A mild, bright evening saw 17 GoodGymers head to Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park for a goose-grass and cow parsley bonanza tonight.

We started with 15 minutes of fitness outside the park office, which saw us welcome Nick to his first GoodGym, joined shortly by fellow first timers, Nia and Becky.

Speeding through the weekly lunge selection; adding in a little light upper body work, and finishing with a range of stretches, we managed to get through quite a lot in a short space of time.

Heading over to the well-stocked tool shed, we were greeted by Ken, who had wheelbarrows, rakes and gloves galore ready, and promptly led the way to our spot for tonight's task.

Background to the task

Our regular visits to the park, overseen by experienced Park Manager Ken, always ensure the week gets off to a good start. Although the park has a fantastic team, and a steady stream of volunteers, a decent-sized group of GoodGymers never goes amiss at this picturesque local spot.

Spread out over four corners in total this evening, we raked and plucked at these pesky weeds, which, given half the chance, would take over the park. It was a decent workout, particularly with the wheelbarrow runs to the big weed pile, and most importantly, we made a decent dent in the weeds in this area.

The team didn't stop (well, only to pose patiently for pics, and debate the all-important issue of tonight's pun, who we have Lukas to thank for, but our Emma's fantastic effort absolutely did not go unappreciated).

At around 7:45, we lined up wheelbarrows, collected gloves, and posed for one last pic before speeding back to base.

A brilliant evening once again!

Next week, Emma leads our Monday night activity to Rocky Park, complete with run from the gorgeous Town Hall Hotel!

Until then.

Tonight’s task started with a fitness session on Middleton Green, consisting of a short routine of body weight exercises and some running courtesy of Emma and Rohan.

It was a beautiful evening for a few push-ups and a lap of this pretty park.

At 7pm we headed around the corner to meet Margaret who was well prepared as usual. This evening’s task? Filling planters with soil!

A well-organised task

The task started very efficiently with wheelbarrows lined up, bags of soil at the ready, and an efficient system in place.

After a team effort of climbing over the wall with the polytunnel frame, we formed several teams to start on each bag of soil. Shuttling up and down the small path, lifting barrows over the wall and raking soil into planters, we achieved a lot in a short space of time.

At shortly before 8, the whole team gathered to haul one huge back of soil along the path, to position it in an easily-accessible spot for Ash when he resumes this work tomorrow.

Gathering wheelbarrows, rakes and gloves, we made our way back to Rocky Park, via the toolshed and the heavenly jasmine climber.

After posing for that all-important group pic, we finalised the details of our next visit to the gardens on May 20th. (Check out the listing for the next visit here).

A wonderful, sunny mid-week task. Well done everyone.

Until next time.