More photos to be uploaded from Chi.

24 GoodGymers and a few non-GG friends gathered in Victoria Park by The People's Park Tavern to enjoy a socially competitive round robin rounders tournament.

Unlike the first tournament in Clapham Common last month, the weather showed up and brought us blistering heat and sun! One could be mistaken that we were in a park in Spain, Italy or France 😳

With the gazebo set up and rounders set laid out, all we needed to do was put on some summer tunes and wait for everyone to show up.

One by one and in groups, GoodGymers from across London (from Hammersmith & Fulham to Bromley and from Haringey to Lambeth) gathered in the predetermined spot. It was a "first come, first placed in your team area". Sam knew there weren't going to be more than 30 people, so the original idea of four teams playing semis, 3rd/4th place and a final was scratched and replaced with a round robin tournament of three teams with the third team being a mix match of GoodGymers from all areas - GoodGym United.

The defending Champions were on first. "Ninety Nine Problems but a Northerner ain't one" decided to pitch first as the "Southern Softies" fielded. In the first game, we decided to do two innings as the first innings went by in a flash. Northerners scored 3 rounders as the Southerners replied with 6 & 1/2 rounders. Yet, after a water break, the Northerners used the blaring sun to turn on the heat by going 6 rounders ahead. It was a tense and long second innings for Southern Softies as they were four players down and still needed to score 1 & 1/2 rounders to win! Marta got the first 1/2 rounder and then Sam stepped up to the plate to score and showboat the winning rounder (to umpire Jonathan dislike).

We reduced the second and third game to one innings as that second innings from the first game took forever to complete!

Southern Softies wasted no time and were on against GoodGym United who batted first and scored an unbeatable 13 rounders with half of it coming from big hitting Ed. Southern Softies reply was just a 3 rounders and 5 players were out before the ninth player Sam could even bat! 😳

GoodGym United showed us that they were the team to beat as they had a good setup in fielding and in batting.

The final game was GoodGym United against the defending champions "99 problems but a Northerner ain't one". If the defending champs won, it would have been all square for wins and losses for each team, but it wasn't to be! Fast spinner Denise, backstop Ed and first base Emma had an effective system like they did against "Southern Softies". They reduced "99 problems but a Northerner ain't one" to 3 & 1/2 rounders. So it was only time that the team made up of members from the North & South of the river plus non-GGers would hit 4 & 1/2 rounders to claim the trophy - a Prosecco shower 🍾💦

• 1st: GoodGym United - 2 wins out of 2
• 2nd: Southern Softies - 1 win out of 2
• 3rd: 99 problems but a Northerner ain't one - 0 wins out of 2

Congratulations to GoodGym United: Laura (team captain), Emma, Bella, Denise, Vicki, Darren, Ivy, Ceiling and player of the tournament, Ed

Thanks to everyone for showing up and getting into a very social and respectful tournament of rounders! It was a pleasure to organise and until next time, take care!

Team tower hamlets managed to brave the torrential rain and tackled a few tower blocks around Mile End to promote foodcycle. We will be back next week for more flyers!

GG TH were thrilled to be embarking on a new task tonight. Partnering with the dynamic Kelly from WHFS, co-ordinator of their Maternity Mates programme, our task was to empty the store cupboard of its bundles of baby-item donations, sort through the items and return to the store room.

(WHFS is a programme that supports pregnant women with the provision of relevant health services and advocacy, and are always on the lookout for volunteers. You can read more here.)

How it began

Just a small group met at our Hotel base this evening ready to run the 2km route to our task. The route and run were discussed and we were lucky enough to have Chris and Becky leading the run this evening.

By 7pm, a good-sized group had gathered at The Brady Centre, home to WHFS, and were already busy stuffing envelopes as a warm-up to tonight’s activity.

Kelly then gave us a brilliant briefing, as the last few runners arrived, and we made our way to stairwell and store cupboard to start the huge task of bringing down bag after bag of items.

No stopping us

The team blitzed the donations in no time, helped hugely by the vast space we were given to do this, and the fantastic organisation of the task.

After establishing the age range of an item of clothing, the team assigned it to its relevant pile. Baby grows, trackie bottoms, ballet skirts…No label went un-checked as the piles grew.

At just before 8, the bags were emptied, only to be refilled. We carefully folded items back into the bags, now sorted to perfection, loaded the lift and returned the clothes back to the storeroom, where they await packing into baby bags, before making their way to good homes.

How it ended

We posed for a final pic, and dispersed into teams for the remainder of the night:

• The ‘Sporty, Cycling Team’ heading off into the night on feet and wheels

• The Return Runners headed back to the hotel at a pace that meant business.

• The Pub Posse popped down the road, for one for the road.

And that was that.

Shout-outs

• To Kelly at WHFS, for a task we all absolutely loved (and it was brilliant to be joined by colleague, Karen, briefly, to say hello).

• To Darren, whose first GG TH outing this was - fantastic to see you, Darren, and do join again soon.

• To Chris and Becky, and the whole supportive Hotel Running Team, for leading the run there and back.

Next week, we’re out and about in the Mile End Park area. Info and sign-up can be found here.

Until then.