Two happy Goodym Sara(h)s spent a solid hour and a half on at the Toy Library on Thursday evening, weeding the adventure playground and the carpark. Braving the hot weather and making every effort to stay hydrated, they cut back the rapidly growing bindweed, pulled up errant thistles and chopped up various bits of dead undergrowth in the newly renovated adventure playground, making sure to get rid of anything spiky or stinging that could potentially hurt the Toy Library's intrepid little customers. So busy they were, that they forgot to take any photos of their progress, hence the stock gardening tools image on this report!

Having been renovated over the first few months of this year, and opened in May, the adventure playground is already proving a huge hit with our local youngsters. Not only that, but Helen from the Toy Library was absolutely delighted when the official adventure playground inspector (yes, this is an Actual Job) expressed his admiration for how much work has been done to renovate the space. Apparently, the UK is short of 300 playground spaces, and in reclaiming and sprucing up the one behind the Toy Library, we have brought a much-needed one back to life! So, Goodgymmers across the country - only 299 more to go! Helen, ably aided by her family, has of course done much of this work herself, but is enormously gracious in her gratitude to Goodgym Waltham Forest for the time we have given her to assist in this very big task. The playground is a really wonderful addition to our community facilities, and GGWF will most certainly stand by to do anything else we can to help!

Three jolly Goodgymmers made the most of a sunny(ish) Sunday afternoon to get stuck into the rennovation work at Walthamstow Toy Library's new adventure playground. Ros, Ruby and Sarah all mucked in, putting up fencing, laying woodchip and tackling lots of pesky bindweed, all in a contribution to the ongoing efforts to get the adventure playground ready for its grand opening on 30 May. So much work has been done, but there's still a way to go, and, as ever, Helen and her team were delighted to have some extra helping hands on board. We got some good work done in a couple of hours, and it was lovely to be able to contribute to preparing this incredible new addition to the Toy Library's facilities and to think of all the intrepid little adventurers who will get hours of fun and joy from the playground for years to come!

After a hiatus in the GGWF routine over Easter we're back for our monthly task! Four happy Goodgymmers were lucky enough to catch a break in the erratic weather on Thursday for long enough to do some serious clearing up at the Toy Library in Walthamstow, where much progress has been made on the adventure playground renovations. Helen had roped in her entire family, plus Mel from the Toy Library, and was absolutely delighted, as ever, to have some Goodgym helpers too. Many hands made light(er) work of filling a big skip with all the dismantled rotten decking we'd cleared from the playground back in March, laying weed-proof matting and gravel, weeding, sweeping and cleaning. The adventure playground is due to open on 30 May, so time is ticking to get it ready for a big future filled with lots of little adventurers! It's going to be a phenomenal addition to the Toy Library's facilities and an exciting new offering for the little ones in our community. Enormous thanks go to Kevin from Greenwich and Chloe from Tower Hamlets who came all the way to Waltham Forest to help us out, and Lily gets the prize for true dedication, using her early evening work break to come and join in! Well done everyone - the energy was high and Helen was enormously thankful for our help!

Three happy Goodgymmers (Lily, Sarah and Sevan) braved the howling winds and spent a solid hour and a half clearing, cleaning and organising the outdoor toy shed at Walthamstow Toy Library, in the hope that preparation for warmer climes might lure back the spring sunshine! The task looked a little daunting at first glance, but we tackled it admirably with all hands on deck, together with Mel from the Toy Library who was standing in for Helen this evening. Buckets, spades, rakes and water toys were organised, footballs gathered into boxes and stacked on shelves in the shed, while rocking horses, scooters and pedal cars were stationed neatly outside, ready for action. Now all we need is some sunshine so that the Toy Library's lovely little customers can have some outside play time. The newly organised toy shed will certainly make all the resources on offer much easier for little hands to access. Well done GGWF - another excellent job done - and a very big thank you to Sevan, who trekked all the way from GG Ealing to give us some support - that's dedication!

Three jolly Goodgymmers went to WalthamstowToy Library this morning to join Helen and her husband John and some Toy Library volunteers, to tackle the epic task of clearing the currently defunct adventure playground, to prepare it for refurbishment. Lily got started with a big litter pick, Sarah swiftly joined in and they weeded, picked up lots of plastic and rubbish (and a dinosaur!), shifted rubble and timber, and removed all the weed-proof matting from the grounds. Later on, as if a morning of competitive Crossfit weren't enough for her, Pippa came to provide a fresh wave of energy for a lot more clearing of vegetation and removal of rubbish once the hedges had been cut. Thankfully the rain cleared up and the sun shone a little. All in all, it was a gigantic task (my back is certainly feeling it now!) and a very, very good job done. Helen was delighted with the progress made and immensely grateful for the help. The adventure playground, which will soon be repaired and ready for use, will be an incredible new addition to the Toy Library's facilities, providing a much-needed play resource for families in our local community. Well done GGWF - we did an excellent job and made a huge difference!