This Monday 3 April, eight weren't misbehavin' as they cleared lots of bamboo and weeds at the Rose Bowl Youth Centre in advance of a busy Easter schedule of activities. Task owner Dawn greatly valued the hard work and said the clear path was like the red carpet treatment before we finished with an Easter egg hunt

Tonight we really saw the value of flexibility in volunteering with GoodGym and how much more you can achieve as a group. I had three other sign-ups meeting at the task so thought I'd have a solo run while I could think of a pun. And just how many eggs per person is too many!

But I was so chuffed to see new and experienced hands at the Arsenal Hub. We welcomed Jun to his first great deed who was already chatting to seasoned GoodGymer and tinnie-blower John who was surprisingly fresh after a Brighton 10km. We did a warm up , talked about the ways of doing good and went off to the super bowl as a compact trio.

Shifts bamboo and leaves

Tonight we were back to the Super Bowl, or Rose Bowl Youth Centre, and we had another two GoodGymers (Louise and Audrey who joined Anne, Benedict and Katie to double our might to eight.

Dawn and the team were so very busy getting the centre ready for a packed Easter schedule of activities, food and support for the local community. It seemed that GoodGym's help was appreciated more than ever.

Tonight we were mostly digging up bamboo and weeds (thank goodness Weed Appreciation Day was nearly a week ago! Phew 😅). Ben, Anne and Audrey said good night to the evening primrose weeds. John and Katie also took on the stubborn bamboo and deep-rooted bamboo problem and shifted planters in the process. Louise cleared and swept the paths, while newcomer Jun did a bit of everything chatting to everyone, while getting to know more about London geography!

Thanks for the egg-cellent work till dusk from Dawn

Dawn really appreciated the great work and likened Louise's hard swept path to a red carpet. So much love. And it was so inspiring to hear how many and varied activities are coordinated, to include learning more about where food comes from and crafting materials.

We then had a group photo before I sent everyone off for an Easter egg hunt 🍫🥚🧺

I apologised they were not suitable for vegans but know non-Vegan friends would appreciate the gifts. Dawn got involved and found the last one and we cheered Ben for finding the most with FOUR chocolate eggs! Happy Easter to all.

A fantastic four made their own way home and a fabulous four went back to base and congratulated Jun on a productive first weed and deed.

Looking ahead

That's all from me. Area Activator Simon will be back in the cockpit after returning from a really, really long run.

Check out the website for details of upcoming events to include the Bank Holiday special (CORRECTION- it IS meeting at Arsenal but with no bag drop), guided runs for sight impaired athletes, weekend community missions, track attack, the pizza social on Monday 17th and Finsbury parkrun volunteer takeover and brunch on Saturday 22nd just before the marathon. Grab a piece o' the action!

And do consider training and signing up for missions to help older isolated people with one-off tasks that improve their lives