What can a small team of GoodGymmers achieve in a couple of hours? Quite a lot, as it turns out.

This Saturday, we headed over to Little Ilford Community Garden with a task: build some new planters to help this growing community space. Armed with enthusiasm, a few tools (thanks Peter!) and a healthy willingness to work things out as we went along.

With a couple of pallets, reclaimed timber and assorted bits and pieces that our host, Ray, had set aside, we had to channel our inner engineers... Thanks to a combination of innovation, initiative and teamwork, two "new" planters gradually emerged from what had previously looked like a pile of wood.

Once assembled, the planters were lined and filled with soil, leaving them ready for future food and flower-growing. Seeing them completed in such a short space of time was a great reminder of just how much impact a small team of GoodGymmers can have.

A huge welcome and thank you to first-timer Lekbira, whose project management skills quickly became apparent - no descending into organised chaos on her watch... Massive kudos also to fellow first-timer Ryan, who threw himself into trying something completely new, picking up a host of practical skills along the way.

Big thanks also our host Ray. It was inspiring to see everything he's already achieved with this little patch of land. What would otherwise be an overgrown and forgotten space is becoming a valuable community asset where local residents can grow food, connect with neighbours and enjoy a greener environment.

Well done to everyone who came along and contributed. The garden is making fantastic progress, and we're delighted to have played a small part in its journey. Something tells me we'll be back before too long.

After a day of fairly atrocious weather, the skies finally took pity on us and cleared just in time for our Tuesday evening mission to the Lighthouse & Gardens, hidden away behind the fences near Stratford International. If you’ve walked past without realising what’s there — trust us, it’s a brilliant little community space.

It was great to welcome Fuad and Eugene back after a few busy weeks at work, and the team set off on a scenic jog through the Olympic Park towards the gardens. A tube strike delay meant our host Sharon was running a little behind schedule, but GoodGymmers are nothing if not adaptable, so we filled the gap with an impromptu football skills session that definitely featured more enthusiasm than technical ability (speaking for myself at least).

Once Sharon had arrived and given us some directions, we got on with dismantling some rotten wooden planters that had seen better days. This turned out to be a satisfyingly varied task: digging out the soil, then deciding which demolition technique to deploy. Some sections responded nicely to careful unscrewing, while others required the much more cathartic “smash it apart and hope for the best” approach.

By the end of the evening we’d cleared quite a few planters, making a real difference for the small number of regular volunteers here, who wouldn’t have been able to tackle such a structural job themselves. It’s always rewarding knowing that our evening’s effort can make life easier for the volunteers who dedicate so much time to maintaining this valuable community space.

A lovely evening, a hidden oasis, and just enough dry weather to get the job done — we’ll hopefully be back in a couple of months to help again!

Check out all our upcoming sessions — including a bonus Saturday morning mission at Little Ilford Community Garden this weekend!

This Sunday morning, we headed to Epping Forest (home to 55,000 ancient trees!) where we were met by the brilliant Robyn, Conservation Officer at Epping Forest Heritage Trust. This was no usual gardening task. Instead of shovels, trowels, and rakes, modern gardening equipment was forgone and we went back to basics. The weapons, I mean tools, of choice, were big sticks. As we made our way to the task site - a large open area dense with bracken - we kept an eye out for the best ones. Robyn advised they needed to be reasonably long, and sturdy, but not too wide, so that they could be wielded in a whip like fashion. Where bracken grows, not much else does, so our task was to bash as much as we could to give other plants a chance.

Big sticks acquired, we set about, in a somewhat zig zag direction, clearing all the bracken we could. Many different bracken beating techniques were employed - everyone seemed to have their own unique style:

• Hilary found a back-hand most effective
• Chloe put her golf skills to use and struck the ferns as if on the tee.
• Fiona aka Fiona Woods
  
• Emily entered a flow state - the stick became an extension of self
• John employed a choppy, efficient technique
  
• Anna held the stick like a sword, comfortably swiping from multiple angles
• Jack's moves were really a sight to behold, resembling a Wu Shu martial artist at times
  

This was such a fun, (and cathartic!) task - a lot of bracken was successfully bashed, and no-one got hit by errant stick swipes.

Post task, Robyn led us to Ambresbury banks, an Iron Age hill fort, thought to be constructed in 700 BC. Legend has it that this might be where Queen Boadicea fought her last battle in the uprising against the Romans...We stopped to have a picnic lunch here before setting off through the woods towards Chingford.

Shout out to Emily for completing her first Goodgym task!