Four enthusiastic Goodgymmers met at St Mary’s Churchyard in Walthamstow to give Tim the gardener a helping hand with some out-of-control undergrowth, which has been taking over the pathways around the church. Armed with shears and secateurs we got to work cutting back the offending brambles, cow parsley and grasses. The sun shone and many hands made light work. Before we knew it, we’d filled a ginormous rubbish bag with cuttings, and the path looked twice as wide as when we started! The Battle of the Bushes is an ongoing challenge for Tim, and he’s looking for as much help as he can get, so GGWF can look forward to spending some more happy summer evenings at St Mary’s over the coming weeks. Watch this space for more tasks! Enormous thanks to those who participated today, and a special “merci” to Elise, who was participating in her very first GG mission.

Four happy Goodgymmers spent an evening at the Walthamstow Toy Library helping to prepare for the street party, which will take place this Saturday in celebration of the Toy Library's 50th anniversary. That's right - 50 years of this incredible resource for our community, providing low-cost, sustainable access to toys and clothes, as well as play and creative opportunities, for families all over the borough of Waltham Forest. We weeded and swept, continuing from last week's mission to make the outside space spick and span, before bedecking the entire place, inside and out, with colourful bunting, to create a very festive atmosphere indeed. It was excellent to welcome Charlie and Faye, already seasoned Goodgymmers, to their first task for GG Waltham Forest, and a special mention goes to Patricia, who was doing her first ever Goodgym mission. The energy was fabulous, and many hands made light work. As ever, Helen was very grateful for the help, and we all had a great time, while getting lots of good work done. Well done all, and Happy Birthday, Walthamstow Toy Library - here's to another 50 brilliant years!

Two happy Goodgymmers went to Walthamstow Toy Library for a lovely outdoor task on this (slightly breezy) spring evening, to weed, hedge trim and sweep as part of the efforts to get everything looking extra spick and span ready for the Toy Library's 50th anniversary celebrations! Yes, half a century of this amazing resource for families in the Waltham Forrest community! This is definitely something worth celebrating! As always, Helen was very grateful for the help, especially as she's got a very long "to do" list for the coming days. There's another task listed next Thursday for anyone who'd like to contribute. A street party will be held on Somers Road on Saturday 17 May, for which volunteers will be much needed. Anyone interested in helping out can sign up to the Goodgym mission and come and lend a hand to make the Toy Library's 50th birthday a day to remember!

Four happy Goodgymmers made their way once more to Walthamstow Toy Library this evening to give the ever-dedicated Helen a helping hand. To say that the Toy Library has no shortage of craft supplies would be quite the understatement and today's task involved emptying, sorting and re-stocking the art cabinet, which was absolutely bursting with paper, cardboard and felt of all colours of the rainbow, along with templates for drawing every animal and object under the sun! We all got stuck in and made short work of the task, organising all the supplies and neatly refilling the cupboard. From chaos to calm, the result of our efforts was extremely satisfying! An extra big thank you goes to new GGWF member Lily, who was attending her first mission.

As always, the Toy Library continues to do fabulous work in our local community. It will be celebrating its 50th anniversary next month with a wonderful street party! Keep your eyes peeled for some extra Toy Library tasks in the next couple of weeks in the run-up to the party. Let's do our best to give Helen some support and help make the Toy Library spick and span for its half century celebrations!