Four of the regular Tower Hamlets attendees didn’t appear this week.

It was almost as if someone had organised a long, hilly walk the day before which had left them too tired or injured for another session...

But super six hard-working GoodGymers were sufficient to complete tasks in some quite confined spaces in the Island House Community Centre. When the yoga class had dissipated, we met Annemarie, and were pleased to hear she’d been kept on at the centre after some recent redundancies.

I went with Martin and Rupert to paint the stair railings. Martin seemed to be lying down on the job, but in reality this was the best angle to tackle the task, as he applied delicate brush strokes like a true artist. Rupert headed for a lower floor and found he had a lot in common with Annemarie: remarkably they both had considerable knowledge of local shops and restaurants in the village of Pevensey, Sussex.

We welcomed recent recruits Kitty and Muzammel, both attending their first Monday night group task. On the night they’d opted for gardening rather than painting, so I went to check how they and Ivo were getting on with this task. Given what I understand to be gardening, I was very surprised to find them in the office, manoeuvring a filing cabinet around a difficult corner.

Who knew a filing cabinet could be recycled

It transpired that the cabinet had outlived its previous use as a holder of documents, and was to be repurposed as a planter in the rooftop garden. Who knew a filing cabinet could be recycled. This involved considerable rearrangement of the office, in order to create space to relocate the awkward cabinet around some tight corners, and up the stairs to the roof. GoodGymers’ planning and ingenuity won the day.

The “gardeners” also trimmed a trellis panel to fit where it was needed, and the allocated hour passed by quickly.

But we’ll be back.

Despite a change of day from our regular Monday night, tonight's task still saw an impressive seven GoodGymers joining us at the Island House Community Centre on the Isle of Dogs.

Four of us enjoyed a bit of fitness in neighbouring St John's Park, thrilled to be GoodGyming in daylight once again.

We then made our way around to the Island House Community Centre to meet Amanda who was leading our task tonight.

With amazing preparation (tools were laid out, painting trays ready; aprons and gloves good to go...) awaiting us, Amanda walked the first group to the outside garden area to brief on the first part of our task. Here the team of three were clearing moss and weeds from paving stones, cutting back shrubs and hedges and collecting litter.

The second team arrived in the fabulous large hall and wasted no time grabbing rollers and satin paint, and proceeded to finish the two large cupboards from our last task, and complete another in the hallway.

The garden team then moved around to the front of the building, to tackle the small area by the entrance, accomplishing another vast amount in a very short space of time.

Assembling in the hall to clear away the final few bits and pose for that all-important final pic, we concluded it had been an awesome evening and a great start to April.

Tonight we headed to a brand new task on the Isle of Dogs! No fewer than 9 GoodGymers were greeted by Anne-Marie from the Island House Community Centre in Roserton Street to learn more about what we were doing this evening.

But first the fitness

A good-sized group joined at St John’s Park for tonight’s fitness session.

This well-lit local park housing tennis courts and well-tended gardens offers great views of the Wharf. A brilliant location for a quick workout!

We enjoyed our usual upper body stretches this evening, accompanied by a few laps of the little park, some squats and tricep dips on the benches.

We also welcomed Tom and Lovisha to their first GoodGym session!

Strolling up Manchester Road we were joined by Lobo and Fiona, before heading in to the warm community centre.

A well-prepared task

Anne-Marie was ready and waiting with bundles of equipment for tonight’s painting task.

We headed up to the large hall, opened doors and windows and set about mixing paint, laying dust sheets and turning radiators off.

With six teams initially spread out over the hall, glossing cupboards and coating radiators (and let’s not forget tackling some very high beams for cobwebs) we thought this would be a speedy job, but with careful painting and a clean-as-you-go attitude, the time slipped by faster than we imagined.

In spite of starting the clean-up effort at around 8:40, it was still nearly 9pm before this dedicated team were heading out (GoodGym Golden Rule #135: Never leave a task messier than when you arrived).

This was a brilliant effort from everyone, and we look forward to Part II of this task , when we return on Wednesday 3rd April!

Until then.