A fab-sized team gathered in Newell Street this evening for our task with Ocean Youth Connexions and Tower Hamlets Community Transport Hub.

Meeting outside King’s Wharf Park before 7, we caught up on the news from the weekend and discussed the night’s task.

Kamal, from Ocean Youth, came down to greet us as our group size was growing and we slowly made our way into the garage area to be briefed on tonight’s task.

Ocean Youth Connexions offer a range of youth provision across the borough, during term time and the school holidays.

The organisation has recently relocated its offices to Limehouse, to join the Tower Hamlets Community Transport team, a small charity ‘set up to provide transport to voluntary and community groups in Tower Hamlets’.

Gathering in the garage area, surrounded by equipment for tonight’s task, Kamal proceeded to run through the list of tonight’s activities, which included another big leaf-clearing in the outdoor area; a thorough cleaning of all the upstairs windows, and a sugar-soaping of the toilet walls, in preparation for next month’s big painting activity.

The GoodGymers worked fast, moving onto new tasks including radiator-cleaning and jasmine-pruning.

It was now well and truly dark, complete with an Autumn wind, but thankfully, the outside area at the Hub is beautifully (flood)lit.

As always, the time flew and just before 8, Emma, John and Lucinda were heading up the task wrap-up effort, finishing slickly and precisely at 8.

Another great night with Ocean Youth - we return on the 28th October... Save The Date!

Writes Charlie,

"We gathered for yet another memorable evening of volunteering at this well-known urban community garden in the heart of Bethnal Green.

What started as a routine mission to move soil and wood chips quickly turned into an unexpectedly lively and fun event—complete with record-breaking attendance, a pink-hued sunset, and the kind of teamwork that would make even the busiest ant colony jealous.

We were all hands on deck right from the off.

As soon as the shovels hit the ground, it was as though we collectively tapped into some sort of communal rhythm. A human chain formed, with everyone passing, digging, and moving soil with the efficiency and focus of, dare I say it, a swarm of ants. You could almost hear the theme music to a heist movie playing in the background. (Instead of robbing a bank, however, we were enriching the earth and helping the garden flourish).

Emma, assumed the role of our unofficial forewoman. Her managerial oversight was crucial to the operation—spurring us on from a comfortable vantage point. (We’ll pretend the regular supply of snacks and much-needed pep talks didn’t help that much).

We also welcomed a couple of new and familiar faces into the fold: Ramón, the rookie of the group, stepped into the gardening scene with admirable enthusiasm. And then there was Anton, back for his third round of soil-shoveling glory.

As the evening progressed, the sun began its slow descent, offering one of those final summer sunsets you wish you could bottle for the darker months ahead.

The sky turned a brilliant pink, casting a soft, warm light over the garden, a reward for our hard work.

Hard to say what felt better: the satisfaction of seeing the fruits of our labour come together, or the stunning sight that marked the end of the day.

And the best part? We finished everything double quick. Whether it was the accompanying breeze, our ‘swarm-of-ants’ approach, or simply the record turnout, we blitzed through what should’ve been an all-day task in less than an hour.

Of course the evening wasn’t complete until we wrapped at a pub nearby. What’s an evening’s productivity without a pint to celebrate. So a few of us found our way to local favourite, The Approach Tavern. With (garden) gloves off, dirt-free pints in hand, we toasted to an evening well spent and a garden well nurtured.

Cheers to all who came out. Here’s to the first of some fabulous Autumn evenings, both in the garden and down the pub."

Tonight's big shout-outs

• To Charlie, and Emma, powered by ChatGPT, for tonight’s splendid report.

• To Gurprit for tonight's ace pun.

Next week we're back to the Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park for our first Autumn visit!

Until then.

And one by one our little group grew tonight, until there were no fewer than 13 GoodGymers working on the new hazel fence at the pretty St Leonard's Priory Park up in Bromley-By-Bow.

We said hello to first time GoodGym-ers Gurprit, Anton, Anna, and a warm welcome to Tower Hamlets to Anna!

Starting with four teams (one chopping hazel, one weeding, one digging fence-holes and one repairing our less-than-perfect previous hazel fence), it was definitely a case of learning on the job as we pruned, stripped and chopped; weeded and wove, blitzing multiple jobs at one time.

With the team working flexibly, rotating out of one task to another, particularly as time sped on ("Hazel! We need more hazel!"), it was a busy but sociable evening, with the countdown to sunset well and truly on.

A decent workout was had by all, whether digging up weeds or sawing tough branches.

It was after 8 before the team were generously stacking up the kit, and wheeling barrows to the back of the park.

With Kareem providing decent tech assistance, the all-important group pic remained in tact, despite the lack of light.

A great effort, everyone - and a final shout-out to Charlie, who came up with tonight's belter of a pun.

Next week

...we're back to Hollybush Gardens, for our first visit of Autumn with Margaret and Ash.

Until then.

Task Force member Fiona writes:

Summer's here!

...And so were a large group of Goodgymers to help Larry finish the final landscaping task at the Yurt.

Welcome to all those new to Tower Hamlets Goodgym! (Michael, Matt, Anna).

When we arrived there was a mound of gravel towering high to be spread over the rocky path.

We split into teams, shovelling the gravel into the barrows and raking in all directions to cover all the larger stones.

After an hour and a half we could see a smooth, beautiful gravel path leading all the way down to the monastery garden. Good effort team!

We also had our painting team,Lucinda and Victoria, who worked their magic with the brushes and painted the entire fence at the back of the garden.

Having smashed through our allocated tasks, many hands then made light work loading up the skip with panels and planks.

We definitely got a good workout in the sun! And it was great to see the Yurt garden space looking lovely for everyone to enjoy, thanks in part, to our efforts on this project over the last few months :-)"