First up, a big welcome to Amy, who joined us for her first GoodGym task — great to have you along. And welcome back to Fuad for the second time in as many weeks. Brilliant to have you with us again, and great to share the task with you both.

We were back helping Care4Calais, this time at their new location just off Wick Lane. A group of four of us jogged over from the Aquatics Centre, meeting Amy at the gate to the storage building. On first impressions, this felt less like a task and more like an escape room in reverse, with a series of entry codes, room numbers to find and combination locks standing between us and the mission. Thankfully, only a small amount of wandering aimlessly was required before finding the right place, where Nick was ready and waiting for us.

Once inside, we had clear instructions: sorting baby and toddlers' clothes into age brackets. Simple, focused, we got stuck in - with the occasional query over significant differences in Australian vs UK or European sizes, whether ages were expressed in months or years, and taking delight in high-quality pieces originating in Bangladesh. Several boxes were sorted in around 40 minutes, and then we were on our way, now escaping in the correct order.

We’ll be back there again in about a month to help out some more.

What else is coming up?

This Saturday we’ve got our second visit to help Clean Green E15, revitalising some planters in Maryland. Join us there — and/or come along to parkrun first. It’s likely to be local, either Hackney Marshes or Wanstead; we’ll update the listing page once confirmed.

London Fields Junior parkrun - there are GoodGym volunteers here most Sundays and it's always great fun.

No Newham task lined up for next Tuesday, but Tower Hamlets are at Ocean Youth Connexions on Monday if you need a weekday GoodGym fix. Otherwise, we’re expecting to be back the following week (17th) at Hackney Marshes Adventure Playground. Keep an eye on the listings for updates.

See you soon 👋

A rare twist to our usual routine this week: we kicked things off at 18:30 instead of 19:00, and clearly the earlier start suited everyone because we had a brilliant turnout. Even better, we were joined by Ivo, the founder of GoodGym! Thanks for your help Ivo!

Our mission for the night was to give a tidy-up to the alleyway near Colegrave primary school. The plan was a full sweep: litter picking, weeding, and general sprucing. But in a plot twist, it turned out the council had finally swept through the area just a few days earlier (after locals had been chasing for some time!).

So instead of a major overhaul, we found ourselves polishing around the edges, tackling the bits they missed and giving the space a bit of a shine.

A huge thanks to Chris, who smashed it as a first‑time task host. He came fully prepared with gloves, tabards, litter‑pickers, and a pooper scooper — truly the mark of someone who understands the unpredictable nature of alleyway adventures. Thanks for making everything run smoothly.

A warm welcome to the new GoodGymers who joined us — great to have you with us — and well done to everyone who came along, mucked in, and made the most of a task that turned out a little different from expected.

Another good deed done, another alleyway improved, and another reminder that even when the job is smaller than planned, the company and the effort always make it worthwhile.

Last night, GoodGym Newham took on another epic task—this time at Hackney Marshes Adventure Playground, where we helped dig out soil to create an access area for some new planters (at least, we think so… it was a bit dark to be sure!).

Most of us enjoyed a scenic run up the River Lea, while Martin met us there, ready to get stuck in. As we shoveled away, we were treated to some Whitney Houston belters, which naturally led to a chat about our favourite karaoke songs.

Among the classics mentioned*:

• I Wanna Dance With Somebody
• I Believe in a Thing Called Love
• Daydream Believer
• Smooth Operator
• Wannabe
• And the intriguing choice of "Anything Instrumental"...

A huge well done to everyone who took part! Next week, we’re back at Care4Calais—see you there for another feel-good mission! 💪🔥

*With apologies if I (very likely) mis-remembered any of these - more than happy to edit in the interests of accuracy!

...or in this case our hands, but Sam and I both commented when we met outside Ms V's front door on how today's welcome appearance by the sunshine improved our moods enormously. The ever cheery Ms V was also pleased to see us when she opened the front door, and we quickly had her mattress moved from the spare room onto the bed frame as requested. Smiles all round.

An efficient (if somewhat rain affected) pick up and drop off for Miss S, who was very pleased to see me at her front door with medicine bag in hand at midday today.

An excellent "cross border" turnout this evening at the Hackney Adventure playground as we were joined by Lucinda, Kareem and Chris from Tower Hamlets, and welcomed Joke (from Newham) to her first mission.

There was rain in the air when we arrived at the gates with the usual air of nervous expectancy as to what Ange actually had planned for us this evening - "shifting stuff" proved to be the best description, as she showed us an area round the back of the centre where wooden panels, old crash mats, sinks(!), plastic boxes, bits of shed, guttering and a lot else beside was slowly being enveloped by the undergrowth. In preparation for an upcoming inspection she needed it moved to another area - and with that we got to work.

After a good 45 minutes of non stop back and forth, we had the whole place cleared, and all that remained to be moved were some water catching roof panels, and a couple of strangely shaped "mystery items"...Ange explained that these had been parts from a film set recreating the cave paintings in Lascaux France, and which had been donated to the playground to amuse the children (who apparently were pretty non plussed...). We also perhaps didn't treat them with the reverence they deserved as we soon had them tossed on top of the pile of everything else, and with that we bid our farewells to Ange for another week and ran off into the damp evening.