Rain, what rain?

The forecast didn't look too promising, but come 7pm and arrival at our Monday night task, the earlier drizzle was but a distant memory: t-shirt-clad, a bit sweaty, and thoroughly happy to be shuttling from one area of the Hollybush Estate to another at our usual frenzied pace.

Background...

Margaret had asked for a hand with some weeding around the Estate's various garden areas, but the task had quickly evolved into bramble-chopping. Not however, before a warm-up task had been completed: distributing woodchip in the new shed area.

It was all go.

Wheelbarrows were whizzed from one garden to the next; woodchip shovelled at a ferocious pace, and new surfaces raked and smoothed over so speedily we finished even earlier than the earliest estimation.

And so we headed to the Family Area with a few more full barrows of woodchip (never know when they might come in handy) to tackle brambles, buddleias and... wobbly stepladders (shh - we won't say anything if you don't).

Lots to do, lots of brilliant, buzzing activity to enjoy while catching up with the latest news.

The time flew by, and then it was 8pm and we were trying to organise ourselves for one final pic. In the photo it all went: brambles, bin liners, the lot.

Homeward bound

The small hotel team returned to base to collect bikes and other belongings, while the remainder of our energetic little group headed home in various different directions.

Superstars.

Until next time.

Amazing gardening work from Team TH this evening.

Yes, a sturdy crew of 15 helped Catherine de-weed the large Parkview Estate, of thistles, bindweed, and just about every other menace to a garden you can imagine.

How it started

We met in our current meeting location to the East of Victoria Park, where we separated into two groups: a small team headed out on a shorter, more leisurely lap of the park, while Chris, for the second week running, took out a bigger team on a much longer loop.

What we did

We gathered together by the community garden, where Catherine had prepared maps and Weed Teams (more wholesome than it sounds) before we all made our way to our respective corners of the garden.

It was thistle-y, it was tough...We dug, we tugged, we loaded, we binned. It was a humid one too, so more pats on the back to tonight's team.

The time flew by, and soon we were posing for a final couple of pics, before Catherine led us through several relaxation and grounding exercises, the theme being 'letting-go-of-the-day', along with any unforeseen difficulties (yes, unexpected adversities, we're looking at you).

...And how it ended

A team then headed off to the pub, for a cooling drink and a chat - a great way to start the week.

Next week, we're two-tasking it: yep, we're at Hollybush cutting back more overgrowth of the Family Area and heading to Meath Gardens for a litter-pick and weeding. It's all go.

Until then, have a really good week.

A lovely group of (new) Goodgymmers joined us today at Ackroid Drive (well technically on Thursday but i'm a little late with the report, oops!).

Our main task at hand was to help Bablu from Trapped in Zone One getting various arches ready for new and exciting mural paintings. We picked up the relevant painting tools provided by the Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetry Park, whilst some of us continued to clear the overgrown cow parsley.

Please come join us this Wednesday to see the Artists bringing the designs to life!