A mild June evening saw 13 GoodGymers gather at Tower Hamlets Community Transport in Limehouse.

It’s coming up to a year since we first visited Kamal here, the new home of Ocean Youth Connexions admin and training operations.

Since then we’ve weeded the wall multiple times, cleared soil, raked zillions of leaves, picked litter, emptied barrows full of greenery and done our fair share of painting.

A popular task (due to the location, well organised activity, great before and after pics and the organisations we’re supporting), this Monday night activity is always well attended, so we were able to form multiple teams again tonight to:

• Pull large areas of weeds away from walls and fences.

• Clear small weeds away from the areas of the yard.

• Dispose of the greenery in the outside park area.

• Pick litter.

• Paint gold drainpipes!

It was a fab team effort, with GoodGymers joining forces to rake piles, blitz troublesome weedy areas and climb ladders to reach high painting spots.

The time as usual flew by, and it seemed like we'd only just started before the group were gathering for the final photo and congratulating Lucinda on her 50th good deed! John presented Lucinda with her very own black t-shirt before they both posed for the obligatory pic. Congratulations, Lucinda - you're such a big part of Tower Hamlets GoodGym!

Thanks to John and Chris for pics and project management tonight.

Join the team for a fun get together in Bethnal Green this Friday at Mother Kelly's, while next week, we're back to Meath Gardens for our first visit of 2025!

Until then...

17 GoodGymers spent their Monday evening helping out at the Prospect Walk Allotments just off Meath Gardens.

The task, led by longstanding task owner Catherine (and supported by Des and Liam) was straightforward but much needed: clearing bindweed from fences and cutting back overgrown trees and weeds that had started to take over the borders.

With private gardens often limited locally, allotments are a great asset for locals, but keeping them usable and accessible takes ongoing effort, so it was good to come and lend a hand with the weeding and pruning of the communal areas tonight.

Armed with gloves and tools, the group made a start, unravelling the long vines and clearing the way for light to reach the plots. (Bindweed's spread across large sections of the site, particularly along the fencing, where it tends to cling tightly and block out sunlight).

The team also pruned tree branches, including the wonderfully-named Heavenly Tree, and removed other fast-growing weeds that tend to creep in when left unchecked.

Working for just over an hour, the GoodGymers covered a great section of the site.

At just after 8 we posed for our final pic and made plans to return to a similar task a few doors down next month! A great night with a good turnout (and a big welcome to Nancy, who joined for her first GoodGym session!).

Until next time.

I signed in at the Felix project, Towner Hamlets 10:50am in the morning and we signed out together with one of the lady from GoodGym at 2:45pm. As afar as am concerned there is know issues at place of workday. Thanks

Dashing through Tower Hamlets ( in slow motion) dressed in small red costumes carrying safety equipment, Darren and I were asked my Mrs D to trim her Bay tree and two others. Unfortunately the tools were in the shed and she couldn't find the key . We managed to ask neighbour to borrow some shears and got back on the job. We did a quick job of trimming some potted shrubs, Mrs D then found the key and we trimmed a taller red tree using the ladder and loppers from the shed. By the time we'd done that we didn't have time to get the bay tree done. Botch job?
Mrs D seemed happy with the work so far but might need some more help to get it complete.

Found Mr B and Ms W (support worker) waiting for my arrival.

The heavens had opened and so the ground was nice and workable, fantastic!

After the initial weed and rake leveling it was time for the weed surpresent covering and as luck would have it there was just enough and the exact amount of pegs too.

All in all a great time was had by all and now for the decorative medium wether it be shingle or mulch could be another mission there.

I did my best within the given time and using the tools provided, but I feel I didn't make much of a difference on the grand scale of the hedge. I will try to return for another mission, this time with more people and better equipment.