What a difference a bit of daylight makes! After what has felt like a very long, dark winter, it was a joy to head out while it was still light — a sure sign that spring (and lighter evening runs) are finally here. We were off over to Forest Gate Community Garden to meet our host Fiona, one of the volunteers from the garden. A small group of us, including first-timer to Newham Ambra, jogged over from Freaks and Geeks to the garden, where we met the rest of the team — including very first-first timer, Gavin, who’d cycled over.

The garden’s story is really interesting — the site was once a hostel, but abandoned and then left to overgrow in 2006 (think buddleias aplenty). A group of determined locals began the transformation in 2013, securing a lease in 2015 and bringing together over 70 volunteers to clear the space, build raised beds, dig a pond, and get planting. By 2016, the garden was open to the public — and it hasn’t looked back since. It’s a great example of what sustained volunteer effort can achieve.

With that inspiration in mind, it was time to get to work. After gathering tools and bags at the garden, we headed over together to a set of community planters along Upton Lane that the Forest Gate team also look after. Being a little distance from the main site makes them trickier to maintain, and so our help is particularly valuable.

We weeded, cleared rubbish, and gave the beds a much-needed refresh ahead of a community garden trail coming up in early June. These planters sit right out on the street, so the difference is immediate — helping make the area feel greener, brighter, and more cared for for everyone passing by and living nearby.

Huge welcome to Ambra and Gavin — it was great to have you both along and making a difference from day one!

📅 What’s coming up?

👉 Check out all our upcoming sessions and sign up here.

There’s no session next week as we take a short Easter break, but we’ll be back on 14th April with a visit to a community garden in Plaistow. After that, we’ve got a fantastic line-up every Tuesday evening over the next few months, plus some weekend tasks on the 18th/19th April, soon to be listed.

And of course, we’re at London Fields Junior parkrun most Sundays if you fancy getting involved.

Great work everyone — see you soon! 🌱

Five top Newham GoodGymmers headed out on a lovely run up the canal to Hackney Marsh Adventure Playground, arriving to a warm welcome from Ange.

As ever, Ange was full of enthusiasm — a true champion for the playground and the young people who use it. It’s always inspiring to hear her talk about the space, the community it supports, and the importance of adventurous play. We caught up on her recent trip to the National Playwork Conference, where she got to hear her favourite anthropologist speak — including something about 2-year olds playing with machetes. I can't quite remember the details, and it isn't something Ange is planning to introduce at the Playground, but it did sound interesting... Alongside that, we heard about ongoing works since our last visit, which are helping make it an even better place for local kids.

Our task for the evening was a classic: tackling a mound of woodchip and spreading it beneath the zipwire. At first, it was hard to tell whether we were facing a quick win or a never-ending pile, but within 30 mins, the mound was no more and the ground below the zipwire safer, softer, and ready for action.

With the job done, we headed back along the canal, enjoying a relaxed run and a chat along the way.

We should be back in May for more playground fun, but before that we have a number of new tasks - first up next week is Forest Gate Community Gardens, where we’ll be helping get planters looking their best for a summer community garden trail. 🌱 Your help, as always, will be hugely appreciated - hope to see you there.

St Patrick’s Day gave us the perfect excuse for a festive GoodGym outing — and this week came with an extra celebration: Nick’s birthday. We gathered at Freaks & Geeks, wished him a very happy St Patnick’s Day, and set off towards The Greenway Orchard with a strong crew and even stronger energy.

The 4km run took us into the dusk, head torches flicking on as we approached the Orchard. Waiting for us: tools, gloves, and a meadow that had long since stopped behaving like a meadow. Our mission was to help clear the overgrowth so the Orchard team can sow new seeds and bring the space back to life.

Tackling the Meadow (and the Meadow Tackling Us) The brambles were particularly scratchy — the kind that seem to reach out and grab you even when you’re sure you’re nowhere near them. But the team got stuck in: - Cutting back thick tangles of bramble and long grass. - Pulling up stubborn roots that did not want to leave. - Using head torches to illuminate the darkest corners, where the brambles were definitely plotting. Despite the scratch factor, the transformation was clear by the end. What started as an impenetrable thicket now looked like a space with real potential again.

A Birthday Bramble Blow‑Out In honour of the occasion, Nick celebrated by blowing out… well, not candles, but a satisfying number of brambles. Not quite as glamorous, but arguably more useful — and definitely more GoodGym.

Wrapping Up We snapped a group photo, jogged back to Freaks & Geeks, and rounded off the evening with a well‑earned St Patrick’s Day drink and chips. A perfect blend of doing good, running well, and celebrating St Patnick in style. Had some really nice feedback from the task afterwards too, to cap it all off - well done all.

Shout‑outs - To Nick, birthday hero and bramble‑vanquisher. - To everyone who braved the scratchiest vegetation we’ve faced in a while. - To the whole team for bringing such great energy to a brand‑new task.

A brill evening all round

With no task lined up for the evening, we instead headed out for a social 5k jog around the Olympic Park. What a place to stretch the legs – we're always grateful to have such an inspiring backdrop on our doorstep.

A big welcome to Rue, top Tower Hamlets GoodGymmer and legend of London Fields junior parkrun. GoodGymmers help out at this event pretty much every Sunday, and if you’re lucky enough to be there when Rue is RD, it’s worth it just to witness his Hackney Haka – a life-affirming experience and a warm-up routine.

Also great to see Rosie back again. This usually happens when she’s training for something big… and it’s no different this time – the London Landmarks Half!

It was a pretty simple evening really, much like many of our Tuesday evening gatherings that usually follow the classic “little jog out, help a bit, little jog back” format. But of course it adds up to much more than that – building connections with our community and with each other until the collective becomes something genuinely important to us.

Which made it especially lovely to hear that top Newham GoodGymmers and all-round wonderful humans Rosa and Graham got engaged last week. Their numerous tasks together chronicled through our run reports, what a joy it’s been to watch their story unfold. Their relationship has been forged through weeding, digging, mulch-moving, sanding, painting, furniture shifting, donations sorting, vaccine centre operations, parkrunning, marathon running, and much, much more. A true GoodGym love story. We love you both!

Just a thought – could you set the wedding up as a community mission? Would help us fill a Saturday slot.

Sign up next week for more of the same - well, maybe not another engagement announcement, but a run, a good deed and a celebratory drink if you missed it this week!

Seven GoodGymmers set out today to wage war on one of the less glamorous foes of East London: rubbish. And wow… there was a lot of it.

The Journey

A few of us kicked things off with a run from the London Aquatics Centre, warming up nicely before the main event. The air at the Aquatics Centre: fresh. The air under the bridge between Drapers Fields and Chobham Manor School: not so much.

The Task

The area around the bridge turned out to be extremely heavily littered — the kind of spot where you look around and instantly know:

“Yes, this is why GoodGym exists.”

Broken glass? tick

Mystery smells? tick

Random items that really shouldn’t be outdoors? tick

Enough rubbish to fill the Olympic pool? Maybe not, but we did manage to fill around 20 bags, which isn’t bad for a Saturday mission.

The Team

All seven of us got stuck in, spreading out across the site like a well‑coordinated litter‑picking strike force. The teamwork was top tier — grabbers grabbing, bags filling, jokes flying.

The Impact

By the end, the path looked cleaner, safer, and significantly less like a post‑festival campsite. It was one of those tasks where the difference was instantly noticeable — exactly the kind of satisfying GoodGym magic that reminds you why we do this.