“Where did the wind come from?”, exclaimed the first few arrivals at tonight’s task.

Gathering by the Cable Street Mural in Shadwell, we glanced in to St George’s Gardens, home of tonight’s task, to see if there was any shelter from the wind (there wasn’t).

Opened to the public in 1875, these are ‘probably one of Tower Hamlets' least known historic public Gardens’, according to Tower Hamlets Council. “Through a ten month period, the Gardens have undergone a major refurbishment with support from the National Lottery Heritage Lottery Fund. New paths, planting and grass areas have been laid out and significant heritage features including monuments and walls have been conserved and repaired.”

We were soon joined by task owner Terry, from the Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park. (Terry worked as an environmental education officer for a local charity for 22 years. Now an Honorary Trustee of the Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park, we’ve been lucky enough to enjoy a few tasks led by Terry, whose extensive knowledge combined with a dry sense of humour help make these outdoor Autumn evening tasks an absolute joy).

After a full introduction to the area, including the neighbouring B&B and the Register Office (yes, that’s right – no typo), we proceeded to make our way around to the left corner of the park to plant 350 bluebells just by the Register Office. Working in small teams, we followed Terry’s careful instructions, and accomplished the task fairly speedily I'd say.

Moving further around the left side of the park, towards the Highway end, we then got to work planting hundreds of tulips, daffodils and - last but not least – anemones. (Anemone bulbs are interesting-looking things: a little misshapen - unlike the usual bulb shape - and this last minute addition to our planting task was quite the area of interest).

At around 8:15, we decided to call it a day, promising we’d return for a picnic next year, to see what looks set to be a fabulous array of carefully-planted flowers.

Another lovely start to the week.

Next Monday, we’re back to the great GET OUT garden in Bow, to see Kieran and Frankie!

Until then.

It was a gorgeous evening to be heading back to the Royal London Hospital to be reunited with the Barts Volunteers team.

Our task tonight

We met in the café area, adjacent to A&E, to be briefed by Nancy on tonight’s activities. It was a busy night of activity: Tom and Ricardo were taking us up to the 13th and 14th floors to help stock the ward trolleys with everything from activity packs to colouring pencils for patients.

We were also distributing evening newspapers and puzzle books to patients on both floors.

Our team tonight

Our team slowly grew: we welcomed James and Nirmay for their first Monday evening tasks in Tower Hamlets - and Georgia for her first ever GoodGym! (Huge shout-out to Nirmay who came up with tonight’s pun).

And as for other firsts, our Ricardo was not only an active GoodGymer this evening, now a well established Barts Volunteer, he was also helping Tom and Nancy to lead the task!

It was decided we should take the stairs to the 14th floor as tonight’s fitness fix. A speedy (fairly painless?) climb meant that we weren’t too far behind Tom and the trolley on arrival at the 14th floor.

And so to our task...

Tom and Ricardo wasted no time in showing us the ward trolley ropes. With every base covered from combs to miniature toothpastes and headphones, the trolley inventory is thorough.

Dividing into two teams – one on trolley replenishment and the remainder of the team heading out onto the wards – we covered the whole of the 14th floor before heading down to the 13th floor.

It was a lively and surprisingly fast-paced task. Tom and Ricardo did a brilliant job of navigating corridor after corridor; ward after ward, ensuring we headed only to suitable bays, and the team all did a great job in offering papers and magazines to many appreciative patients and relatives. This is was a feelgood task at its finest.

The timesped by (even by Tower Hamlets standards) and it was 8:30 by the time we were saying our cheerios to Tom and Ricardo, and heading out into a surprisingly warm October night.

What an evening. Well done to everyone involved.

Until next time.

Monday motivation

A damp evening was no deterrent for tonight’s group of GoodGymers.

Gathering by Columbia Road’s Ravenscroft Park Mosaic, we said our hellos; speculated about the weather (some of us more than others) and assembled new head torches (Emma).

The team sped through ‘the regular moves’ (Bulgarian split squats, single-leg squats, push-ups on the bench), with Emma and Oliver instead opting for a few laps of the park.

It was damp, it was humid - it was also relatively busy - but that didn’t deter tonight’s fitness squad.

At just before 8, we headed ‘round to the Estate gardens to meet Ed and Ed of the Columbia Road TRA.

Why were we here?

This Columbia Road estate is situated in-and-around Columbia Road, sandwiched between Hackney Road and Columbia Road. Managed by Tower Hamlets Homes, the Columbia TRA (a residents’ group living in-and-around the estate) also take a keen interest in maintaining these gardens.

The group are in the process of creating a Forest Garden, a ‘multi-level ecosystem’ (trees at the top, then bushes, flowers, etc) which will enable residents to produce food on the estate, as well as helping to ‘boost’ the environment, by supporting a healthy habitat for birds and bugs.

Today we were completing some planting; spreading woodchip (helps control weeds, and maintain healthy soil), and weeding (gives more space to those plants that are wanted and needed).

Top teamwork

Ed and Ed divided us into four teams: woodchip-shovelling, woodchip-wheeling, planting, and Weeding Teams 1 and 2. But first we enjoyed The Weed Tutorial. As it sounds, this fabulous little Show and Tell enabled the GoodGymers to see, touch and learn about the weeds found in the garden (invaluable when it comes to deciding what’s staying and what’s going on a dark Monday night).

The rain held out, the group size grew, and the time flew. It was a fantastic evening.

It was after 8 before we were gathering equipment and emptying the last bag of mulch.

GoodGymers and Columbia TRA gathered for a final group picture, before heading our separate ways but not before enjoying some much-needed cake, courtesy of Victoria and Emma.

How so?

Tonight we celebrated Emma’s 100th good deed. Joining us in the middle of 2021, Emma promptly clocked up a lot of deeds in a very short space of time, swiftly joined Task Force, and completed the Run Leader training to boot.

A regular GoodGymer and booster of spirits extraordinaire, Emma’s 100th good deed was a celebration for sure.

A wonderful evening all round – well done to all, especially to Fiona for tonight’s cool pun, and to Greta, who joined us for her first GoodGym session and did great! Hope to see you again soon Greta!

Next week, we head to The Royal London Hospital!

Until then.

The railings of the Meath Gardens changing rooms proved to be a useful little multi-gym this evening.

As the number of GoodGymers grew for tonight’s task, we rattled through this evening’s workout, including tricep dips and even a chest press or two on this handy surface.

At shortly before 6:45 we finished with a few stretches, before being joined by the first of the Friends of Meath Gardens team!

Why were we here?

Meath Gardens is one of our longstanding tasks: we’ve formed a close relationship with the brilliant Friends of Meath Gardens over the years.

From canalside tree-watering to exciting planting projects, we’ve been lucky enough to join the team for some fabulous garden activities.

The park is a much-loved local green space, and pockets of rubbish often make their way under well-used footbridges or become sandwiched between the park’s borders and fences.

So tonight’s task was a big old litter-pick, covering as much of the park as we could, tackling those trash hotspots.

Task owner Tunde kicked us off with a fantastic briefing: information about the current litter hotspots; our priorities this evening, and clear instructions on everything from the size of our groups to the health and safety basics was covered.

Divided into three teams, we proceeded to tackle three areas:

1. The borders between the shrubs and the fences.
2. The footbridge towards the back of the park.
3. The ‘big green bit’ in the middle of the park.

All three teams filled rubbish sacks very quickly (tonight’s stash included a suitcase, a bicycle wheel and a gazillion bottles and cans) - this certainly felt like a satisfying and sociable way to spend a Monday evening. From clambering down banks to carting bags to bins, this proved a good little workout too.

At just before 8 we piled the last bag outside the Changing Room block, ready to be taken to the bins.

After posing for a couple of fab group photos, our final upper body exercise of the night consisted of the last trip to the big bins.

Saying our cheerios, we dispersed into different directions: some straight home, some to the lock-up to collect valuables.

A fantastic night.

Shout-outs to the whole team, especially to Fiona who got some good action pics!

Next Monday, we’re heading back to Columbia Road for a variety of gardening tasks.

Until then.

GoodGymers gathered together this evening for our September visit to the Cranbrook Community Centre Garden...

Why were we here?

We were joining Janet and Eileen this evening to help clear a large amount of leaves from the area (and trim the hedges), in-and-around the Community Centre. The Centre is enjoyed by a number of local groups, well-attended by residents: leaves build up quickly, making their way into the Centre in abundance! A semi-regular leaf collection like this helps manage the number of leaves in-and-around the Centre, as well as helping to keep grass healthy.

The pre-task workout

Before we started on the big leaf collection, a small group enjoyed a short workout outside the garden. Focusing mainly on lower body, we got stuck in to useful moves such as single leg squats, side planks, lunges and plenty of stretches.

The task

We then made our way into the lovely Centre garden to learn more about what we’d be doing tonight.

Working in pairs, we covered all areas of the garden, raking, gathering and collecting leaves by the gate.

Focusing on the area between the Centre fence and the pavement railings was a fiddly but rewarding task, as we helped free up the area, home to many shrubs and flowers.

A small team also worked around the corner, trimming back the hedge, so passing pedestrians can pass without fear of colliding with overhanging branches.

At shortly before 8, we returned our tools and gloves to the toolbox, posed for that final task picture before heading our separate ways for the evening. Another fabulous start to the week.

Big shout-outs tonight...

...to Ricardo who came up with tonight’s pun, and to Jose who joined us for his first ever GoodGym! Great to see you Jose, look forward to seeing you again soon.

Next week, we head to gorgeous Meath Gardens, for our first task of the year with the brilliant Friends of Meath Gardens team as we head to the park’s litter hotspots.

Until then.