With Saturday's fête fast approaching, three GoodGymers joined forces with a group of dedicated church volunteers to help spruce up the grounds of Emmanuel Church.

The weather wasn't quite as kind as the forecast had suggested. What was supposed to be a light drizzle turned into something a little more persistent, but that didn't stop anyone getting stuck in. Armed with brooms, rakes and plenty of determination, we set about sweeping leaves and tidying the churchyard to make sure it was looking its best for the weekend's visitors.

Working alongside friends of the church, we cleared paths, gathered piles of fallen leaves and generally gave the outdoor spaces a much-needed autumn refresh. Despite the damp conditions, spirits stayed high and it was great to see everyone pitching in to help prepare for an important community event.

As with many successful GoodGym tasks, there was a reward waiting at the end. Once the work was done, we were welcomed inside for a generous spread of sandwiches, providing the perfect opportunity to warm up, chat and admire the results of our efforts.

A huge thank you to everyone who braved the rain to help out. Here's hoping the churchyard stays looking tidy and the fête enjoys much drier weather than we did! 🍂🥪☔

Great to be back at Emmanuel Parish Church for another evening in the gardens, Paul, Graham and I taking a gentle jog over from Freaks and Geeks.

Given the recent dry weather, the ground is currently too hard for any planting, so we concentrated on giving the gardens a good general tidy-up, with plenty of litter picking and leaf sweeping. We made a very satisfying difference to the garden — a good bit of tidying can go a long way!

A particular thank you to Paul, who went above and beyond this evening and helped us out with some of the less glamorous aspects of the task. 👏

And, as promised, Sybil and the Emmanuel team gave us a very warm welcome with the usual supply of post-task refreshments. 😋

We'll be back soon, hopefully after some rain allows us to do some autumn planting!

A welcome return to visit Sybil and the team at The Emmanuel Parish Church this evening, after what had felt like quite a long winter break - even the evening sun made a welcome appearance after our run across from Freaks and Geeks started under forbidding skies and passing rain showers.

It was also a very warm welcome to Kevin on his first mission in Newham. Regulars Hilary, Brad, Graham, and Nick made up the rest of tonight's gang.

Of course Sybil had much planned for us to do, and so with tools, gloves, bags, Iris plants and compost at the ready we were tasked with weeding a border bed at the far end of the Church garden, as well as removing Ivy from the wooden fence, and then preparing and planting the Irises and laying compost across the top surface. With much helpful assistance from other volunteers from the Church group we were soon down on our knees removing all the unwanted greenery from the bed and fencing, before trying to turn the soil in preparation for the planting. Helpfully a hose was at hand to make the soil a little more compliant, and with trowels in hand it was a case of dig and plant at roughly even spacing, followed by a thick layer of compost to feed the plants.

Before we knew it, the time was upon us to pack up, and as we walked back into the Church hall with tools in hand, the team produced plates of sandwiches and fruit to "replenish our energy" - always welcome after a hard day of bordering. Hilary led us on a chatting speed run back to Freaks and Geeks, where we decided to have an impromptu social in the pub to celebrate another successful Tuesday evening of weeding and planting.

We look forward to seeing these latest plants flourish in the garden, and we'll be back again in early July to do a closer inspection!

Another classic GoodGym Saturday in Newham — with Graham and I warming up at Wanstead Flats parkrun before heading over to Emmanuel Church for some hands-on autumn action.

Eugene, running in from Bow, had already arrived, and shortly after Team Prince jogged in. We were warmly welcomed by Sybil and the team, who had all the tools ready and jobs lined up. The main task: tackling the leaves that had taken over the church grounds, and giving some of the trees and shrubs a prune and tidy-up.

With plenty of teamwork (and a fair bit of leaf-bag-lifting cardio), we managed to fill around 30 bags of leaves — transforming the space in the process. The church gardens looked fresher, cleaner, and far less autumn-overwhelmed by the end!

Sybil and the crew treated us to a well-earned mac and cheese — a great post-task reward (unless you're Sharon, who inexplicably doesn't like cheese sauce) and a lovely chance to sit down together and chat.

A huge thanks to Sybil and everyone at Emmanuel Church for the warm hospitality, and to all the team who came out to lend a hand. Great teamwork, good laughs, and a truly satisfying task.

Our first weekday evening community mission, but at one of our regular tasks.

This week Sybil had over 200 bulbs for us to plant in the long flower bed at the front of the church.

Mark joined us for his 2nd GG good deed while Bianca joined us for her 3rd and Steven joined us for a 2nd tourist visit to Newham.

Sybil had clear instructions
* clear leaves
* dig in compost
* make holes
* plant bulbs (make sure they're the right way up)
* refill holes
* leaves back to act as additional mulch

In less than forty minutes all 200 bulbs were planted and covered.

Some light refreshments as a thank you from the church for our hard work before we headed off home.

A visit to Emmanuel church for the team on Tuesday.

We started on the preparation for 2 new flower beds in the church ground.

They have a grassed area between some of the tress and the church members decided they need more flowers,which would help the pollinators.

Grass was removed and taken to the compost pile,the ground was a little dry but Adam made light work of loosing it up,a great way to celebrate his 25th good deed

Two new beds are now ready for the bulbs to be planted.

We look forward to seeing them bloom next year.

And again the ladies did us a wonderful post task feast......I didn't get a photo of the chicken...which disappeared very quickly

We are off to St Marys Allotment next week for some fence dismantling....Head torches are a must