10 Goodgymmers were suckered into lending a hand in Wood Green for a spot of tree maintenance, getting rid of epicormic growths on the plane trees along Lymington Avenue.

Finger-watch Galore

Big up for Maddie, our newbie at this task, who bravely announced she is a professional violinist just as we handed her sharp tools that could cut through fingers. Cue, of course, an evening of very stressful finger-watching. Maddie was a pro and took it all in good spirits. And no fingers were harmed in the making of this report. Phew. You can come again, Maddie.

Blood, Sweat, and Tears

This is a task that we enjoy coming back to every year. As Summer goes on, the suckers on the plane trees in London get a bit out of hand, and we are always happy to lend a hand keeping them under control in this corner of North London. Did you know that London Plane Trees are technically known as plantain trees? No, me neither.

Anyway, while the bulk of our Goodgymmers got on with the task of giving the trees a nice haircut, Neil and Sheril were in charge of a thorough litter pick along the same route. Our litter pickers' conversation was wickedly murderous in their contents which spread through the group like wildfire. So suffice to say it was a lot of fun but probably libellous so unprintable. But it did set us right in the mood for the one bloody incident of the evening when good ol' Gramps failed to spot a very thick and dried up bramble and got a massive cut on his head. Luckily, Latoya jumped into action, got a bunch of splinters out of his noggin, and patched him up real good. Not before giving him a comprehensive telling off, mind. Eeeshka.

Just before 8pm, newbie Maddie made the mistake of saying she was still full of energy, so we all endured a few minutes of wall sits, followed by a session of Sally (iykyk). None of our Goodgymmers even put up a fight, proving that we are all indeed suckers for punishment.

All in all, a lovely evening was had, if i say so myself.

Boom

Seven Goodgymmers painted the town red (and green, and yellow...) as they lent a hand to the Friends of Carbuncle Passage for a very colourful new task.

Leave the catcalling to the cats

Our Goodgymmers were excited to be joining the wonderful folk from the Friends of Hartington Park and Carbuncle Passage as they look to transform this throughway connecting Tottenham to the Marshes in the east. A mission right up our street, if you ask us.

We were welcome by Chloe who had kindly provided us with drinks and plenty of paintbrushes and we wasted no time. Niamh, Sarah, and Mark made up Ninja Team A, entrusted with varnishing the lovely artwork that some residents had painted on the fences the previous weekend.

Ninja Team B, aka. Dave, Neil, and Ed, were in turn tasked with sanding and priming a fence for a forthcoming painting sesh. Gramps, as always, made himself busy floating between the two teams and generally trying to avoid any real work.

We painted to our hearts' content while conversation ranged from the unbearable nuisance of catcalling (come on, lads, do better!) to the touching story of the lovely rainbow on the passage. 

It was a lovely evening and Chloe seemed satisfied with our handiwork so we are sure to be visiting the passage again some time soon.

On a slightly chilly June evening, five Goodgymmers met task owner Michael at Woodside park to weed a flower bed.

The bed was full of beautiful plants but had been slightly overtaken by weeds. Michael advised as to which plants were weeds and which plants should stay, because to our untrained eyes everything looked quite pretty, really. But the Blue Alkanet and overgrown brambles had to go, along with the non-native beer bottles and energy drink cans. We also welcomed newcomer Sheril under the Goodgym "bring a friend" initiative - well done Latoya on your indoctrination I mean induction efforts.

The team got so stuck into clearing the weeds they didn't want to stop as 8pm neared. The good news is that Haringey council have agreed to maintain the bed once a month. So although we didn't finish the job we made a very good start, and can be confident that our hard work was not in vain.

So at 8pm our worthy Goodgymmers departed, to continue the evenings revels at an alternative location I regret I unable to divulge.

8 Goodgymmers rolled up their sleeves and assisted the good folk at Harmony Gardens with an old school hardcore weeding session.

Couples Therapy

Did you know that the collective noun for a group of tadpoles is a knot? Now you do.

Did you know that the Irish for fox, madra rua, literally translates as red dog? Now you do.

Did you know that if you soak comfrey leaves for long enough, not only will they stink so bad that they'll make you retch but also could potentially create some fun, homemade explosive device? Now you do* (please don't blow anything up IRL. Talk to your mates instead)

Did you know that if you ever need anyone to lead a couples therapy session you should never ever ever ask either Niamh or Gramps to lead it? I suppose you could've guessed that one by now.

Anyway, enough with the free public service broadcasting, if you want to learn more lessons like the ones above, you should definitely join a GG live classroom near you pronto!

It wasn't all fun lessons at Harmony Gardens, however. Oh no, sweet Murphy was there too. For those unfamiliar with this absolute gem, Murphy is the official GGHarringey canine rep, whose vet last week confirmed he's roughly around 100 years old in human years. Not that that would stop him from walking to task, joining in the digging, and check notes engaging in a very public and sloppy snogging session with Gramps. Legend.

It wasn't all fun lessons and canine shenanigans at Harmony Garden, however. Oh no, there were also tadpoles. Our Goodgymmers kept taking little breaks to have a look at the little fellas swimming around, while Mike from the Friends group kept a close eye on an unnamed hirsute Goodgymmer who wanted to take some tadpoles for his own pond. No, unnamed hirsute Goodgymmer, that's not allowed. And yes, hirsute Goodgymmer, your fish will probably just eat them anyway.

It wasn't all fun lessons and canine shenanigans and knotty but nice mischief at Harmony Gardens, however. Oh no, we also found the time to do some proper work. Three-cornered leeks were pulled with no remorse as they had taken over one of the beds at the back of the centre. Meanwhile, at the front of the building, a lovely field of self-seeded poppies were being crowded out by weeds but our Goodgymmers came to the rescue. They even managed to find a previously unspotted dog rose. Fun. All in all, a good hour's work if we say so ourselves.

Again, you should definitely come

Seven Goodgymmers started the evening with high hopes and ended the night drawing their sorrows on the banks of the Westbury Banks nature Reserve

Locked, stocked, and frazzled

Our Goodgymmers arrived the Nature Reserve to find that a neighbouring Friends group had borrowed the main tool they needed for tonight's task of clearing the top end of the Reserve to make it a bit more presentable from the street. Undeterred, our Goodgymmers used whatever tools were available to them to get on with the job at a hand.

Our Julie arrived straight from work like the rock star she is but it did mean she had some expensive work gear and her home keys with her in her work bag. Gramps suggested she put it in the thief-proof super-safe virtually-unbreakable toolbox for safekeeping. And then, then the key broke.

After a rather long period of panic, Gramps arrived at the only real solution available to them and called an emergency locksmith.

Our team completed their task for the evening all the while keeping an eye on Gramps' blood pressure. When 8pm came and went without any sign of the locksmith, our Goodgymmers armed themselves with drinks and crisps for the offie and we all settled in the Reserve for the long haul. We needed to make sure our Julie could get home after all.

Eventually, our knight in shining armour arrived and proceeded to do a lot of huffing and puffing. After around half an hour and a few hundred pounds later, we had broken into the box and we were all free to go home. So we all went to the pub to settle our nerves, of course.

Never a dull moment with GGH!