Plants, ponchos & a whole lotta soil

As the clock struck 6:45pm, that was when the first drop of rain was felt on the front steps of our Bethnal Green base. But the continued rain did little to dampen the enthusiasm, nor the spirits of the 16 GoodGymmers who were ready to tackle the Super Monday Double Bumper Task, as it had been billed in the previous weeks. Splitting the group in two, half ('Team Awesome') went to the Hollybush Community Centre with the prospect of two mounts of soil to shift, whilst the other half ('Team Amazing') set off to a care home in Stepney Green, whose garden was in need of some sprucing for the residents to enjoy in the summer months.

Team Awesome did an amazing job - shifting enough soil to fill 6 bags which will be used for multiple areas across the estate & hopefully helping Hollybush regain their title of Tower Hamlets in Bloom! What's more, some of the team members were lucky enough to receive some plastic ponchos, Patrick and Tracey in particular so stylishly wore in the fitness session.

Equally, Team Amazing did an awesome job. Although limited by materials in which to plant some lovely flowers in the care home garden, the team were able to locate & weed some flowerbeds which will now house some gorgeous lavender & other wonderful smelling shrubs. A lot of respect goes to GoodGym first-timer, James who did a somewhat involuntary GGTH initiation, moving by hand some stones which we accidentally put in the wrong place... Sorry for that James, but excellent work nonetheless!

After the tandem tasks, we timed our reunion in Mile End Park perfectly, where we did possibly the worst organised relay race which has graced the park - room for improvement on the logistics front, though hopefully we got some good hill-work out of it!

After the run a few of us headed to the pub to design the GoodGym Tower Hamlets flag for the Olympic Games this weekend but more importantly we raised a glass to the departing Andy Cornick who'll be moving to GG Wandsworth - they'll be lucky to have you, Andy!

Thanks again for coming & look forward to seeing you next week at the Bethnal Green Phytology Nature reserve! You can sign up to it here. Happy running!