A grand welcome to first timers Caroline, Caesar and Jason this evening. Double cheers for doing their first good deeds on such a wet evening

So, despite the drizzle, there was good to do in Islington. And as is often the case we spread ourselves across the borough with double deeding.

Caroline "Faster" Townsend led a group of ten over to a brand new task: Single Homeless Project, a charity that supports homeless and vulnerable people in London. Caroline explains what went down:

A really wet one tonight. 10 of us ran to a fantastic new task at the Single Homeless Project . We did an extra lap around Highbury Fields as well so we were proper warmed up when we arrived. At the task we split into groups and did a lot of gardening. We did a nice run back via Clissold Park on the way back. We continued to get wet but we found it refreshing... its been so hot recently. We discussed the debate and a few preferred red grapes and others preferred green.

Caroline

The other crew whizzed up to Caxton House Community Centre. Our job was to sand down some new benches in the front garden for painting. We worked our way down from brush, to coarse sandpaper, to less-coarse sandpaper, to fine sandpaper - being very sure to go with the grain, not against the grain - and left them ready for a nice coat of paint next week (rain, rain, stay away). We also did some weeding in the garden. There definitely isn't a lack of weeds around. To pat ourselves on the back we munched away on one of Steve L's Oreos brought all the way back from Portland. Delicious.

With a good thirty minutes in the bag we sped off via Emirates for a few "slope reps" (they're like hill reps, but they don't sound as hard), before blasting up a couple of real hills and getting back to the pool.

Time to vote. What's the best type of grape: green or red? Red won, which means that Steve C was on the losing debate side once again. Are they rigged? Find out next week

Another great night of doing good and getting fit. Well done all,
Simon

P.S. *Tip o' the GoodGym cap to Richard F for pun report title

P.P.S Don't forget there are drinks on Thursday.

On a scorching summer evening in Islington thirty-six wonderful runners (including 10 brand-new!) said NO to the temptation of an evening pub session or BBQ and said YES to an evening of firsts, meeting at Highbury Pool to get fit, spruce up local gardens, catch some rays and play games! And then went to the pub

While Simon was away on a well-deserved break Patrick had a chance to lead his first group run.

Mel arrived nice and early and then followed a flurry of new faces coming for their first run, returners and some travellers from down the road, John and Jackie from Camden. Patrick delivered his welcome speech and was delighted to see TEN new runners. There was a special mention (and a reminder to regular runners) about:

• Coach runs
• Missions
• Races: 4 x 1 mile relay and Regent's Park 10k - both on Sunday 7th August and it's possible to do both! There's even a 5k ParkRun on Saturday 6th.

In keeping with Islington tradition there was a debate (favourite childhood party game which would also set the scene for the fitness session) and the first Vietnamese biscuit: peanut, malt and sesame biscuit (bánh đậu phộng) brought home from Vietnam.

We then divided into three roughly equal groups:

• Patrick led a mercifully short 1km run down to Barnsbury Square Gardens,
• Graham and Steve took a group on a slightly longer 2km run starting with a lap of Highbury Fields
• Aidan and Kike took a group for a 1.5km run to the brand-new task down at Wilton Square Gardens

Here's a report from Aidan:

11 Goodgymers arrived at our new task at Wilton Square. Ready and waiting was the lovely Merje with her son Oskar.

All 13 of us got stuck in with some weeding, raking, chopping and brushing of the garden, we had plenty to being doing!

With Oskar helping with the weeding the stone paths were looking pristine quickly. Soon piles and piles of grass and leaves were appearing from the rakers hard work. On the other side of the fence the bushes were taking a beating thanks to some tough work with some secateurs.

Piles of chopped bushes, grass and leaves meant only one thing...lots of clean up work to do, but after that the job was done!

A beautiful garden nestled between the houses and plenty to do, one we'll be back to again! Until next time :)

Here's a report from Barnsbury Square Gardens:

We arrived in two waves at the very tranquil Barnsbury Square Gardens and were warmly greeted by Lucy and Carmela. As usual, our wonderful hosts were super-organised and had plenty of tasks and tools for us and refreshments for those in need of a break.

As we had only run a short distance we had lots of time to get loads done to include Rich and Vanessa tackling the rose beds, Nigel confidently separating the weeds from the flowers and Nicole on broom patrol. The rest of the group swept up and raked leaves (John did ask if the trees thought it was autumn!), loosened soil and did some edging.

After forty minutes we had really cleared up the gardens and bagged up the green waste. We packed up, received thanks from Lucy and headed back to Highbury Fields for our fitness session.

The new game

The groups from two tasks met back at Highbury Fields with great precision and managed to find space in the busy field to play adult Musical Chairs (Cones) for the first time. Does it need an explanation?! Patrick and Kike traced out the running perimeter and scattered the cones in the middle. Then Patrick put his DJ skills to good use and whittled down the group over successive rounds until there were two: traveller, Jackie and newcomer, Nicole.

After a long final round, Patrick stopped the music and Jackie heroically found the final cone and crowned herself champion! Well done Jackie.

After the stretch and cool down there was no clear winner of childhood party game though some mentions were: eating chocolate wearing gloves, scarf and hat; British bulldog; I have never and the cereal box game. Noone said musical chairs!

The last thing to do on a warm evening was to quench our thirst so we went to the pub!

That's me done for now. Simon will be back next week: sign up here

It was a Force of July on this Independence Day as 32 GoodGymmers gathered round Highbury Pool ready to do good. We did our news (so much news) and welcomed Emily and Claire (already in GG t-shirts!) along for their first runs.

New Richmond trainer Mark got the gang nicely warmed up before we headed off for our evening tasks.

John and Graham took a small group up to Whittington Park for our fortnightly weeding session. Graham tells us what went down:

Whilst the main group of GoodGymers ran to Barnsbury community centre, a smaller group of us ran a total of 6k (8k including post-run Highbury Fields laps!) to visit Whittington park, sanding benches and weeding the one o'clock club garden.

The classic debate of what counted as a weed continued, and all were very happy to see that some potential weeds we left two weeks ago had grown flower buds - great display of horticultural knowledge from all involved! Meanwhile on the other side of the park, four enthusiastic sanders continued sanding down two flower-bed-containers, ready for varnishing and repainting. It's quite addictive, like watching a lava lamp. Most relaxing GoodGym task ever?

Post-run, we arrived back to Highbury Fields ahead of time (nice one John!) so decided to throw in an extra two laps, including a small bit of speed work on the second lap round.

More running. More sweating. More good. Top effort from all.

Graham

Meanwhile Simon and Mark popped over to Barnsbury Community Centre for some painting (which we hardly ever get to do at GG Islington) and assembly of flatpack (which we have NEVER done at GG Islington).

8 of us went off to paint the cubicle doors in the women's toilets a GoodGym red and the cubicle door in the men's toilets a freedom blue. We got the doors painted no problem, the difficult part was cleaning up: gloss paint everywhere and only one small bottle of white spirit between us. This meant we ended up running a little overtime, but nice to get the job done!

Over in the main hall the rest of the group had managed to assemble all furniture and Mark took them outside for a fitness session: jogging, side shuffles, lunges, planks, push ups, squats, wheelbarrow poses, deadlift and press, box jumps with a partner, step ups and star jumps to plyo jumps. Wow, I got tired just reading that. Looks like GG-ers in Richmond are gonna get a decent workout on the 18th.

Our cookies for the evening were Oreos: the most American biscuit available in Tesco Hackney Superstore and the debate was "What's the most American thing you can think of". Apple pie, Sweet potatoes and Marshmallow, TRUMP, Walmart, weird pronunciation, hamburgers, and mass shootings were all given as answers. But Andy and David came up with a wonderful combination that definitely wins:

"Uncle Sam, with an eagle on his shoulder, and a miniature Statue of Liberty on the dashboard, singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" while driving a Chevvy down Route 66 on his way to a baseball game, eating a burger and massive cup of soda that he just picked up from a diner."

Happy 7th of April everybody! See you next week

Simon

11 runners, 3km, some killer weeding and huge tree planting.

We welcomed Matt for his first time ever at a GoodGym tonight and Jess and Chris from GoodGym Camden were on a tour to see what we get up to south of the river.

After a quick intro, warm up and a short but sweaty run, we arrived at Cossall Park Community Garden. We were a bit early so used the time wisely...

Stuck in the mud

Who knew how much effort a bit of short sprinting would take?! It kept us warm and ready for some proper gardening action. We split off into 3 groups.

Group one were in a resident's garden clearing it of weeds and turning the soil ready for lots of new planting. We could have stayed all night so watch this space for a mission heading that way.

Group two were working on the main flower and vegetable beds, clearing out weeds and brambles and generally making sure the lettuce, courgettes and cauliflower have enough room to flourish. Last time we were here we cleared the bed completely so it was brilliant to see how many veggies have grown and that are on offer for the residents.

Group three helped a slightly weightier project. An elm and a horse chestnut tree were delivered and carried into the adjacent Kirkwood Nature Reserve to be planted. But first, more clearing of nettles and stones before the final resting place was set. I hear you ask

'How many GoodGymmers does it take to plant a tree?'

The answer is not so clear. But I'd argue at least 2 to dig and plant and another 3 to advise and monitor.

Once we'd all rounded up and had our squash and malted milks, there was time for 1 sports day race.... the timeless wheelbarrow race

We were heckled by the local kids playing footy who couldn't quite believe that adults do this sort of thing and set off. Competitive natures and epic core and shoulder strength came out in full force. Big congrats to our gold medal winners, Michael and Becky.

Warm, tired and a little bit stung, we set off back to Old Spike Roastery with a pink sky for company.

A lovely evening and a(many) job(s) well done.