The railings of the Meath Gardens changing rooms proved to be a useful little multi-gym this evening.

As the number of GoodGymers grew for tonight’s task, we rattled through this evening’s workout, including tricep dips and even a chest press or two on this handy surface.

At shortly before 6:45 we finished with a few stretches, before being joined by the first of the Friends of Meath Gardens team!

Why were we here?

Meath Gardens is one of our longstanding tasks: we’ve formed a close relationship with the brilliant Friends of Meath Gardens over the years.

From canalside tree-watering to exciting planting projects, we’ve been lucky enough to join the team for some fabulous garden activities.

The park is a much-loved local green space, and pockets of rubbish often make their way under well-used footbridges or become sandwiched between the park’s borders and fences.

So tonight’s task was a big old litter-pick, covering as much of the park as we could, tackling those trash hotspots.

Task owner Tunde kicked us off with a fantastic briefing: information about the current litter hotspots; our priorities this evening, and clear instructions on everything from the size of our groups to the health and safety basics was covered.

Divided into three teams, we proceeded to tackle three areas:

1. The borders between the shrubs and the fences.
2. The footbridge towards the back of the park.
3. The ‘big green bit’ in the middle of the park.

All three teams filled rubbish sacks very quickly (tonight’s stash included a suitcase, a bicycle wheel and a gazillion bottles and cans) - this certainly felt like a satisfying and sociable way to spend a Monday evening. From clambering down banks to carting bags to bins, this proved a good little workout too.

At just before 8 we piled the last bag outside the Changing Room block, ready to be taken to the bins.

After posing for a couple of fab group photos, our final upper body exercise of the night consisted of the last trip to the big bins.

Saying our cheerios, we dispersed into different directions: some straight home, some to the lock-up to collect valuables.

A fantastic night.

Shout-outs to the whole team, especially to Fiona who got some good action pics!

Next Monday, we’re heading back to Columbia Road for a variety of gardening tasks.

Until then.

GoodGymers gathered together this evening for our September visit to the Cranbrook Community Centre Garden...

Why were we here?

We were joining Janet and Eileen this evening to help clear a large amount of leaves from the area (and trim the hedges), in-and-around the Community Centre. The Centre is enjoyed by a number of local groups, well-attended by residents: leaves build up quickly, making their way into the Centre in abundance! A semi-regular leaf collection like this helps manage the number of leaves in-and-around the Centre, as well as helping to keep grass healthy.

The pre-task workout

Before we started on the big leaf collection, a small group enjoyed a short workout outside the garden. Focusing mainly on lower body, we got stuck in to useful moves such as single leg squats, side planks, lunges and plenty of stretches.

The task

We then made our way into the lovely Centre garden to learn more about what we’d be doing tonight.

Working in pairs, we covered all areas of the garden, raking, gathering and collecting leaves by the gate.

Focusing on the area between the Centre fence and the pavement railings was a fiddly but rewarding task, as we helped free up the area, home to many shrubs and flowers.

A small team also worked around the corner, trimming back the hedge, so passing pedestrians can pass without fear of colliding with overhanging branches.

At shortly before 8, we returned our tools and gloves to the toolbox, posed for that final task picture before heading our separate ways for the evening. Another fabulous start to the week.

Big shout-outs tonight...

...to Ricardo who came up with tonight’s pun, and to Jose who joined us for his first ever GoodGym! Great to see you Jose, look forward to seeing you again soon.

Next week, we head to gorgeous Meath Gardens, for our first task of the year with the brilliant Friends of Meath Gardens team as we head to the park’s litter hotspots.

Until then.

The workout

Another good-sized group gathered at the end of Harley Grove this evening for tonight's pre-task workout.

Armed with resistance tubes (like bands, but with handles) the team proceeded to whizz through a full-body workout, including bicep curls, overhead extensions, squats, rows and seated leg extensions. It was 20 minutes well spent, I have to say.

Twigs and digs

At 7pm we headed around the corner to the GET OUT garden to meet Frankie and Kieran who were leading tonight's task.

Dividing into teams of two, we proceeded to get stuck in to tonight's tasks.

One team headed to the potato planters, to start harvesting this season's spuds. A thorough turning over of the soil is required here, with multiple pairs of hands needed to dig deep.

A second team were heading over to the compost area to break up sticks, twigs and branches ready to bag up. Fiddly but full-on, the team made light work of this, and soon formed another team helping Frankie out bagging up some more debris for the compost area.

As the sun set, we cleared the last weeds from our areas, inspected the final spuds (red or green basket, depending on their state of perfection) and carried tools back to the shed, concluding that it wouldn't be long before we needed our Winter lights.

For now though, we contented ourselves with sampling a few fresh tomatoes and returning to the salt leaf plant (as it sounds), enjoying the last of this year's summer sunshine.

Another gorgeous night in East London.

Shout-outs to the whole team, especially Emma who came up with tonight's top pun.

Until next time.

Two Goodgymers helped out the regular foodbank team to sort food and toiletries ready to be handed out to clients on Monday. We sorted, counted, stacked and weighed the new donations. Then it was all hands on deck for the final countdown to 3:30pm to unload a fresh food delivery.

11 GoodGymers met at the iconic Limehouse Town Hall last night to help Rosie and Jay with some urgent painting!

The corridors of the entrance hallway of this beautiful building needed a few coats of paint in time for their Open Day this coming Sunday.

Housed in a Grade II listed building, Limehouse Town Hall is,

a resource for artists and cultural producers, audiences and communities from Tower Hamlets and beyond to share ideas, celebrate, organise, and imagine a better here and now.

After a thorough briefing, Rosie dispatched GoodGymers to all corners and ends of the corridor, armed either with a roller (to deal with the big areas) or a brush (to go over those pesky corners and doorways). Working in teams of two, with an absence of spillages, Rosie agreed after 40 minutes a lot was getting done.

With Oliver and Neena tackling the higher areas, the remaining GoodGymers zipped from corner to corner with paint trays, ensuring our contribution this evening was as thorough as possible.

And guess what? As usual, the time flew and before we knew it, it was after 8 and time to carefully stack rollers, brushes and trays, ready for Rosie to continue tomorrow.

A thoroughly fun evening, culminating in a run down of our exciting announcements, including:

• This Thursday’s late summer social

• …Our new Sunday sessions with the Bethnal Green Foodbank

• …and not forgetting an important reminder of The Big London Social, next week.

Meanwhile, next Monday’s task sees us heading back to Bow to join Kieran in the lovely GET OUT Garden.

Until then.

The foodbank has recently relocated and they really appreciated the extra help on their Sunday shift to set up and organise for the following day. It was a race against the clock to pack food bags for the hundreds of clients they support and help unload and sort the food deliveries which arrived. The foodbank is a lifeline for many and it requires a large operation behind the scenes every Sunday and Tuesday to allow the foodbank to open and operate effectively on Mondays and Wednesdays. The friendly team work hard to pack, sort and stack various food items and toiletries. They are also a social bunch from the local area. So if you have a few hours free, come and lend a hand to this great cause at one of their upcoming shifts.

See next Sundays shift here - https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/new-sunday-session-bg-foodbank-packing-session-e47d20c7-540d-4fe6-9fdb-aa0fe4a7b3aa

And next Monday here - https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/new-monday-morning-session-bg-foodbank-distribution-session-07c2083a-9e70-4106-b41f-e2d64bf15bf3