Sunday started early - VERY early. 7am at Aid Station 4 on the Hackney Half Marathon Route (just by Broadway Market!). There were plenty of bleary eyes, but thankfully the sun was already shining as we arrived ready for the day ahead.

Our first mission: water station setup. And if there’s one thing permanently burnt into our minds now, it’s the maths of the tables - 20 by 8 cups on each layer, 5 layers high, over and over and over again. Tables after tables after tables. Somewhere between the endless cup stacking and chatting away, the morning flew by! The best part was meeting so many brilliant Goodgymers from all over London - and, naturally, we even ended up recruiting new members whilst we were at it!

Then the motorcade arrived and the first runners appeared… From that point on it just never stopped for the next 2–3 hours. Thousands of runners streamed past as we handed out water as fast as humanly possible, cheered people on, tried to decipher names scribbled across bibs, shouted encouragement at every fancy dress costume we spotted, and kept our eyes peeled for our fellow GoodGym runners amongst the crowds. There were even a few famous faces mixed in too. Some runners just wanted a sip, others their bottles filling, others wanted us to throw a cup of water over them!

It was loud, sunny, exhausting, and genuinely brilliant - such a fantastic community vibe. Before we knew it, the runners had passed through, the cups had disappeared, the tables were packed away, and by around 1pm we were wrapped up after an amazing morning.

A huge well done to everyone who ran, volunteered, organised, cheered, stacked cups, handed out water, and kept the energy going all morning long!

Until next year! And who knows — you might even spot some of the people handing out your water this time swapping volunteer bibs for running bibs and taking on the 13.1 miles through the streets of Hackney themselves…

Across the balcony from each flat on the Parkview Estate is a planter, visible to anyone walking through the estate. Many of the planters contain colourful flowers, giving the estate a much brighter look and countering the graffiti and litter to be found in some areas. But some of the planters are full of nothing but dry earth, a few twigs, and maybe a weed or two.Which is where GoodGym come in

We met in the community garden, a familiar place to us by now, except for Sam, who still got there eventually. “Have you seen Sam?” asked Emma”. Yes, he’s walking up behind you” I replied. Soon we were loaded with buckets of soil, a wheelbarrow (which we somehow took up in the lift), filled watering cans, and those all-important geraniums

Local knowledge was provided by Seb, a resident of the estate, as well as task owner Catherine, a long-time friend of GoodGym who also provided a cheat-key to enable us to get into the block

Some residents already had one or two plants opposite their front door, so we asked them if they minded us filling the gaps with a couple of geraniums. However, one resident who said “yes”, was unsure what “the missus” would think when she returned

Eventually, we’d flowered the whole of the Sidney House block. But there are other Parkview blocks which would appreciate the same treatment, so put a date in your diary for 13th June and sign up for our next visit at https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/parkview-free-plant-giveaway-538b5ba6-27b0-4fcd-97c1-317997cbd35a

It was a bright day in May, and the clock was striking 15:48. Yes, it was the first ever GoodGym bell-ringing social! The secret, according to task owner Lady Andrea (she’s really a Lady!), is to pull down sharply and just hold steady. Which various GoodGymers succeeded in doing, and all of them (well, apart from Kate) even stayed on the ground! The bells peeled out and the local populace probably emerged from their homes expecting a church service, some kind of jubilee, or just the surprisingly early arrival of four o’clock

Earlier, we did fulfil our usual “big-Monday night task”, albeit in the afternoon this time, with our efforts endorsed by the good Lady, who gave us "many thanks to all who attended". Emma J was trying to unearth a stubborn root, while litter duties were undertaken by Ilana, Fiona (all the way from Highams Park) and Jackie (all the way from Camden Town). Meanwhile Jack (all the way from Redbridge), Chloe (all the way from the next block but one) and Kevin beavered away at the growing plot, oblivious to some mayhem going on nearby

Four GoodGymers struggled for some time to separate a large bush from the earth beneath, then Lucinda arrived from nowhere (Tooting), applied her well-practiced carpet-rolling technique, and the roots just surrendered. Emma R was doing excellent work manoevering the dug-up weeds, dead leaves and large picked-up branches into small bags, while Emma J was pulling furiously, in a valiant attempt to unearth the stubborn root

Zak appeared for his first GoodGym and threw himself into the task and the conversation. Louise didn’t sign up until the clock was striking two, but that was nothing to do with us, this time

Nia, fresh from doing her first ever half-marathon - faster than she ever expected - introduced us to a first-timer, Alex. In contrast, Kate is a veteran, having undertaken her debut task all of three years ago before disappearing to the far North. Meanwhile Emma J was making a sterling effort, trying very hard to unearth that stubborn root

Sam had just about recovered from his amazing efforts in the London marathon, where he somehow evaded the gaze of every mile-24 GoodGym cheerer. Rue kept everyone informed with a stream of fascinating facts, before we moved on to our bell-ringing duties - all apart from Emma J, determined to unearth a stubborn root…

On a bright morning in the Bethnal Green oasis that is Saint Matthew’s Church gardens, six GoodGymers tackled a sun-drenched task. I got to the church on time after ParkRun, but Lucinda wasn’t going to miss her post-ParkRun coffee. I was going to football, so left the St Matthew’s "pitch", appropriately at half-time, to be replaced by substitute Lucinda

Chandrima, Chloe, Emma and Kareem put in proper shifts and everyone worked hard. There was a large walnut tree in the centre of an earth bed, but if anyone had fancied a walnut, they'd have been thwarted by the mass of foliage surrounding it. It looks a bit like nettle, but it didn’t sting like one. Until someone plunged his thin-gloved hand into a bunch of the green leaves, and got more than a bit stung. That was grasping the nettle all right…

We soon cleared half the area, making sure we got the roots to prevent re-growth. Task owner Andrea was a delight, very grateful for our help, and wanted us back as soon as we could arrange it. She even supplied refreshments, including more bars of chocolate. We’re getting used to this!

Thanks a lot to Chandrima for setting up the task, and Emma for the pictures. And well done newbie Chloe for attending four tasks in six days!

On Monday evening, for the first time this year, Team Tower Hamlets did a full task entirely in daylight! And not just daylight, glimpses of SUNlight! No headtorches, no guessing what that shadow might be, no losing your belongings (unless you're John of course... even the light can't help him keep track of his running backpack)…

We met Des at Parkview Estate and wasted no time getting stuck in across the estate and the Glasshouse surroundings - spreading out so efficiently we left no corner of the estate untouched. Recent newcomers Jack and Chloe got straight into Team Weeding and Raking, two minutes before we were even due to start! Not long after, Team Bench #1 (Ilana, Darren, Kareem, Jo and Leisurely Lucinda) took on the well-loved bench wrapped around a huge tree trunk in the estate play area, sanding and painting it back to life (and a 50th shade of green it seems...).

Over in the community garden, Team Potatoes (John and Emily) were busy earthing up the spuds to keep them growing strong - future chips in very safe hands. Meanwhile, Team Alleyway (Ivo and Oliver, later joined by Anna and others as their jobs wrapped up) tackled moss scraping, weeding and clearing leaves from drains and gutters with some rather interesting-looking, unidentified, medieval tools. It's the kind of job that is oddly satisfying once you get going! Chris kept the whole operation moving, wheeling what felt like an endless stream of barrows to compost or bins depending on their contents - we wouldn't want litter to end up in the compost, especially so close to Earth Day!

And, because apparently word got out that this was the place to be, Team Bench #2 (Lobo, Anna and Jack) formed as more GoodGymers kept arriving - sanding and painting a bench back to life in the community walled garden area. As for me, I mostly roamed between teams capturing the action, the chaos and the questionable cycling techniques (Kareem...) before getting stuck into a bit of weeding myself.

Somewhere in the middle of all this chaos, a resident stopped Oliver to hand over a stash of Penguins and Orange Club bars (big throwback to packed lunches for many of us!). She’d seen the work going on and wanted to say thank you - a small moment that summed up exactly what these tasks are all about - working out for the future, environment and helping out the local community whilst boosting that sense of togetherness

We wrapped up with a “quick” group photo (they're never quick, I can only apologise...), then a good chunk of the crew headed to the nearby Approach Tavern to celebrate the release of the brand new GoodGym Sky TV advert, which has made us all celebrities in our own right.

Des, from Parkview Estate, said "They were a great bunch tonight. They managed to get through all the jobs I'd lined up!"

A brilliant evening: loads achieved, lots of laughs, and a proper reminder of what a difference a bit of collective effort (and daylight!) can make. 🌿