After a week of torrential rain, im not sure how or why but we were blessed with clear skies.

As we sat in the coffee shop awaiting the last minute arrivals we peered out of the window at the bright lights, film crew and a whole lot of hustle and bustle. Out of nowhere, a voice. “What you filming mate?” a muffled response ‘Lurpack Advert” A chance for more GoodGym fame I hear you cry, sadly not. Time was of the essence and we band of merry women and one good man had work to do.

The task for the evening was to head down to Morpeth Primary Schools secret garden and attack some weeds and rather large bushes in a bid to make room for an edible garden based on the principles of permaculture.

No static warm up for us, dynamic dynamic dynamic. We bounded, danced, skipped, shuffled and jumped our way through the streets of East London as we made our way to our home for the evening.

On arrival we were greeted by the lovely Rizwana and taken to the area we would be working on for the next 30minutes.

I am always amazed at what lies beneath, beside and behind buildings, places and spaces. It was huge and appeared to go on forever.

We were given a health and safety briefing, handed our tools and we were off. We split into smaller groups, of hackers, pullers, diggers and gatherers and quite simply went for it.

After rehousing a toad or it might have been a frog and helping some slugs along their way we were already making headway, shovels, spades, forks and cutters all working as one to get the job done.

A special shout needs to go out to Catherine who spent the evening dragging out roots once they had been cut down to size, this however could not have been done without everyone else working away so kudos to you all.

Its amazing how much you can get done when everyone is working as a team. 30minutes passed and we had managed to clear a big area, hopefully the young people at the school will make great use of it and learn lots in the process.

We were thanked, we smiled, said our goodbyes and headed west, homeward bound, back into to the night.

On route back what better way to finish off an evening than to do something to tire yourself out. DRILLLLLLLLLLLLLLS… Intervals, Indian file, high knees and probably the hardest part of the night, singing in key….

A great night over in Hackney, thankyou for your energy and time, thank the clouds for the lack of rain and thankyou for having me…..

My tour continues… Over and out…

Cory Wharton-Malcolm GoodGym Westminster Coordinator and Hackney Coordinator from November.