Last night, GoodGym Newham headed out to support the Friends of Chandos Road Gardens, clearing autumn leaves from the streets and litter from the children’s playground.

Nick arrived first and got straight to work on litter picking, setting the pace for the session. Graham walked over despite recovering from a football-related injury — we wish him a swift recovery! Kev arrived after a run, and then Rosa, Eugene, and I did a little group run, taking the scenic route from the Aquatics Centre to join in.

Armed with rakes, bags and shovels, we tackled the leaves lining the street and rubbish scattered around the playground. Among the items collected were stray wrappers, cups, and even a lonely teddy bear!

We were also joined by volunteers and local residents from Chandos Road, who continued the cleanup after we left, finishing the job and collecting all the bagged leaves and rubbish for the council. Great to see the community come together to make the streets and playground cleaner and safer.

📅 Upcoming Tasks

We don't currently have anything lined up next Tuesday, but we do have the following brilliant tasks coming up not long after:

Saturday 8th Nov: Parkrun and then gardening at Emmanuel Church

Tuesday 11th: Hackney Marsh Adventure Playground

Thanks to everyone who came along today — with our combined efforts, Chandos Road is looking brighter, tidier, and ready for everyone to enjoy! 🌿

Crisp conditions met our 54 intrepid junior runners this morning at the Fields, of which 10 were first timers to the course - perfect weather for the weekly 2km gallop, and seemingly no-one was caught out by the clock change either.

Helped by several "parent" volunteers willingly stepping up to don the hi-viz, and joined for the first time today by Hilary of GG Newham, alongside GG regulars Sooz (RD), Sarah (Tree Marshall) and Nick (Tail Walker), we were soon in good shape for the off. Timekeeper Jonathan had barely reached "1" before the eager pack were attempting to run him over, and soon spread around the edges of the course.

It was clear that a few had certainly had their Weetabix (other brands of biscuit shaped cereal are available) or just benefitted from the extra hour in bed, as the front runners had soon overtaken the tail walker, and were seen heading down the home straight not long after, with the first four all registering sub 9 minute times...7 PBs today amongst the participants was a great achievement, and even those towards the back of the field seemed to be (mostly) enjoying themselves under the blue skies and autumn sunshine.

Same again next week under the big tree - come along for inspiration, perspiration, motivation and the chance to wear some fetching hi-viz.

A slightly different task for GoodGym Newham this week, as we took the opportunity to spread some positive messages in the community. Hope not Hate organised a "weekend of hope" on 18-19 October, aiming to distribute nearly a million flyers across the UK supporting diversity in our local communities. GoodGym Newham got our hands on some flyers and did our bit for the Stratford area. We were a small but efficient group, with a system that at least 2 out of 3 of us followed, and before we knew it we'd triumphantly delivered the final flyer and crossed the metaphorical finish line. We even managed to fit in a chatty 5k run around the Olympic Park beforehand! Well done team.