Emma Jones

Monday evening and we were off to a relatively new task for GG TH in the heart of Bow…

GET OUT is a charity that connects young people to nature through surfing, food growing and outdoor education.

The Food Forest, based in Bow’s Harley Grove, works closely with the local primary school to offer a well-served community garden for local young people to enjoy and learn in.

Tonight we were joining Kieran, GET OUT’s founder for some heavy lifting...

A workout from start to finish

We started with a few body weight exercises in the park across the road. A keen canine participant made sure we rattled through our exercises very speedily, so after some tricep dips, seated leg lowers, Bulgarian split squats and the obligatory dynamic warm-up we made our way across to the enchanting little garden.

As the project prepares to make way for a skate ramp revamp, large logs needed lifting and so the team proceeded to give upper and lower body a workout-and-a-half with this amazing teamwork as they carried log after log over to the far corner of the garden. The runners didn't stop, wouldn't stop: they carried every last huge bit of wood across the garden, navigating tight pathways and tricky corners.

“Wow. Didn’t expect you to blitz it that quick,” exclaimed a delighted Kieran 20 minutes in.

Plan B

And so to the second tasks: chopping back greenery, sweeping paths, litter-picking – and breaking up soil boulders for Josh.

It was humid, it was heavy going, and it was great fun.

8pm came around in no time, and we were returning tools, discussing dates for our next visit, and posing for a final pic.

We headed back onto Harley Grove and finished with some stretches to end the night.

A really, really fun task. Well done everyone.

A big shout-out tonight to Emma, who joins our Task Force! Welcome Emma!

Next week, it’s another heavy lifting job, as we head to St Margaret’s House to fill a skip…

Until then.

A small group of runners gathered at the Cranbrook Community Centre to help Janet and Eileen give the garden a good tidy.

Why were we doing this?

Cranbrook Community Centre has been serving the Cranbrook Estate and local area for many years, and Janet and Eileen are active members of the TRA.

They often need a hand clearing the area around the Community Centre. Tonight's task involved cutting back high hedges, gathering leaves from the borders, and raking weeds, leaves and litter from the Community Centre garden.

A fabulous hour's work

What initially looked like a lot of work for our small team, was in fact no match for the productive GoodGymers who blitzed the tasks in less than an hour.

Si and Leo headed out to the side hedge with secateurs and loppers; Emma and Eimear to the front borders and Liz and Fiona to the garden front and back.

Bags and bins were filled; debris disposed of, photos posed for... It was a lovely, companionable way to spend a warm and bright Monday evening. Shout-outs to the whole team this evening, (including Emma who came up with tonight's lovely pun).

And then it was 8 and we were saying our farewells, assuring Janet and Eileen we'd return soon.

Until then.

Skies were blue, sun was out, temperature mild...It was the perfect backdrop to a terrific Monday evening task.

We were due at the Hollybush Estate at 7pm, to help Margaret trim the laurel hedge, by the family area.

Why were we doing this?

The laurel hedge bordering the fences of the estate's allotments and garden is pretty, no doubt. It creates an important microclimate for the raised vegetable beds belonging to the estate's residents.

However, it can grow a little high, and it can grow outwards, taking over vegetable beds, making the area hard to access, as well as becoming a bit of a pest to pedestrians as they navigate narrow pavements on the other side of the fence.

And so it was up to a 14-strong team, to help Margaret of the TRA chop the laurel and other greenery back, bagging and binning, sweeping and clearing as they went.

It was hot, it was hunger-inducing but it was successful. And it was an upper body extravaganza, as the team reached for the higher branches, working skilfully in pairs to tackle the hardest-to-reach top of the hedge in the absence of a step ladder.

As always time, flew, and it wasn't long before we were tying the handles of the last bin liners; sweeping up the final lime-green laurel leaves and posing for that farewell pic. And congratulating our Liz on her 50th good deed :)

We split into three groups at 8pm: those running back to the hotel; those heading home for dinner, and those stopping at the pub to rehydrate.

Until next time.

One by one we gathered at The Soanes Centre in Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park this evening, to collect decent gloves and make a start on a new area of weeding in the park.

Why were we doing this?

The Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park is an independent charity that oversees Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park, a vital nature reserve and heritage site in Tower Hamlets. The park is 'a people’s park, a sanctuary for wildlife, a place for remembrance and a site for community events.'

With just two full time staff, volunteers are always welcome at the park!

With bundles of woodland paths and other areas to clear of weeds, GoodGymers embarked on our second visit of our Summer series clearing some of the more densely populated paths of cow parsley and goosegrass.

These particular plants are invasive, and block light; they end up being the dominant plants, to the detriment of a more diverse ground flora, and so 13 pairs of productive hands on a Monday night was much appreciated.

Mind the nettles

Well-briefed by Park Manager Ken Greenway, we jogged from The Soanes Centre to the middle of the park, where we worked in a big group, wandering right into the meadow, getting stung despite our best clothing efforts, coupled with Ken's nettle-trampling tutorial, hauling our stash down to the green waste heap, where those pesky plants eventually get shredded, turned to compost and donated to projects all over the city.

We were wading through weeds for an hour, but the time flew. Chatting, sneezing, plucking and hurling, we passed a most companionable, productive hour together.

Before we knew it, it was gone-8:15 and we were posing by the green waste heap for one last pic.

Shout-outs

• A big congratulations to Task Force member and Social-Squad-Pro Stephen, who tonight hit his 50th good deed.

• And a huge hello and welcome to Louise, who joined us for her first task tonight, making amazing progress, and expertly navigating, by bicycle, the runners back to base!

Next week, we've been asked to head to the Hollybush Estate, to help out with more shed tasks, mulch-moving aaand...gardening.

Until then.