Double double toil and rubble

John and Simon headed up the workout crew tonight, joined shortly by Emma. Speeding through dips, push ups and the obligatory seated leg lowers on the planters, call me biased, but I think it was a good use of 10 minutes.

Finishing with a short stretch of calves and upper body by the tree, we slowly made our way over to meet Larry, who heads up this popular, enjoyable task at St Leonard's Priory Park.

What is this park?

The park is a relatively new redevelopment by the parish of St Leonard's, up in Bromley-By-Bow. The locals are working hard to transform this historic site into a well used park area: this means there is a pretty, well tended outdoor space to sit and soak up the sun; walk the dog, join the gardening group on a Saturday...The church are also working closely with primary schools to create facilities that are appealing and accessible to young residents.

Larry explained that we had two tasks tonight: planting small trees to create a new hedge, and shifting more rubble, from the area in front of the hedge. Teams were soon formed, clearing, wheeling and disposing of large blocks and stones on one side; raking and planting over in the other corner. Emma was tasked with the planting masterclass, expertly illustrating how to carefully position and plant these precious new additions to the park. The teams worked carefully and continuously alongside one another: the rubble team carefully navigating heavy wheelbarrows around this uneven space; the tree-planting team digging and planting with enormous care, picking out stray litter and breeze blocks as they went.

And guess what? The time flew. It was an active task, particularly for the rubble-clearers, but nonethless we were all surprised when we realised it was gone 8.

Wheeling equipment back to the shed, and posing for that all-important final photo, we said our goodbyes, looking forward to our next big Monday night task.

Until then.