Monday night fitness

We enjoyed a short run and a fitness session this evening en route to our task on the Hollybush Estate.

Navigating a busy Cambridge Heath Road, we headed for Old Bethnal Green Road at the first opportunity, before adding to our mileage around pretty Middleton Green.

Following a handful of mini-hill sprints, we sped through our stretches, and made our way across the road to meet Margaret and Ash.

Some exceptionally large weeds

After admiring well-loaded wheelbarrows, our little group meandered to Strawberry Fields, the Estate’s orchard area.

Tonight’s task was weeding the large beds in preparation for redistributing the soil in the beds to other areas of the Estate.

The weeds were larger and more abundant than both Margaret and Ash had anticipated, so this part of the task took us a while.

We filled many bin liners which were then wheeled over to the compost heap.

Rain, Rain, Go away

Just over halfway through the task, the heavens opened. With a much-heavier-than-forecast downpour, this put a halt to proceedings. Sheltering underneath balconies, we paused to take stock.

Having decided this was no ordinary downpour, Margaret instructed us to gather tools, a little earlier than planned, and headto the compost bays for a final couple of trips.

Gathering for that all-important final pic, we said cheerio to Margaret and Ash, and headed back out into Bethnal Green, the heavy rain failing to dampen our spirits after another fun and productive Monday night.

Until next time.

Tonight we were needed to remove huge chunks of thick foliage from an entire side of Ellsworth Square. There’s nothing wrong with greenery in itself, but here it was liable to smother the bulbs underneath, which need some space to emerge when the weather gets nicer.

Task owner Margaret was wondering whether tonight’s small contingent would be up to the large task. Of course we were! Over chips and orange juice, we came up with a cunning strategy, which was to work very hard and fast!

With the help of lovely Margaret and her glamorous assistant Ash, we tugged, chopped and bagged. We removed periwinkle and chrysanthemum, while unearthing deeply buried maggots, snails and a Red Bull can. Victoria and John also took some trowels to the far end and tackled some stubborn roots.

We got so much done that we filled about ten rubbish bags, which we despatched to various bins, so as not to overwhelm any particular site.

Because we were panicking about whether we’d actually got any group pictures, we took several, before heading back to the Bethnal Green Tavern. There, we learned about the benefits of steam saunas and ice baths, but probably won’t add these yet to GoodGym pre-task sessions.

The task was to help set up the community event at Hollybush Estate. The event starts at 2 pm so we were asked to come by 1:30 to prep the tables and other stuff.

After throwing wood and branches at Grove farm in West London, I traveled to the other end of London. But I made a quick stop at sports direct to buy myself a cap to tackle the rain later. As I left the shop at 12:00 pm it started drizzling. I got a tube and reached Bethnal Green at 1:15 pm. I had the chocolate chip cookie which Martene, a Grove farm volunteer, baked for us.

Margret, the event organizer, took the weather into account and started setting up earlier. By the time I reached there, they have completed 95% of the setup. Margret said they might need someone to look after the food stalls.

It was raining when I reached there and the rain picked up the pace when John arrived. As there was not much setup to do, he left after 5 minutes.

I stayed back and everyone camped inside the gazebos.

My first task was to taste-test the samosas

In the food section, they had three types of sandwiches. Cheese, egg mayo, and ham. Two slushies, sweet popcorn, and cupcakes.

They were waiting for the hot food to arrive. We then covered the area where the music band will perform later with some tent clothes.

It was 2 pm and slowly people started showing up as the rain has calmed down a bit. 10 minutes later the main course of the day arrived. A batch of Chickpea curry and Lamb pilaf arrived first. Then chicken biriyani and salad came in so did the crowd.

Last year around 400 people showed up to the event. But this year, they thought the number might reduce due to bad weather.

I decided to leave around 2:30 to do some gardening near Bow. Margret and the community were lovely and they packed me a box of Chicken Biriyani and salad.

With the earlier showers a distant memory it was a good-sized group who headed out to sunny Bethnal Green this evening.

The fitness

Chris had organised a great pre-task run, so a small group met at 6 to head off to London Fields to top up this week's training.

At 6:40, our pre-task workout commenced. (This consisted of a lot of balance moves in the middle of Middleton Green, an activity the group did fantastically well with).

The task

At 7, we headed around the corner to meet Margaret on Ellsworth Street (Margaret is from Teesdale and Hollybush Tenants and Residents Association).

Ellsworth Street is home to some pretty borders and planters in front of the houses but the weeds have got a little tall. Our job tonight was to remove the weeds, take them to the compost bays in Rocky Park and retain the poppy heads. (Weeding plants of this size and abundance on a regular basis is important, as they compete with other plants for light and nutrients).

The GoodGymers worked speedily, and it wasn't long before we had a few fantastic before and after pics. Taking it in turns to wheel weeds and tackle the borders, it was a job efficiently and speedily completed.

Breaking only for an ice pop rest, we finished the job with a thorough sweep of the pavement.

After posing for one final picture, courtesy of Margaret, we proceeded to head our separate ways: some home, some to the pub - and some to the park for a little more running!

It was a fun and useful night, and a thoroughly good way to start the week.

Well done everyone.

The shout-outs

Big shout-outs tonight to:

• Nick, who joined us for his first GoodGym! Well done for a great evening's gardening, Nick - hope to see you again soon!

• Chris, who led the pre-task run.

• Margaret, who led our task brilliantly, and who took some fantastic photos.

• ...And to our Rohan, who tonight celebrated his 100th good deed. Well done Rohan, thanks for being such a big part of GoodGym Tower Hamlets.

Next week we return to the Cranbrook Community Food Garden for a big gardening catch-up.

Until then.

A nice group of eight taskers gathered on a lovely sunny morning at the Hollybush Estate to help our good friend Margaret with an hour's worth of typical GoodGym hard work - shovelling earth and weeding. Then most of us retired to an appropriately-named pub, the Sun Tavern, for a lunchtime tipple.

I hope we gave Gee a good welcome for her first ever task - her very name is short for Good Deed! We hope to see her again somewhere soon. And thanks for taking some of the pictures, Northern Emma (who's from the West Midlands).

Skies were blue, sun was out, temperature mild...It was the perfect backdrop to a terrific Monday evening task.

We were due at the Hollybush Estate at 7pm, to help Margaret trim the laurel hedge, by the family area.

Why were we doing this?

The laurel hedge bordering the fences of the estate's allotments and garden is pretty, no doubt. It creates an important microclimate for the raised vegetable beds belonging to the estate's residents.

However, it can grow a little high, and it can grow outwards, taking over vegetable beds, making the area hard to access, as well as becoming a bit of a pest to pedestrians as they navigate narrow pavements on the other side of the fence.

And so it was up to a 14-strong team, to help Margaret of the TRA chop the laurel and other greenery back, bagging and binning, sweeping and clearing as they went.

It was hot, it was hunger-inducing but it was successful. And it was an upper body extravaganza, as the team reached for the higher branches, working skilfully in pairs to tackle the hardest-to-reach top of the hedge in the absence of a step ladder.

As always time, flew, and it wasn't long before we were tying the handles of the last bin liners; sweeping up the final lime-green laurel leaves and posing for that farewell pic. And congratulating our Liz on her 50th good deed :)

We split into three groups at 8pm: those running back to the hotel; those heading home for dinner, and those stopping at the pub to rehydrate.

Until next time.