Writes Emma,

"On a rather muggy Monday evening, a determined group of GoodGymers gathered at Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park ready to tackle a task that was nothing short of monumental: raking the cut grass from the meadow site near the Soanes Centre.

Ken from the Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park (an independent charity) kicked things off with a quick intro, sharing the park's vital role as an urban sanctuary for both nature lovers and local residents.

But this wasn’t just your average raking session. We were on a mission to create the ideal conditions for a wildflower meadow to thrive - working like ‘a swarm of locusts’ to clear the cut grass (as enthusiastic and methodical, but with better vibes).

Armed with rakes, wheelbarrows and a can-do attitude, we set to work. It was a lively, albeit dark, scene - grass flying, barrows wheeling and everyone chipping in to create a landscape where wildflowers can flourish.

Each sweep of the rake felt like an effective addition to a workout.

By the end of the hour, we were tired but satisfied by the HUGE mound of raked grass we had created. I would say that the meadow looked fantastic, but to be honest, we couldn’t really see it. We’ll take Ken’s word for it.

The night wrapped up with a big thank you from Ken, and a reminder of our celebration on Thursday for our work with Larry at the Yurt Cafe for the Foundation of St Katherine.

A huge thank you to the Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park for leading the charge. And to the fantastic GoodGymers, as always.

Here’s to more meadow missions and green adventures in the autumn months ahead."

And one by one our little group grew tonight, until there were no fewer than 13 GoodGymers working on the new hazel fence at the pretty St Leonard's Priory Park up in Bromley-By-Bow.

We said hello to first time GoodGym-ers Gurprit, Anton, Anna, and a warm welcome to Tower Hamlets to Anna!

Starting with four teams (one chopping hazel, one weeding, one digging fence-holes and one repairing our less-than-perfect previous hazel fence), it was definitely a case of learning on the job as we pruned, stripped and chopped; weeded and wove, blitzing multiple jobs at one time.

With the team working flexibly, rotating out of one task to another, particularly as time sped on ("Hazel! We need more hazel!"), it was a busy but sociable evening, with the countdown to sunset well and truly on.

A decent workout was had by all, whether digging up weeds or sawing tough branches.

It was after 8 before the team were generously stacking up the kit, and wheeling barrows to the back of the park.

With Kareem providing decent tech assistance, the all-important group pic remained in tact, despite the lack of light.

A great effort, everyone - and a final shout-out to Charlie, who came up with tonight's belter of a pun.

Next week

...we're back to Hollybush Gardens, for our first visit of Autumn with Margaret and Ash.

Until then.

A brilliant little squad showed up tonight to help Margaret and Natalia tidy the well-used garden around Patriot Square.

This small garden area aligns both sides of the path leading off the square. Used as a useful access to Russia Lane and neighbouring Old Ford Road, as well as a popular dog-walking spot, overhanging rose and blackberry bushes can mean the path gets a little congested.

Last month we headed to join the team to tackle the worst of the branches, returning this evening to finish the inside and bag up last month's stash.

With Natalia on Operation Strimmer and Margaret joining the pruning team, it was down to Oliver and Lucinda to tackle the bulk of last month's waste.

As luck would have it, we were joined relatively early in the proceedings by Cameron, also part of the neighbourhood gardening team, who kindly brought us the team's new supply of sturdy gloves, which helped matters no end.

It was a lovely evening to watch the sunset and join this productive, welcoming team for a spot of gardening, getting the week off to a really great start. Well done everyone.

Next week, we join Larry back at St Leonard's Priory Park, for our first visit of 2024!

Until then.

A sunny evening in Tower Hamlets saw a nice-sized group of GoodGymers gather round a large woodchip pile it turned out they would clear in no time.

Background to tonight's task

The Teesdale and Hollybush TRA are probably GG TH's longest standing task. Headed up by brilliant Margaret, and now Ash, GG are invited once, twice a month to join the dynamic duo to lend a hand with various projects on one of the Estate's many pretty garden areas.

Tonight we were helping redistribute old planter wood and spread a rather large pile of woodchip.

An early arrival time for some saw Ash and Margaret instructing the first arrivals on how best to distribute the woodchip.

With project management promptly handed over to John and Chris, the team wasted no time whittling the large pile away.

A flurry of late arrivals provided the perfect opportunity to introduce the second task - transporting a large stash of planks over to another part of the estate gardens, Rocky Park.

Trolley- fulls of logs were flying toward Rocky Park at a speedy rate: lats and delts got a workout to rival the finest upper body session.

The rest of the team joined this breakaway task, by which time it was game over for what was initially a large pile of planks.

Posing for a quick pic in the planters (as it sounds), we then headed to the pub for a self-congratulatory pint. Another superb night of productivity.

The shout-outs

• A big warm welcome to Priscila who joined us for her first Monday night task.

• Well done to Michael for a FANTASTIC GoodGym debut.

• Massive thanks to John for organising tonight's post-task drink.

• And a huge round of applause for Rohan, who co-wrote tonight's report; to Fiona for delivering another splendid pun, and the rest of the table at the Bethnal Green Tavern for chipping in for tonight's report.

You all rock.

Next week, we're pruning and bagging The BIg Hedge in Bethnal Green's Patriot Square.

You snooze, you lose...

Until then.