Tonight we were needed to remove huge chunks of thick foliage from an entire side of Ellsworth Square. There’s nothing wrong with greenery in itself, but here it was liable to smother the bulbs underneath, which need some space to emerge when the weather gets nicer.

Task owner Margaret was wondering whether tonight’s small contingent would be up to the large task. Of course we were! Over chips and orange juice, we came up with a cunning strategy, which was to work very hard and fast!

With the help of lovely Margaret and her glamorous assistant Ash, we tugged, chopped and bagged. We removed periwinkle and chrysanthemum, while unearthing deeply buried maggots, snails and a Red Bull can. Victoria and John also took some trowels to the far end and tackled some stubborn roots.

We got so much done that we filled about ten rubbish bags, which we despatched to various bins, so as not to overwhelm any particular site.

Because we were panicking about whether we’d actually got any group pictures, we took several, before heading back to the Bethnal Green Tavern. There, we learned about the benefits of steam saunas and ice baths, but probably won’t add these yet to GoodGym pre-task sessions.