Mrs D wanted some weeding done and to get the ivy off her fence. Next door garden was very overgrown and someone had chucked a Lime bike over the back wall, unwanted brambles and ivy were spilling into Mrs Ds garden. I cut back the ivy and brambles and pulled out some Virginia creeper. Got rid of some stinging nettles in the rest of the garden we then weeded the front garden. We chatted the whole time , Mrs D thanked me with a bottle soda. A lovely afternoon.

After a busy away day discussing all things Goodgym, such as how Ed got so good at clipart, why Notion is the most controversial tool ever, and what exactly is a shrink ray, it was time to get to work in the garden.

Calthorpe community garden is a beautiful space where everyone is welcome. Originally destined to become an office block in the 80s, local residents gathered together to save it. Happily, they succeeded and it was turned into a beautiful thriving space which supports people's physical and mental well-being as a sustainable urban oasis.

We zipped up our spanking new jackets, and feeling more on brand than ever before, we got to work.

Nada, Jack and Dave made a clean sweep of it with the help of some enormous brushes, making sure the pathways were sparkling. Jacob and Darren covered litter-ally the whole site ensuring it was rubbish free, while Ed and Kim shifted a table we can only presume was made out of osmium. Meanhile Chalomi was making sure everything was running smoothly while also keeping tabs on all the cats in the King's Cross area and Ivo project managed the mission.

Maybe it was all the GG muscle, maybe the jackets gave us superpowers, but just half an hour later the place was tidy and welcoming.The only way to celebrate a job well done on a drizzly June day? With ice cream of course!

We made our way over to a very fancy ice cream parlour, and that's where the hard work really began. How to choose? Luckily Jacob subtly dropped into conversation that he'd recently returned from Italy so was able to advise, and Ed, Kim and Jacob kindly decided to order all the flavours for us to try. They also came up with an amazing new ice-cream based TV concept, so this time next year we're going to be millionaires.

Great work everybody!

Dashing through Tower Hamlets ( in slow motion) dressed in small red costumes carrying safety equipment, Darren and I were asked my Mrs D to trim her Bay tree and two others. Unfortunately the tools were in the shed and she couldn't find the key . We managed to ask neighbour to borrow some shears and got back on the job. We did a quick job of trimming some potted shrubs, Mrs D then found the key and we trimmed a taller red tree using the ladder and loppers from the shed. By the time we'd done that we didn't have time to get the bay tree done. Botch job?
Mrs D seemed happy with the work so far but might need some more help to get it complete.

 It was a beautiful evening for a good-sized group of GoodGymers to join Margaret and Ash on the Hollybush Estate last night.

We were once again working in Rocky Park, on the continuation of the overhaul of the community growing site.

(Only recently the Rocky Park Urban Growers were winners of the Tower Hamlets in Bloom award - see trophy in group pic).

Marvelling at how much Margaret and Ash have achieved in the short time since our last visit, we were soon dispatched to four sites across the small area to shovel soil before depositing into newly constructed planters.

Working in small groups of 2 and 3, it was an active, productive and very sociable hour.

After posing for the final picture complete with trophy, we gathered to celebrate Ilana’s birthday with John's phenomenal cake, and Lucinda's mysterious candles, before heading to the pub to continue the celebrations.

We return to Hollybush at the start of June for a Friday night special!

A Sunny run and some serious shovelling: GoodGym gets Grounded 🌞🏃🌱

It was one of those evenings yesterday — the kind where the sun’s shining, the city is buzzing, and the pavements stretch out before us. We gathered by Temple Station to greet some new faces - welcome to the group Emily and Siobhan to your first session! Lovely to have you join us. After a quick warm up we took off along the river, weaving between after-work revellers spilling onto the Embankment, and soaking up every golden ray.

Our destination was a community garden with a view so iconic it could distract even the most focused of GoodGymmers. Tower Bridge at golden hour? You don't get much better than that. We didn't have too much time to admire the view though— there was work to be done!

We arrived to find the ever-enthusiastic team already grafting away, tools at the ready, and preparing for their reinforcements (us) to jump in. Under the guidance of Grounded — a brilliant social enterprise using gardening as ecotherapy — our job was to help transform a neglected patch into a green oasis of calm and healing for the city’s residents.

We split into teams with some of us lugging bags of compost up the stairs, others transporting around sacks of Leca (clay pebbles good for drainage, although it could also pass as the name of an Indie band from the 90s), while the rest of us found ourselves elbows-deep in soil emptying old beds before setting up a brand-new irrigation system. The heat of the evening just highlighted how important watering is!

It was sweaty work, but spirits were high - the combination of transforming a garden and seeing the progress already being made was inspiring.

If that wasn't enough of a full body workout we just had time to squeeze in a fitness blast to finish, this time a strength workout with a twist. While one of us ran a lap around the garden in the stopwatch role, the rest of us got stuck into push-ups, planks and tricep dips. Thankfully, nobody pulled the “I’m just walking this lap” trick, and we even inspired a few people sitting nearby to join in — next time we'll get them to help carry the bags of leca too! Anyone else got shaky arms today or is that just me?

All that was left was the run back, with the skyline lit up like a movie set. After all that hard graft, it never looked more beautiful.

Well done everyone — you smashed it. Next week, we’re heading to the oldest youth club in the world - see you there!