yard.

Scope Report

23 of us arrived to Helen's Scope shop in Camden high street, ready to get stuck in. A queue formed and our very drilled taskmaster handed out the jobs to the waiting teams. Jewellery needed sorting and pricing, mannequins needed re-dressing (by the GoodGym visual merchandising team - "Sorry if it's 'Devil Wears Prada' but I think we need a belt here."), shoes needed polishing, donations needed sorted (and steaming) and the upstairs office needed an early spring clean. So many jobs and so little time, but we managed to do them all and boy did that place shine as we left.

By the time both teams got back to base, it was time for blondies and fudge (both made my the inimitable Liz!) to celebrate the two big Good Deed milestones. Liz's recipe for the delicious blondies are at the bottom of the report if you'd like to try at home.

NEXT TIME

COMMUNITY MISSIONS AHOY: There's not one but TWO plogging Community Missions today - one at 1pm at Red Lion Square Gardens and the other is Glebelands Wood Nature Reserve from 4:45-5:20pm! Let's beat Lambeth to be the top scoring London GoodGym in the January Challenge. We can do it!

NEXT GROUP RUN: It's official, we're going back to Alara Wholefoods and there'll be a box of granola in it for every runner after you've helped shift some manure, tidy up the pond and do some weeding. A smaller group of us will be heading back to C4WS to make the beds again. It's going to be a brilliant night whichever task you choose.

Liz's Peanut Butter and White Chocolate Blondies:

Ingredients

125 g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

100 g butter at room temperature, plus extra for greasing

150 g crunchy peanut butter

175 g light brown sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract

100 g white chocolate, chopped

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170C/gas 3. Butter the sides of a 20 x 20cm square cake tin and line the base with greaseproof paper.

2. Sift the flour and baking powder into a small bowl and set aside.

3. In a large bowl, cream the butter and peanut butter together until very soft. Add the sugar, egg and vanilla extract and beat until well combined. Add the flour, baking powder and the chopped chocolate and mix to form a dough.

4. Place the dough into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for 25–30 minutes, or until golden brown and almost firm in the centre.

5. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin, before removing and cutting into squares.

6. Eat!

35 runners came out in style for GoodGym Camden this week, as we come to the end of a really strong month for attendance!

We had not one, not two but THREE new runners with us tonight - welcome Charley, Michelle and Emily! Hope to see you all back with us very soon!

There was also another cause for celebration (even this was the third time actually celebrating it!); Camden's Sally hit 200 GOOD DEEDS! A huuuuge achievement and one to really cheer her about here! All those hours put to great use for the community; very well done indeed.

Liz had spent a lot time on putting together the most amazing red cape (from scratch!), complete with the GG logo and VELCRO Good Deed numbers (so they can be interchangeable) and the exact same font GoodGym Camden as is found on the website. Photos just don't do it justice and you'll have to come to one of our runs to see it for yourself.

Talking of our next run: Alara has had to postpone by a week so one half of the run is now TBA. We'll still be going to C4WS to make beds again though. Sign up here and I'll confirm that second bigger task when I have it.

C4WS Report (written by Beth)

After a short warm up, 13 runners ran to the American International Church to make beds for their homeless shelter. We got to work quickly and set up 12 beds, then headed to Granary Square for a fitness session. After a couple of laps of the square interspersed with star jumps/squats, we jogged gently back to the Living Centre for cake.

Cecil Sharp House

The rest of us headed north to the Home of English Folk and Dance that is Cecil Sharp House. Susannah was there to greet us and give us the rundown of what needed doing this week. There was branch-snapping, path-sweeping, dirt-collecting and leaf-clearing to be getting on with and the rain luckily held off just long enough for us. We managed to fill 9 bags of branches, twigs and leaves before having to put down our gloves and tools for the night.

There happened to be a lecture on MAGIC happening (ooooooooooooooo) in the room that the choir usually rehearses in at the back of Cecil Sharp. I'm sure it was just a fast-track Hogwarts scheme in disguise (hence the Potter-related pun), but we'll never know. Susannah was certainly keeping her cards close to her chest on this one.

With everything cleared, swept and snapped, it was time to head back for stretches and the MOUNTAINS of cake that awaited us at base, in honour of Sally's 200th.

NEXT TIME

COMMUNITY MISSIONS HERE: There's some plogging in Russell Square Gardens on Friday lunchtime between 12:30-13:10 coming up, as well as some lifting and shifting at Story Garden 14:00-15:30. NEXT WEEK'S RUN: Next week, we'll be back at C4WS as usual and the second task is TBA because of Alara having to shift back by a week. Sign up to stay in the loop.

Make sure to sign up for the NEW Alara run here if you'd like to come along and see the permaculture garden and orchards (plus, who's going to turn down a box of lovely granola?)!

Happy running and see you soon,

26 intrepid and festive GoodGymers fought through the wind and ran to come along on what is Camden's last group run... of the decade!

Shoutout to Steve for the excellent punnage this week.

We welcomed another soul to the herd - hello Linsey! Hope to see you back with us in the new year. We also had a tourist visitor, John, usually of Birmingham but who had been down doing the Run Leader Training in Somerset House and thought he might come along for a cheeky run! Camden's always open to tourists if you fancy it!

Here is where I'd usually plug the next run, but there isn't one until January now, so please don't turn up to the Living Centre next week because we don't have a run planned!

After a very quick intro as time was against us, we ran straight on to the American International Church to make the beds.

11 men's beds and 3 women's beds were made up and Jonathan (the minister from the Church) told us that the original 12 people who had used the shelter when it opened early last month have since gone on to more stable housing and no longer need the help of the church. What a way to end our December runs with that lovely news.

But that wasn't all that Jonathan had in store for us; there was a carol concert put on by a choir and orchestra going on upstairs so after the beds were made, we hared upstairs to catch the end of Ding Dong Merrily on High! It turned out to be more of a performance than a singalong, but there was a bit of Bach, some brilliant Spanish choir singing and very, very lovely orchestral pieces for us to soak up before going back out into the rain for the slightly damp run home.

It was soon time for us to head back to the Crick and luckily the rain had slowed to the occasional spatter and we wound through the back streets before our stretches and cool down. The pub was absolutely heaving but good numbers in attendance as always- thanks again Abi for being our pub leader and booker, it's always appreciated!

Thanks a lot for coming and getting involved with GoodGym this year, for telling your friends about us and for keeping on and coming back week after week. I might be biased, but I'm pretty sure that Camden is the best of all the GoodGyms and it's all you folks that make it as wonderful as it is.

Hope you all have a happy and rested Christmas break, whatever you're doing. See you in 2020, recharged and ready to go (hopefully)!

2020 and on

NEW YEARS DAY: As New Years Day falls on a Wednesday, Jonathan and the church will be welcoming folks to the homeless shelter and we'll be running a smaller team up there to make the beds again. If you'd like to join, click anywhere in this sentence - we'll meet at the American International Church around 6:45 to make the beds in time for the 7:30 doors opening. It'd be lovely to have you with us and what better way to ring in the New Year?

FIRST OFFICIAL RUN BACK: While some of us will be running back to the homeless shelter on the 1st January, our first group run will be on Wednesday 8th January. We'll be splitting the group again with one half going back to C4WS and the other half doing the Annual Christmas Tree Sprint! More information and signup link is right here.

Aaaaaand breathe.

Merry Christmas!

Ben