An unwell Brahma meant a Prince led evening.

A welcome return of Rosa after a very busy work schedule and few days in the sun and Simon for his first GG of the year following and injury.

A gentle run along the greenway to Abbey Garden where Xuan greeted us for a mix of weeding,watering and detangling some bunting.

We split into two groups with Brad and Simon clearing near the fence by the coffee and Hilary and Rebecca clearing between the trees.

Kevin was on hose watering while Rosa and I had the water cans to water the raised beds.

We finished off with the bunting.....it had become so tangled but as Xuan was happy for piece to cut to make coloured piece to tie to the fence.

Hopefully Brahma will be back to led is to Up Garden next week following their second appearance on The One Show

Finally we got some evening light back, as Rebecca noted, whilst realising she'd never seen us under the harsh reality of daylight. We spoke about our most watched film; Flash Gordon, A Bridge Too Far, Lion King, Die Hard (2?), Lord of The Rings and Home Alone but to mention a few.

Somewhat of a smellier Greenway trip than normal, as works were being carried out, we arrived at Abbey Gardens before our leader, Xuan. In the meantime we opened a lock, found a key, opened another lock, and then took out some tools for our task, Crystal Maze style. Hils and Matt launched into some heavy duty compost turning work, Brad and I worked on some easy weeding and conversation, whilst the others cleared a few beds of weeds. A surprise cameo from Rosa, was a nice treat to see her at a session. We also ate some rather strong and punchy cress, which is where the random title comes from, if you had wondered.

Next week we hit up Cody Dock again, but following on from news of a finger being bitten off, by an old GoodGym runner nonetheless, please apply caution when flyering. It was an absolute freak accident, but no harm being extra cautious.

Sign up here

ps. Huge congrats to Matt, he's expecting a little person in August! pps. Good luck Rebecca on your HM, enjoy the challenge.

Till next week

B

Dank evening with the squad to see out February. Discussions spiralled on the RWQ; which was basically "what's good on the telly?" Hoof trimming seemed to crop up again, along with a jury show/come social experiment, Netflix dramas, Happy Valley (yes Sharon!) and some lad that turned Jeff Bezos into a rowing boat(which is obviously this week's winner).

Down the Greenway we went with sewage gases caressing our nasal passages along route. We spent our power-hour sowing seeds and making another wildflower meadow. Under the cover of night vision wasn't optimal, but we did a rather good job on the meadow front. Filled the whole thing. Abbey Gardens aristocracy did a spiffingly good job too, in the warmth of their palace, sowing various seeds for the months to come and discussing the racket from riff-raff outside digging. On a serious note, can't wait to get in here come April, bring on the evening light.

Hope you guys had a good drink post-graft, see you next week. We've got fences to move at the allotments next to Plaistow Primary, sign up here to continue being a community hero.

Till then,

ps. Title pun for the gardeners!

B

After our refreshments at Emmanuel Church we headed to Abbey Gardens.

Today was their community gardening event,which was in full swing when we arrived.

Xuân asked if we could clear the L-Shaped bed ready for planting in the future.

We set to work thinking the bed would not take long....but the stinging nettles had other ideas with interwoven roots to tackle,thankfully some of the community volunteers came to give us hand.

All really pleased with how much we managed to remove.

Rolling into the New Year with double digits and making a sizeable impact at one of our local community partners, I ask you - what's not to like?

The group caught up at base and had the pleasure of meeting and welcoming new member, Ian. Hopefully a good experience for him - and the first of many for our man from Sheff. The RWQ was "highlight and or lowlight of your festive period?" Christmas dinner, persuading a whole family to do a parkrun, hosting NINE people, spending time with family, walking up a big hill and dinosaur lego were some of the positives. Illness, train delays and making a million teas were the downsides.

Xuan welcomed us at Abbey Gardens, having been there since 9am, that's a proper shift. Creating a wildflower meadow and weeding the 'gabion' stones were on the agenda. Much digging later at the bee enclosure, the little life-givers were buzzing away in hibernation, we'd filled about half of a rather huge meadow section. The weeding team seemed to fill up a load of buckets, a good spread of work done I'd say. And importantly, we finished with cake, thanks to Boxing Day Birthday girl, Rosie. Jaffa Cakes are never a bad way to conclude an evening's work.

Next week Up Garden awaits, along with Suzie's infamous to-do list, be ready! Sign up here - let's keep the momentum rolling through January guys. There's also the January Challenge (do as many deeds as we can in Jan) to keep us on it, let's compete with the other GoodGym areas through Group Run attendance and the load of incoming community missions (mostly Saturday).

Good to see you all, and Happy New Year again.

Till next week,

B

Skeleton service running yesterday, partly down to heavy rain forecasted and a task cancellation. Those who rolled up, made up for it in effort and chat; as we discussed - being cruel to be kind. Stern words for sartorial flair at the workplace, a gift of deodorant for your beautiful but aromatic amiga, white lies for your ex, sleep training tough love for your little one, and dental trickery to smooth over a little needle action.

We picked ourselves up and headed over to Three Mills Green, after some early discussions about the lack of light there, but it worked out well. A solid warm-up saw the team do various drills to prepare for the session ahead, including some team synchronisation and skips you didn't know you needed.

The progressive reps of the park worked a treat, a loop we'll come back to soon. Think everyone got a dose of speed, that should pick up their easy running. The key to this session is patience and control, times saved and expect a repeat in the coming weeks.

Next week's session should be up shortly, still lining up the next block of sessions.

Have a cracking weekend as the mercury drops, but the sun shines.

Till next week,

B