This was a busy morning for GoodGym Redbridge with two missions going ahead on Sunday morning - looks like the team at Frenford Food Bank mission had their work cut out, well done! Back in Hainault, in between rain and sun, Linda, Janet, James and Julia met up for some community gardening.

Things to note:

Once, twice, fifty times a lady. Julia has achieved her 50th mission milestone this week!!!! Linda kindly dusted off the GG Redbridge banner to celebrate this achievement!

Second time, the charm! We were very happy to see Janet return for her second mission and that she wasn't put off by a somewhat rainy 1st mission!!! Thank you Janet for your help, we couldn't have done today without you! high five

Let's get this (gardening) party started!

A little bit of context: Exactly a year ago, Hainault community (local residents, local organisations, station staff, GoodGym Redbridge) came together to install planters with flowers around and inside the station to bring a bit of colour, nature and joy to those who walk, cycle and drive past the station. Throughout the year, and especially at lockdown - when all spring bulbs came up, we have received a lot of positive comments and appreciation from those who found this small unexpected slice of colourful nature very joyful and helpful to their wellbeing and civic pride.

Project Dead-Flower Planters: Sadly, the planters inside the station did not survive after spring bulb flash so they've been standing there looking sad and bare, waiting for a bit water and live plants! Cue - GoodGym Redbridge!!!

This was a hard job because the planters are very leaky and any attempt at watering produced a tsunami of water, even if expertly caught by Linda's expert skills with a mop and a bucket to stop flooding the station!!! So we decided to carry these, not so light, planters out for a good shower down and revitalisation with new compost (kindly donated by Redbridge Nature Conservation Team). Janet and James took on the job of bringing the soil to life by carrying watering cans back and forth, finally achieving a soaked result after which we could add some plant feed, new compost and flowers, which now brighten up the entrance of the station! Everyone's biceps will be hurting from bringing them back in though;)

Project Outside Planters: Surprisingly, the flowers and greenery is still very much alive and kicking in 4 of the planters, refusing to let go of summer! However, there were three planters that were just looking super pathetic - thankfully, due to extremely generous local resident donations, there were fresh flowers and plants that were homed in their new planters, instantly brightening up the entrance/exit of the station.

What an enjoyable and active morning - well done everyone for motivating yourselves to get out of the house this morning and do something good for the local community!!!! YOU ARE THE BEST!!!

A lovely afternoon visit to South Ilford to do some work at the SHP site! Arrival has brought some small drama again, with Linda and Julia arriving just on the dot and met by Lorena, who's managing the site and doing a great job! Janet got a bit lost, which as last week shows, is a very normal thing to do with this location!!! :)) Well done for getting to your first mission Janet!

Welcome and First Mission Lovely Janet has not only done her first ever mission with GoodGym, she also walked/jogged a long way to get there from Hainault - welcome Janet and well done for getting out there, doing good and getting fit!

Tasks We had a couple of jobs that we completed during the visit - we weeded the bed to prep it for winter onion planting that the charity's clients aim to do in the next week or so; and we also 'freed' the path material to create a bigger bed for wildflower meadow.

Overall, it was a lovely afternoon of being outside, getting some activity in, helping a good cause and meeting new people!

Until next time, see what's coming up HERE