Tonight's report and poem were written by Fiona and Lobo.

"A dedicated group gathered in Meath gardens to work our legs, bums and tums. On this cold blue Monday Laura brought cheer and tunes (and the all important resistance bands! ) We hugged trees, lapped the park and worked those abs while passers-by heralded our bravery. Well done all for a great workout!" - Fiona

Cold the night was

Warmth Laura brought

Gone was the cold

-a poem by Lobo

A good-sized group of us met in the park this evening to run through a short workout.

Thanks to the addition of planters and park benches, we were able to complete a total body workout. The team were amazing, whizzing through side planks, tricep dips and incline push-ups, along with a full repertoire of lower body exercises including the Bulgarian split squat and The Perfect Lunge.

At 7pm, we made our way over to the tool shed to meet Larry, our task owner for the night, who's heading up the Priory Park Project. Larry talked us through tonight's task, a large bramble-clearing, in the far side of the park.

Wheeling tools and carrying gardening bags and lights, we headed over to the end of the park, and divided into small teams, tackling small areas, densely populated with brambles, weeds and leaves.

An hour passed quickly, and even after 20 minutes, the ground was looking clearer. As the brambles and other greenery were cleared away, the magnificent churchyard tombs became visible. Larry gave us a little background on the position of these tombs and their history, in this picturesque churchyard park.

It was quite the Monday night workout, with both upper and lower body being used to tackle stubborn bramble roots; step counts boosted as we navigated our way around the area, and carried heavy bags back to the exit.

At shortly before 8, Fiona took our 'after' pics (having brilliantly thought of taking our 'before' ones), and we gathered with one last bag of brambles for tonight's final pic.

Big shout-outs tonight:

• To Áine, for being a brilliant lighting technician and for tonight's fab pun.

• To Fiona, for fab before and after pics.

• To Tom and Jessica, whose first GoodGym session it was!

• To Gualtiero, whose first Tower Hamlets task this was!

• And to our Joel, who's heading South of the river for a while, but who we hope to see very, very soon.

Well done to the whole team in general, for a brilliant, fun, very productive night up in Bromley-By-Bow. (We'll be back with Larry next month).

Until next time.

Area Activator Simon took a crew of intrepid Goodgymmers from all across the London boroughs for a special 7.5 mile and 2.8 mile run through some of the most beautifully Christmassy areas of London. Starting at The Running Works in Houndsditch, Aldgate (where Simon works - www.therunningworks.net) by a lovely tree, we made our way down to the Thames Path via the Tower of London and within sight of The Shard with its festive lighting display.

The Thames Riverside Path proved to be easy to navigate and clear of snow and ice (a concern in the lead up to this run), and we continued to Big Ben on Westminster bridge, just in time to hear it chime (a rarity, as the bells have been changed and the scaffolding has finally been taken down). Along Bird Cage Walk (famous for the London Marathon), we approached Buckingham Palace, and met up with Kim and Emily at Green Park Station (who successfully kept warm while waiting for us!).

After avoiding some of the crowds on their way to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park, we ran together towards Knightsbridge and then over to The Royal Albert Hall concert house (lit up for seasonal performances), and along the lush firm snow lined terraces of horse guards parade (past the King Albert memorial too). Upon our arrival to King's Gate, we turned into Kensington and finished our run outside the Churchill Arms, an incredibly decorated pub full of Xmas cheer. Congratulations folks, looking forward to more group runs next year!

We met at the glorious Town Hall Hotel this evening, sinking rather too easily into comfy sofas we waited for fellow members to arrive.

A short winter workout

At just after 6:45, we headed out to the steps for a short warm-up before making our way to Bethnal Green Gardens. After locating a good meeting spot, we participated in a short fitness session, taking in a couple of small laps of the park, at various different speeds. We then ran through our single leg squat technique before heading off to meet our task owners, Avril and Nathalia.

After a short intro to get us all a little familiar with this new group that has just been created for Bethnal Green Gardens, we headed to the areas of the park where we were planting tonight’s bulbs.

Providing colour and cheer to any green space, some spring bulbs are also a nectar source for pollinators (plants depend on pollination…). And they can be pretty low maintenance too: the lowly daffodil doesn’t need full sunlight, and will return in subsequent years, even in partial shade.

And so to work

And so we assembled into four teams: three digging holes for bulbs, and one digging up – and relocating – rose bushes.

It was tough, chilly work but as usual the team blitzed it.

Rotating swiftly from digging, to scattering bulbs, and covering them over, it was a multi-task-task.

As the final hole was covered over, and the last head torch switched off, we reflected it was an evening well spent.

We posed for one final picture, where our Sree​ took centre stage as we celebrated her 100th good deed at tonight’s task. Well done Sree, and thanks for all you bring to GoodGym Tower Hamlets.

We then headed our separate ways: some to the pub; others back to the hotel, and some straight home. A great night indeed.

Shout-outs

Loads of shout-outs tonight!

• To Rosie, and Sam, who headed up the run to the park.

• A big cheer for Emma, who oversaw the hole-digging; helped get it started, and allocated members to different locations.

• ...And to Sree for tonight’s brilliant pun.

• ...And to Alex, for organising Sree's 100th deed celebrations.

Next week, we return to The Royal London Hospital to join Nancy and the Barts Volunteers for some seasonal activity.

Until then.