The White House is a creative community centre in Dagenham near Chadwell Heath Station. Originally an 18th century farm house, Create London now run the space providing an inclusive and affordable arts progeamme for the local community - their Garden playing host to many gatherings.

After GoodGym B&D's successful first session in the The White House's back garden in August, we were invited back to help freshen up the front garden.

GoodGymers Peter, Lukas and Mason quickly got to work, cutting back, raking and bagging up weeds before litter picking and mowing the lawn.

Host Michaela was thrilled witn the results and another invitation is in the pipeline!

4 GoodGymers from B&D turned up at Company Drinks on Friday night to get the party started!

Huge shout out to Hazna for joining their first session with GoodGym B&D, as well as a big well done to Nilu, Bimal and Steven for their hard work!

With an exclusive invite from Shaun - Company Drinks Head of Food & Drinks - we refreshed the vegetable planters and mulched the ground ahead of the Community Open Day.

As well as producing food and drink on site from home grown and foraged ingredients, Company Drinks run a programme of community activities including Yoga, Meditation, Arts & Crafts, food & drink production, gardening and holiday available activity for families.

Going behind the scenes at Company Drinks was incredibly exciting as Shaun gave us the tour - we got to see the the kitchen where all the magic happens including the pasteurizer and carbonators.

We can't wait return and spend more time at this magical garden in Barking Park!

Guess who's back?

After 9 weeks away, I returned for my first GoodGym session since the birth of my second child.

Finally getting out of the flat, I was giddy with excitement arriving at Gale Street Organic Community Garden and seeing so many wonderful GoodGymers. Especially Monika who came along for a trial session - I loved your curiosity about GoodGym and all the questions you had; crossing my fingers you'll be back!

Weeding was the order of the day - with Nassaba guiding us on what to remove and what to leave. Although half the growing area was covered in coriander - we decided to leave it in place as it smelt amazing and Peter took some home to cook with - it was brilliant to see you after so long away.

A special well done to Meenakshi for making it to their first Gale Street session - especially after searching all over Becontree to find us. The garden is squirrelled away behind the Coop on Gale Street, I must update the direction instructions! 🙈

Our Future Leader Mason is growing in confidence every session, now having been co-leader at their 3rd. To thoroughly embarrass you - I really admire your calm and gentle presence, making everyone fee comfortable and at ease.

Last but not least, I really enjoyed chatting with Kim as we quietly worked away removing weeds from around the tomatoes - a few more days sunshine and they'll be juicy enough to harvest!

We were back at Gale Street Organic Community Garden this week, where the plants had very much enjoyed the rain with squashes looking very healthy and new grass sprouting already.

Future Leader Mason led the welcome and briefing before handing over to Nassaba who shared our tasks for the evening, providing a proper strength workout 💪

First up was to move the 10ft polycarbonate tunnel, which needed some military style planning. After some deliberation, we agreed to move from the inside with all 6 of us spaced around the edges and in charge of a leg each. On the count of 3 we lifted and shifted a few feet at a time, eventually placing it in its new temporary home.

Next up was evening out the placing of the feet, which required more strength work, carrying large stones and rocks across the site to prop the feet up and weigh it down. Within 10 minutes we'd secured it - confirmed by Nassaba's push test. All in all a great show of collaboration!

The third task of the evening needed yet more strength to drag bags full of green waste over to the trenches that will eventually be used for planting (under the polytunnel). The aim is to improve the nutrient quality of the soil. The giant bags were no match for our strength expert, Kim. Once they'd been emptied, Mason made light work of the raking to even it out.

As if that wasn't enough, we finished off the evening with a litter pick to remove a lot of plastic and glass that had been accumulated on site. We certainly left it much clearer than we found it 💚

Leaning on nature for support we attempted some (fully risk assessed) jumping shots across the trenches. Mason's was definitely profile picture worthy 📸

We were treated to a fiery sunset to round off a very satisfying and productive evening. Great work all round 🙌

We needed a little improvisation for tonight's task.

Before we'd even met, Kim was doing good deeds by putting her strength training to good use and helping a local resident move a gate. GoodGymers are never off duty 🫡

We had a good chat, discussing Amina's amazing array of hobbies 🎯, the pros and cons of group vs solo sports, and the joys of swimming - universally agreed.

After a short while, we realised the task was not going to happen as planned, so we pivoted. Having walked from the station I noticed lots of areas that could do with a spruce up, so we decided to do a litter pick. Kim was very organised and brought gloves, which were thankfully small enough for Lukas to share, but we had to improvise and nip into co-op for some bags for the rest of us and the rubbish.

Fighting plastic (with plastic) we donned our bags (hand bags, if you will) and got clearing a particularly messy area. In just 30 minutes we'd cleared 10 bags of rubbish, lots of it fiddly bits of plastic, leaving it in a much better state than we found it. Most impressive was Kim's navigation of the steep slope, like a mountain goat.

Not the task we thought we were doing, but definitely satisfying to see the impact 4 people can have in a short time. Great work team 🙌

Sorting and organising? Yes please! There was a shed load of sorting for tonight's task as we helped Tina and the team at Eastbury nursery and pre-school to improve the storage spaces in their garden.

Meeting at Barking Station, Mason and I welcomed Kim to GoodGym 👋 Our warm up invited some confused glances from commuters, but that didn't deter us and we were soon jogging over to the nursery, just a mile away, where we were joined by Imran and Lukas to make our merry crew for the session.

Our task partner, Tina, was there to greet us with a smile (and I think some relief) and showed us to the shed we'd be working on. Long-forgotten and now home to an array of local wildlife, it was to be a big task. Tina had already made a start so we jumped in to empty it entirely, sweep it and organise all the toys.

The first step was to get everything out and we filled the space with building blocks, bicycles, garden games, cars, rackets, gardening tools, trolleys, balls, cones and trucks. You get the idea. Everything was muddled, so we sorted into similar categories, which was immensely satisfying. It was also surprisingly nostalgic to be back in a nursery and rediscovering childhood toys. There was of course some time for games and Kim didn't hesitate to adjudicate a tug of war between Imran and Lukas. There was a rematch, but Lukas came out victorious. We all had a little go on the tiny bikes, Mason and Kim showing their speed and agility around the track.

In just an hour the shed was repacked in a calm and organised way, with everything accessible. Big shout out to Mason who braved the job of sweeping the cobwebs away and clearing all the spiders - there were some juicy one's in there 🕷️

Tina and the team were delighted. The people power of GoodGym meant they were able to achieve a task that hadn't been possible when prioritising everyday running of the nursery. And that's what we're here to do 💪 Before we left, as well as having a very thorough hand wash, we were given a tour of the beautiful nursery and treated to an ice cream 🍦 Can all GoodGym sessions end like this?

A brilliant task that brought out the inner child in us all and it was a great reminder that GoodGym is meaningful, but also fun!