GoodGym does its homework

Last night's runners met a the Arch Gallery in Bethnal Green and split into two teams to complete two different tasks in East London. One set off north and got stuck into the next chapter of Tabita's aunt's garden. They took a delightful 3.5k route through de Beauvoir and arrived with enough energy to spend 46minutes working on the earthy ground which had been almost cleared of weeds during previous GoodGym visits.While some people removed the last patch of overgrowth, another group worked through the soil with spades and forks to pull out the deeper roots. The work was hard but satisfying and continued at a good pace as it got dark. There was still time to chat with runner Richard about his upcoming adventures with Chris Tarrant, before setting off as a group again for the return 3.5k leg back to the Arch Gallery.The second team of runners set off east along Old Ford Road and then Approach Road and into Victoria Park. We then ran south using Mile End park and the canal to stay off the roads until close to our destination, just north of Mile End station. We arrived at the Central Foundation Girls' School and were greeted by Siw who showed us in and explained the task.There were several large planters full of soil which needed a little weeding before the main job of shifting them to new postions on the site. Siw had expected us to spend some time decanting at least some of the soil before they were moveable but the sheer strength of the team allowed us to get the planters to their new places while they were still full. We gathered soil from various smaller plant pots to top up the large containers stacking the empty pots neatly by the bag of green waste.In barely 15 minutes the school's planters were ready for the kids to start growing herbs and veg which they will later cook up and eat as part of their outdoor education program.Because the task had left us with more energy than we'd expected, we decided to pick up the pace for the return leg and even included some sprint sections to really raise our pulses.