The award-winning community garden at the Canal Club brings residents together, supports biodiversity and provides a shared green space opening onto the Regent’s Canal. A notification by our former Area Activator and chief motivator Laura, that she’d be hosting a weekly palates session there reminded us that we hadn’t visited the centre for some time - and we hadn’t caught up with Laura for a while either

On arrival, she bounded out to greet us, as fresh and full of energy as ever. But we had work to do – those pesky weeds had pushed their way up between the paving stones, making the front of the centre look rather untidy

Several of our number arrived fresh from the shindig weekend, enthused by meeting GoodGymers from around the country, then finding they couldn’t wait more than 24 hours for more GoodGym, Before we got going, Darren wanted to know which ice cream everyone prefers, which can only mean he’s planning to treat us all with our favourite selection at next week’s task. We also congratulated Tom on his 50th Good Deed!

Meanwhile, using a variety of tools, we each found our own way to liberate the weeds from their trap between the stones, laying them cosily in a wheelbarrow and transporting them to a nice new home, reunited with their friends in a compost pile next to the canal

An hour later, there wasn’t a weed to be seen. And the nice plant we’d been told to leave alone, was left untouched, safe behind its nicely-drawn chalk line. After catching up with Laura, who made GoodGym Tower Hamlets what it is today, we sampled task-owner Sally’s lemon drizzle, and were expertly served tea and coffee by our Louise, before some of us headed for the pub to complete our evening

The Canal Club, however, is currently proposed as a site for development. It was built for residents of the Wellington Estate and its activities include toddler storytelling, baby dance classes, Tai Chi, knitting and sewing, outdoor pizza making, breakdancing, line dancing, karaoke social evenings, a science homework club, singing, refugee activities, a food bank, arts and crafts, and Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings. There is a ball park and a children’s playground

This is not an empty site! Call on the council to remove the site from its accelerated housing scheme by signing the petition at https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/save-our-space-e2-save-the-canal-club

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.

A large group of Goodgymers gathered to help Ken at the Cemetery Park. Our mission: To remove cow parsley to make way for more biodiversity.

We set to work, eagerly pulling up the roots. Some of us with more ease than others! We moved methodically from one patch to the next and it was satisfying to see the impact we made in such a short space of time. See the photos!

Among the greenery lurked some goosegrass, very familiar to us from a previous task, so we also pulled up this sticky weed as we went.

Shout out to Jade for her first Goodgym mission and to Kevin for his first Tower Hamlets mission. Thanks for your hard work and dedication to the cause! And well done everyone for a great evening's work!