Garden Leave

6 Goodgymers helped their local community in Tower Hamlets
Muzammel Haque Mamun
Martin
Ivo
John Shirley
Kitty
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Tower Hamlets

Monday 3rd June

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John Shirley
John Shirley

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Report written by John Shirley

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Four of the regular Tower Hamlets attendees didn’t appear this week.

It was almost as if someone had organised a long, hilly walk the day before which had left them too tired or injured for another session...

But super six hard-working GoodGymers were sufficient to complete tasks in some quite confined spaces in the Island House Community Centre. When the yoga class had dissipated, we met Annemarie, and were pleased to hear she’d been kept on at the centre after some recent redundancies.

I went with Martin and Rupert to paint the stair railings. Martin seemed to be lying down on the job, but in reality this was the best angle to tackle the task, as he applied delicate brush strokes like a true artist. Rupert headed for a lower floor and found he had a lot in common with Annemarie: remarkably they both had considerable knowledge of local shops and restaurants in the village of Pevensey, Sussex.

We welcomed recent recruits Kitty and Muzammel, both attending their first Monday night group task. On the night they’d opted for gardening rather than painting, so I went to check how they and Ivo were getting on with this task. Given what I understand to be gardening, I was very surprised to find them in the office, manoeuvring a filing cabinet around a difficult corner.

Who knew a filing cabinet could be recycled

It transpired that the cabinet had outlived its previous use as a holder of documents, and was to be repurposed as a planter in the rooftop garden. Who knew a filing cabinet could be recycled. This involved considerable rearrangement of the office, in order to create space to relocate the awkward cabinet around some tight corners, and up the stairs to the roof. GoodGymers’ planning and ingenuity won the day.

The “gardeners” also trimmed a trellis panel to fit where it was needed, and the allocated hour passed by quickly.

But we’ll be back.


This task supported
Island House community centre
Building a local community where everyone lives a healthy and fulfilling life.

Support the wellbeing of our local people, to live healthy and fulfilling lives within a vibrant and thriving local community. We deliver Community Training, Health & Wellness and Adult Education programmes as well as hosting partners who provide community projects and advice centres.

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Discuss this report
Ivo
Ivo (he/him)

Tue 4th Jun at 9:40pm

Great to meet you Muzammel! Great to have you involved

Join us on our next session

Tower Hamlets

THE BIG MONDAY NIGHT TASK: November garden-clearing at Cranbrook Community Food Garden
🗓Tomorrow 7:00pm

We're back to see Janet at the Cranbrook Community Food Garden!

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Gurprit SahotaDanya MarxSamAlejandro Engelhardtalex habermehl
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