Charlotte Price

A local mural artist needs help painting an award winning design at Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park .

The mural is one of the winners of the Grantham Climate Art Prize 2021, designed by a young person with the aim of raising awarness of important local species at risk of extenction because of climate change and human interference and engaging people who live in the area. The winners will be announced in full next week, and an exhibit of the winning mural artworks will be on display at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow this November.

What's the task? The task will include prepping the wall with some cleaning and painting a plain background colour, the area needs some clearing so that people entering the Cemetary Park can see the mural clearly and the artist may need some general support such as holding ladders while they work. It's also important the artist is not working alone for long periods, so you can be there to cheer them up.

What is needed? When you sign up, please write in the comments what time you can make it along. Task leader Simon will get in touch to confirm.

What to bring? * Wear old clothes or what you don't mind maybe getting painty as overalls cannot be provided, but add warm layers (the weather is meant to be fine, but you never know). * Bring gloves if you have them (like your gardening gloves) to protect your hands. Some latex ones may be available if you forget.

When is this task on? We will be painting 11-5 on Saturday and 10-4 on subsequent days until the mural is done. Please consider if you can come down on your lunch hour, make it part of your daily walk, or for a nosey at the emerging mural.

Community Connections Lewisham asked GoodGym to help Mrs J with walking her German Shephard puppy, Levi. She mentioned that her puppy is very friendly and cute. 7.5 months old, he is nearly fully grown so not a small dog. If he would like to play ball please do this in the tennis court so the gate can be shut and he wont chase other dogs.

Hola, upper body extravaganza

The evening started with a speedy little workout on Middleton Green, just as the sun was setting. We whizzed through some laps of 'the little hill'; mobility and agility drills and the obligatory balance work.

We then made our way over to Bethnal Green's Nature Reserve where no fewer than 17 of us came together to help Michael and the team start filling hessian sacks with which to line the new pond.

It was an hour of heavy lifting. Anyone ever tried packing a large bag full of damp, tightly packed soil and moving it? Hola upper body extravaganza.

But the team did good: working in pairs and small groups, bags were neatly filled, expertly lifted and dragged and the job done, as per.

"How long have we got?"

"How long have we got? Shall we move some soil around to the billboard area?" asked Task Owner Michael at 7:40.

Yes, let's. It's not as if we need our lats for anything else for the rest of the week.

It was a brilliant evening of productivity. Fantastically managed, from start to finish, with bundles of equipment and lights; fab leadership from both the task team and our team (Simon, you are the best steward in town) and the usual huge commitment to Getting. The. Job. Done.

We came together for our cheerios, and planning our next sessions (this Weds at 6:30pm; next Monday's Group Run at 6:45pm).

Post-pond stretching

Then we dispersed into two groups: those who were headed straight home for dinner and feet-up and those who took a mini detour via Middleton Green again for some post-pond stretches.

A wicked night, everyone. Fantastic to see so many come out on a dark night to lend a hand that makes such a difference (this is a huge project, a big undertaking for the Nature Reserve and a lot of work that might not get done, or at least might take a whole lot longer without you).

Aaand the shout-outs...

Shout-out to Jess for this evening's spectacular pun.

And not forgetting the biggest shout out to our Charlotte who tonight reached her 50th good deed. Here's to the next 50, and thanks for all you bring to the party, Charlotte.

Until next time.

Slowly but surely we arrived one by one to this evening's meeting point by Mile End Park's wonderfully-located Art Pavilion.

Each were greeted individually by our brilliant Task Owner John, who equipped everyone with a fork, and some truly sturdy gloves.

Why were we here?

Well, the countdown is on to clear some dense nettles and brambles in time for half term activity. And so Friends of Mile End Park called on us to help out on this tough, time-sensitive task.

Fork of the town

And so to work we went, our small group growing less small by the minute. We uprooted, we chopped, we stacked, we carried. It was quite the workout, not least for Rohan's fork, who gave up the ghost during the first half of the task. What can we say? John did say the nettles were tough. Impressive stuff.

With good ground lights saving the day, we proceeded to make large piles of our treacherous, discarded plants, which looked quite the stinger stash as we called it a night.

We gathered for tool deposits and our last pics of the day.

"So, you can do your keep fit up there," gestured John to the floodlit area of the pavilion as we finished up. "I'll come and see if it's any good."

And so up the hill we climbed, to the well-lit area above the pavilion for some spectacular views as we tackled mini (slippery) hills, Bulgarian split squats, hip mobility, and some fab static stretching with an official barre. Hur-RAH.

What can I say?

Another night to remember. "They blitzed a fair amount," John reflected as we walked back down the hill after.

I should say.

Until next time.