Slowly our little group grew this evening, gathering by the Cranbrook Community Centre, for some pre-task body weight moves.

The team did fantastically speeding through bundles of challenging lower body balance work, some wall push-ups and the odd stretch in a short space of time.

By the time Task Owner Laura had briefed us on our work tonight, we had grown to a respectable size of 14.

GoodGymers busied themselves with filling bag after bag of leaves, of which there was a huge build up around the borders of the garden. Another team headed to the compost bays, and as the leaves were quickly cleared, members proceeded to head out to all four corners of the garden to bag the last of the leaves, rake a collapsed vegetable bed, shift containers..You name it.

By 7:40, we were looking for new jobs, such was the pace at which members worked. It was a fantastic - and chilly - effort.

By 8pm, we were sweeping the last of the leaves off the path, locating gloves and garden tools, and getting ready to say our goodbyes.

We posed for the all-important final photo before heading in various directions, glad to have got the week off to a good start.

A big shout-out to the whole team tonight, to Oana and Moona, whose first GG Tower Hamlets this was (hope to see you again soon) and to Fiona, for tonight's lovely pun.

Next week we return to the Royal London Hospital for a variety of interesting tasks with Nancy and the Barts Volunteers team. Details and sign-up are here.

Until then.

A clear Monday night meant only one thing: a terrific opportunity for 11 GoodGymers to get together to shift a LARGE amount of mulch...

But before that

Gathering in the St Leonard's Churchyard just before 7, the pre-task workout crew enjoyed a handful of moves using benches and planters as a multi-gym. We welcomed first time GoodGymers, Naomi and Eva, who did brilliantly, speeding through our regular top-to-toe faves: the Bulgarian split squat, single-leg tricep dips and seated leg lowers, to name a few.

As the rest of tonight's team trickled in, we slowly made our way over to the entrance to greet Larry, our regular task owner at this lovely park.

What is St Leonard's Priory Park?

St Leonards Priory in Bromley-By-Bow is the pretty remains of an ancient church and its grounds. Originally part of a Convent, a large Benedictine nunnery, there is 'tremendous potential to develop this forgotten space into a local community area for local people to enjoy'. And that's the plan. Currently the park hosts a gardening group every Saturday from 11-1, and there are plans afoot to work with local schools in further developing this space for, and with, the young people of this area.

The task

Tonight we were shovelling, wheeling and spreading two huge sacks of mulch to the woodland glade area.

This area is in total shade, and little can grow here apart from...ferns. But before the ferns can be planted, the area needed clearing of leaves and the woodchip distributing (Fascinating Fern Fact: Did you know ferns are ancient plants, dating back millions of years?...).

The teams were divided into four, initially: a couple leaf-raking; a larger group shovelling mulch into sacks; several wheeling, and two brave souls across the other side of the garden, on an unrelated task, lopping a thorny-looking tree.

The team worked industriously for an hour and a quarter, rotating out of tasks and into new ones to help distribute the muscle-load evenly, posing patiently for pics, and not stopping until those two huge bags were emptied.

It was a fantastic effort!

On finishing, the glade area looked clear and well-covered, ready for its new leafy residents.

After posing for our final group shot, to accompany task owner Larry's spectacular pun, we packed the last rake, unchained bikes from railings, and headed out into the night, another marvellous Monday done.

Until next time.