Runners get their halos - gardening at St Pauls Bow Common

Alex Eastham writes:After a wet wet day, the rain finally stopped for the 17 good gymers who met as usual at the Arch Gallery. After our standard warm up prep and warnings about potential run dangers (Puddles! Slippery leaves! Strangers!) we headed out into the night.It was a longer route than usual and a brisk run took us down the canal path towards Bow, splashing through puddles and running into cyclists.When we arrived at our destination, St Pauls at Bow common, we were met by the passionate Father Duncan who made us feel thoroughly at home by telling us how amazing Good Gymers were and how he'd stopped the rain especially for us. What a nice guy.We split into two groups to start our tasks for the night. The first group headed out to the front of the imposing brick church, shovels and compost in hand, to clear up the church's flower bed and plant spring bulbs. We crowded round the small bed and in a flurry of hands and feet cleared the weeds, got our hands dirty with the fish, blood and bone compost and used some innovative bulb planting techniques; the classic 'haphazard scattering' design won out which will make a pretty special display when they grow!The second group headed out to the church's garden to help clear up huge piles of leaves the trees had unhelpfully left there. Grabbing up sodden leaves by the dozen with bare hands, we piled them into bags. But for every leaf we picked up another one seemed to appear on the ground, taunting us. I think we won out in the end though.After the tasks were complete, we warmed ourselves inside and were rewarded with a tour of the the church, apparently 'the most significant post-war church in Britain'. Although us good gymers don't have the most in-depth knowledge of post war churches in the country, we were in agreement this was a pretty atmospheric place. Perhaps the kind of place where one may have a Christmas party. Who knows.After our mini tour we split up into two groups for the run home; one jogging back the same way we came and the other showing off with sprints up hills. We made it back to the gallery just as the heavens opened.