This time, we had a plan. A five-point plan! Complete with a treasure map!

Point 1:* Clear bindweed from the flower bed*. Once Ilana had found out what bindweed is, she joined Emma (new Emma), Jo and Lucinda in untangling said weed from the greenery

Point 2 : Litter collection. There wasn’t any litter. So we didn’t bother with that one

Point 3:Lawn maintenance: Identify and fill in any holes in the lawn and make the ground level and safe to walk on. Sam and "tree-hugger" Darren made themselves useful, identifying so many holes that they hadn’t got enough earth to fill them. But the ones they did fill, did indeed make the ground very safe to walk on. No-one was tripping over holes at all

Point 4: Path Clearing: sweep the paths. We let Dan use the big broom, to celebrate his 50th good deed. He also used a trowel to de-weed the edgings. This was something we were working on last week, after which the Bishop of Stepney, no less, remarked on how tidy the gardens looked!

Point 5: Woodchip removal: clear loose wood-chippings off the lawn surface. This was as a result of a tree which had been chopped down after becoming hollow inside. I undertook this task, along with enthusiastic young Ivo, who’s looking for new outlets for his enthusiasm and is planning to take the necessary training to join GoodGym Tower Hamlets Task Force!

Because one of our number (a Task Force member!!) arrived late, I had to keep everyone behind for an extra ten minutes’ detention at the end.Or more truthfully, they were so engrossed in their tasks, it was hard to get anyone to finish. But we eventually got people together for a photo, taken by a random passer-by who enthusiastically took a GoodGym promotional flyer away with him. So maybe he’ll be around for his first good deed, when Dan moves on to his 51st!

A new task took GG Tower Hamlets to St Paul's Church in Shadwell to join their Saturday morning session. it was the first part of a project to give the church a makeover. Lots of members of the church were there and it was nice meeting Briget, Jo, David and Rachel to name a few.

One of the tasks was giving the beautiful stained glass windows a first major clean in a decade to make them shine again. GoodGymmers Sam and Sree both set up at a section of the windows with soapy water, window cleaning spray and cloths, and step ladders to reach the high points. It was a really nice task with music playing, new community faces to meet and coffee and croissants to keep us fuelled.

The second phase of the refresh takes place in July and it'll involve some work in the gardens. https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/gardening-and-diy-at-st-pauls-shadwell-39b5abb8-33bd-4a05-92f5-2d1ae443755b

You may be aware that the one-time Bishop of Stepney – whose patch covered Tower Hamlets – was recently appointed Archbishop of Canterbury! So what’s that got to do with GoodGym? Well, the local mitre has now passed to the Venerable Rod Green, who’s visiting our favourite Lady at St Matthews Church, Bethnal Green today - so an urgent tidy-up was required!

Nearly every possible weather had been present in London yesterday in quick succession, so who knew whether the afternoon thunderstorms would return while we were engaged in the task? So full marks to those who were prepared to brave the elements, despite this being our third group session in as many days. A special welcome to Theodore, embarking on his first ever Good Deed!

Rather than set us to work in the now-swampy planting area, Lady Andrea decided that our most effective tidying operation be to tackle the area in front of the church entrance, where numerous pesky weeds had emerged from between the paving stones. In this respect, the rain was our friend – it had softened the usually resistant roots, making our task rather less hard on the wrists. After an hour and a bit, the area was entirely cleared of weeds and muck, looking so much tidier – fit for a bishop in fact! Even Barry the dog helped, with some jaw-based litter-picking

It only remained for our super sextet to navigate the puddles of E2 and return to the more predictable environment of their fireside. And don’t worry if you missed all the fun – we’ll be back there on Monday!

Taskowners Emily and Margaret greeted us on approach, at Approach Gardens - a lovely community food garden in the heart of Bethnal Green, home to bees and frogs. They helpfully divvied up the various tasks that needed doing between our large group. These included:

• Beautifying the area round the pond (home to at least 3 tiny frogs), trimming the hedges etc
• De-weeding various areas within the garden and along the borders outside
• Giving the greenery a 'haircut' around the outside edges
• Clearing the path leading to the beehives

This was a task where we split into little sub teams, working away in our own areas, wheelbarrows full of foliage going back and forth throughout the hour. It was only at the end we could stand back and appreciate how much had been achieved. Well done all!

A big shout out to Emma for completing her first Goodgym task!

We also said goodbye (for now!) to Kat and Asad, as they move to the Chilterns. Some of us headed to The Camel post task to toast them with a drink. You will both be very missed (un-frog-ettable some may say...) but I'm sure our paths will cross again soon.

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!

A hot day for gardening. Was welcomed to Ms S's house by her daughter and shown the garden which was full of clematis, honeysuckle and bindweed. So much so that it was blocking access to the back gate which could be needed in an emergency. I cleared the paving slabs of weeds, cut back the lyme tree and cleared a bit of rubbish. Ms S gave me a couple of cool glasses of water and I was on my way.