EcoSystem of a Down

8 runners ran 5km to clear ivy at Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park

At 10am this morning after spreading the GoodGym word at Mile End parkrun, 8 of us met at Town Hall Hotel for a special starter session.

Big shout out to the two new runners who joined us - Rania and Francesca. Give them a cheer! After an explanation of what GoodGym is all about we set off to warm up and run to Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park. A slightly longer run out took us 3.5km to the Cemetery Park which has a fascinating history as one of the Magnificent Seven Cemeteries in London. One of the notorious graves here is for Dr Rees Ralph Llewelyn who performed the autopsies on the Jack the Ripper murders. The Cemetery has two areas of graves - one extravagant for the more illustrious, and one public where people have been buried sometimes 20 to a grave.

We headed into the latter area to retrieve the gloves Dan had kindly left for us and set to work pulling up ivy and avoiding Cyclamen.

The areas where we pulled up ivy will make way for new spring plants that will in turn feed bugs which will feed more critters. A great contribution to a thriving ecosystem!

We loaded up on ivy and carried it over to a specified area, admiring the outdoor classrooms constructed ingeniously throughout the park as we went. Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park provides lessons for school children on bushcraft and the wildlife that can be found in this wonderful urban parkland. Whilst we were there we heard a woodpecker!

A great task well done and a smashing way to start a Saturday morning. Well done team!

Lucy J