Days have been noticeably cooler and damper of late and Stoke Newington Common is looking less parched than it did over the summer. However, the watering team were out again to give the young trees an extra hydro-boost.

Nick made his debut appearance on the Common, combining the task with a training run ahead of the inaugural Shoreditch Half this weekend. Good luck to Nick and everyone else running on Sunday! Stay hydrated!

This week we attracted the attention of at least 10 children (and accompanying adults), who were playing in the nearby children's play area as we filled up our watering cans. After escorting us on our first lap of the Common and helping water the trees, the intrigued and delighted children all returned to the tap and helped us fill up for the next round.

The youngsters were utterly enthralled by proceedings and most remarkably, everyone remained dry!

Hopefully we have inspired a new generation of tree lovers and environmentalists.

The weekly watering session was going ahead as usual. The little rain that fell earlier in the week was not nearly enough to sustain young tree life on Stoke Newington Common,

Despite getting held up at work (again), I decided this week to work on the 'better late than never' principle (the same principle has been applied to writing this report). Despite being a good half hour late, there was still several rounds of the common to do so I was able to help out as well as get some fresh air after a long day.

This week we had not one but TWO first time GoodGymers join us for the tree watering task!

Echo and Serafima immediately got stuck in and soon had the hang of the hosepipe (permitted despite the hosepipe ban because we're watering young trees planted in the last 3 years).

Hosepipe handling skills are measured in the number of fellow volunteers who get sprayed (or preferably don't get sprayed) with water during the bottle filling stage of proceedings.

With each tree receiving 15-20ltrs or 1 ltr per sapling there's a lot of bottles to fill and refill, so plenty opportunity to hone these skills.

Despite the rain forecast, we'll be back next Wednesday to do it all again.

The team were back helping volunteers from Stoke Newington Common Users Group (SNUG) with the monthly weeding and plant care. With the ground so dry, we didn't want to disturb it too much. So we agreed to focus on deadheading any flowers that had passed, and getting rid of bindweed. There is always bindweed to be removed. As we worked, we discovered several self-seeded saplings to be pulled up too.

After an hour, there wasn't a strand of bindweed in sight, and with the morning rapidly heating up, we agreed it was time to rehydrate.

Talking of which - we'll be back on the Common Wednesday to water the trees! Would be great if you can join us.

Despite the recently announced Thames Water hosepipe ban, we are still able to care for the young trees and shrubs on Stoke Newington Green because they were planted within the last 3 years, making the watering task exempt from the hosepipe ruling.

Rasheed(https://) joined the team for his first ever GoodGym session and the start of his GoodGym leadership experience. Clearly cut out for the task - Rasheed got stuck in with the enthusiasm of any seasoned GoodGymmer. Great to have you on board!