Give peas a chance - weeding at the Wanstead Community Allotments

On a warm but cloudy evening in Redbridge, eight GoodGymers met up to do good, get fit, and continue the transformation of a local allotment.

With Sarah, Simon and Spencer joining for their GG run, a brief introduction to the brilliance of GoodGym was given by Redbridge Trainer, James, and the group were off down Wanstead High Street like a rat up a drain pipe. Good needed doing in Redbridge and these were the people to do it.

With Peter taking the lead and steering the group in the right direction, it was up to James and Craigie-Lee to take the rear and make sure no one was left behind. Within 10 minutes Team Redbridge were at the Allotments on Nutter Lane and sleeves were rolled up ready for action.

The Wanstead Community Allotments is going to be a long-term project for GG Redbridge. Having cleared a large section of the pathways during our launch event on 25 July it was fantastic to see that even more progress had been made and it was really starting to be transformed.

The evening’s task was to clear a particular overgrown section of waist high weeds along the outside of the allotment. The group got well and truly stuck in and roots were upended and the space cleared in less than 35 minutes. It really was an impressive amount of work in such a short time and will mean more work can continue on the site over the coming weeks.

With Good done, it was time to get hot and sweaty. The session began with a few drills to work on agility, balance and co-ordination – the ABCs of fundamental movement – before a short run for 15 minutes of the Nutter Relay, a relay challenge that uses the flyover spanning the A12 for hill intervals. It’s on Nutter Lane and you have to be a nutter to do it.

With 4km run, hearts pumping hard and smiles on their faces, the group returned to Wanstead House for some easy stretching and a social drink in the George Pub across the road.

Well done to all our new runners and especially Craigie-Lee who did her first run since May! Great work all and a fantastic way to start the week!

Next week we are at Sprout There, another local allotment used by children and adults. It’s been going since 2010, so is more established but still needs plenty of strong people to keep it looking lovely. You can sign up here.