Once again, we were completely unprepared for the weather: suddenly, it wasn’t freezing! There was no icy wind from the East, or indeed from any point of the compass. But still, Anna was wearing her sleeping-bag coat, just in case. We even had a dry couple of hours in what promises to be a soggy week; as promised, the drizzle stopped precisely as we arrived for the task

Some task force members were held up by work commitments, or by walking down the wrong street, but we soon got underway. There were two beds to be tackled, one near the entrance and one labelled the “race track”; where GoodGymers were speedily yanking up unsightly weeds and filling large white nags with the debris

With the beds cleared of their leafy offenders, we moved on to the mulch stage: a generous layer, to lock in moisture, deter future weed returns, and generally give the soil a fresh lease of life. Where chaos once reigned, there was now order, tidiness, and a sense of horticultural achievement

For those eager for more chances to do good while breaking a sweat, Tower Hamlets members are branching out to tasks in Camden, Newham, and Greenwich. Closer to home, our own evening tasks return next Monday, and if one night a week isn’t enough, the next two Tuesdays as well!

It was a bitterly cold evening, with frost clinging to the ground, but that didn’t dissuade 13 Tower Hamlets diehards, wrapped in many layers, gathering for our first group task of 2026. Breath hung in the air as we pulled on gloves and got to work, determined not to let the temperature dampen our spirits. The Cranbrook garden was still carpeted with wet, fallen leaves, somehow unhardened by the icy conditions

Despite numb fingers and stiff muscles, the group worked steadily, gathering leaves into large piles, bagging them, and Chris even repeating his Cranbrook party trick of jumping into the wheelie bin, to stamp the debris down and create more space for the seemingly never-ending flow of leaf piles. Periodic bursts of laughter and much conversation helped to break through the chill, and the physical effort brought a degree of warmth

By 19:45, the thick carpet of leaves had disappeared, just a few clinging on between blades of grass, and the lucky 13 felt proud, rosy-cheeked, and energised. There only remained the logistically difficult problem of getting everyone in a selfie, and the difficult negotiation of the frozen pavements outside