Writes Charlie,

"We gathered for yet another memorable evening of volunteering at this well-known urban community garden in the heart of Bethnal Green.

What started as a routine mission to move soil and wood chips quickly turned into an unexpectedly lively and fun event—complete with record-breaking attendance, a pink-hued sunset, and the kind of teamwork that would make even the busiest ant colony jealous.

We were all hands on deck right from the off.

As soon as the shovels hit the ground, it was as though we collectively tapped into some sort of communal rhythm. A human chain formed, with everyone passing, digging, and moving soil with the efficiency and focus of, dare I say it, a swarm of ants. You could almost hear the theme music to a heist movie playing in the background. (Instead of robbing a bank, however, we were enriching the earth and helping the garden flourish).

Emma, assumed the role of our unofficial forewoman. Her managerial oversight was crucial to the operation—spurring us on from a comfortable vantage point. (We’ll pretend the regular supply of snacks and much-needed pep talks didn’t help that much).

We also welcomed a couple of new and familiar faces into the fold: Ramón, the rookie of the group, stepped into the gardening scene with admirable enthusiasm. And then there was Anton, back for his third round of soil-shoveling glory.

As the evening progressed, the sun began its slow descent, offering one of those final summer sunsets you wish you could bottle for the darker months ahead.

The sky turned a brilliant pink, casting a soft, warm light over the garden, a reward for our hard work.

Hard to say what felt better: the satisfaction of seeing the fruits of our labour come together, or the stunning sight that marked the end of the day.

And the best part? We finished everything double quick. Whether it was the accompanying breeze, our ‘swarm-of-ants’ approach, or simply the record turnout, we blitzed through what should’ve been an all-day task in less than an hour.

Of course the evening wasn’t complete until we wrapped at a pub nearby. What’s an evening’s productivity without a pint to celebrate. So a few of us found our way to local favourite, The Approach Tavern. With (garden) gloves off, dirt-free pints in hand, we toasted to an evening well spent and a garden well nurtured.

Cheers to all who came out. Here’s to the first of some fabulous Autumn evenings, both in the garden and down the pub."

Tonight's big shout-outs

• To Charlie, and Emma, powered by ChatGPT, for tonight’s splendid report.

• To Gurprit for tonight's ace pun.

Next week we're back to the Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park for our first Autumn visit!

Until then.

And one by one our little group grew tonight, until there were no fewer than 13 GoodGymers working on the new hazel fence at the pretty St Leonard's Priory Park up in Bromley-By-Bow.

We said hello to first time GoodGym-ers Gurprit, Anton, Anna, and a warm welcome to Tower Hamlets to Anna!

Starting with four teams (one chopping hazel, one weeding, one digging fence-holes and one repairing our less-than-perfect previous hazel fence), it was definitely a case of learning on the job as we pruned, stripped and chopped; weeded and wove, blitzing multiple jobs at one time.

With the team working flexibly, rotating out of one task to another, particularly as time sped on ("Hazel! We need more hazel!"), it was a busy but sociable evening, with the countdown to sunset well and truly on.

A decent workout was had by all, whether digging up weeds or sawing tough branches.

It was after 8 before the team were generously stacking up the kit, and wheeling barrows to the back of the park.

With Kareem providing decent tech assistance, the all-important group pic remained in tact, despite the lack of light.

A great effort, everyone - and a final shout-out to Charlie, who came up with tonight's belter of a pun.

Next week

...we're back to Hollybush Gardens, for our first visit of Autumn with Margaret and Ash.

Until then.

25 Amazing GoodGyming GoodGymers ran an amazing 8k to Clissold Park to shovel, shift and rake our way to path creating glory! Then celebrated Amanda’s 50th GoodDeed with pizza and an amazing cake & cookies!

Our longest run in years!!! Great to get some serious distance under our feet this evening with an adventure up to the Corner of the borough as we helped Hackney Parks lay some wood chip pathway around the perimeter of the park to allow year around usage even in the wettest of weathers!

With time of the essence we got away fast from the Bakehouse and made steady running progress up to Stoke Newington to meet at Clissold park. With 4k under our belts we got straight to work gathering tools and shifting the mulch from the big pile to barrows and onto the in much need very muddy pathway! The production line was swift and the efficiency super high! With less time to play with than normal due to our longer running we did an amazing job of getting so much done and creating with so Side ways thinking chip raking strategy over 100 metres of pathway!!

With an awesome effort on the wood chips we zipped back to base to celebrate Amanda’s 50th GoodDeed in typical Hackney GG style with Pizza and the most amazing cake and personalised cookies maybe ever!!

Great night, see you next week for a visit to Dalston!!

Joel

22 Hackney GoodGymers enjoyed a crisp January Starter session on Hackney Downes planting and caring for trees with the brilliant Tree Musketeers!

Amazing to have so many GG first timers along for the session!!

Be great to have you along to the Hackney Tuesday evening runs which start and finish at the E5 Bakehouse!! Meet at 6:45 leave by 7 and with a run, task combo complete we are back by 8:30!!

If Tuesdays are tricky then there are other areas close by on Monday and Wednesday’s plus community missions mainly on the weekend which have a task but not the run.

All the information is on the GoodGym website!!

A quick 2k run to raise our body temperatures from the -1 we started at was much needed. We then headed over to the task and with an unprecedented number of volunteers who had come along to the open session jobs were a little thin on the ground but helping where we could with tree planting, mulching the baby trees, weeding, digging, running the barrows all over the Downes we helped to turn a 4 hour window to get the work done into a 2 hour tree helping blast!

Throwing in some fitness with Chi to keep the body warm at the end it was great to have you along!!

Hope to see you on a run again soon!!

Joel