29 Happy Hackney GoodGymers ran 3k to help Wilton Estate Community garden in a mega weeding expedition!!

Amazing to see so many fancy to kick off 2020!! Loving the bumper GoodGym first timer crew, hope the session is the first of many with both Hackney and GoodGym!!

Remember we run the same time and from same starting location for the next 49 straight weeks so make it a habit and join us as regularly as you can for some community minded running fun!!

The task!! One of Hackney’s longest running tasks with GoodDeeds having been collected here for the last 6 or so years it was great to have Wilton Estate Community garden there to start off the year!

After a indirect 2.5km run to the gardens with everyone catching up and meeting up after our Christmas break! Thanks to Toyin for backmarking!! We arrived at Wilton ready for action, meeting task owners Gilly and Ulus who guided us through the tasks. We split up Into 3 groups and got straight on it! We had the mulchers who were finishing off the last of the huge mulch pile we decimated just before Christmas. This time shovelling, barrowing, tipping and raking the smaller garden that we previously cleared.

A high quality mini group got stuck into a smaller flower bed with a few prickly tangles to contend with to rid the over grown bed of the big bad weeds ready for planting!

Then a major task of the evening, the massive jungle like bed that we tackled in the rain 2 years ago got it’s just deserts. With a monumental clearing effort from 16 grafting GoodGymers!! In 50 minutes turning the Jungle into a clear flower bed ready for some Spring time bloom!!

Completing and exceeding the tasks we filled a massive 8 tonne bags of garden waste and dragged them to be collected in the morning. With 8 minutes to play with Chi asked if he could start the year with a little most conditioning and got everyone’s heart rate up and core muscles working with a short bit very effective fitness blast!!

With time short we zipped back to base in the nick of time before we stretched out and disappeared into the night with a smile on our faces and a big impact for a great community garden!

Next week it is a 3k run each way to Abney Park Cemetery where we will be dominating another great physical task!! Sign up and see you there!! If you have a head torch it’s a good one to bring it along for.

Joel

p.s Thanks to Chi for the extra pictures and Liz for the WhatsApp group Admin!!

12 GoodGymers ran 7k to Ebury Estate homeless project to make 200 delicious Jam sandwiches to be given out to Westminster’s homeless community.

A busy night in central London meant we were running the back streets to get down to Pimlico. Dodging through Oxford Street, Mayfair, Buckingham Palace and Victoria making great time in a solid running train as we ran South!

Getting to Ebury estate to lay out the the tables ready to roll with the sandwich production line! We had cutters, butterers, jamers, and baggers in a slick line of sandwich making perfection!!

Luckily with some of the bread still being a little cold the beautiful November weather system helped us out with a strong sprinkling of rain to soften the loafs!

With this perfectly timed intervention for some reason the production line sped up and the sandwich pile mounted super quick!

A final Push and all the bread to used, sandwiches piled high in the lodge and tables cleaned up and stacked away!

A speedy run back to base was all that was left to do and an awesome running performance was put on display!

Thank you all for coming along! Hope to see you next week for our Plog along the canal at Little Venice!

Joel