We were back at Hollybush Estate on Monday night, joining Margaret and Ash to shift the mulch we laid down several months ago, now rotted and ready to nourish a fresh round of bedding plants.

We were also joined by Michael from the Hollybush team, who came armed with a surprise for later in the evening. And a big welcome to @Dan Baker, newly arrived from Liverpool but already well at home with GoodGym thanks to his TaskForce experience. Thanks for the extra pair of hands, Dan! We also had a furry visitor, Missy the Beagle brought by Emma, perfect for the role of GoodGym mascot I must say!

With so many willing volunteers, the mulch was swiftly cleared and replaced with fresh material, leaving us plenty of time for the real highlight of the night: celebrating Margaret’s 70th birthday. Sparklers were lit and a caterpillar cake (expertly sourced by Lucinda) presented.

Margaret has been a constant, warm presence at Hollybush Estate for years. Anyone who’s volunteered here will know her trademark “How are you, darling?” and her tireless commitment to the gardens and community. GoodGym Tower Hamlets and Hollybush itself wouldn’t be the same without her.

We braved the cold and darkness on Monday night to help Ken with some flower planting in Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park. Trowels and head torches at the ready, we split into groups and set about digging holes and planting hundreds of daffodil bulbs throughout an area of the cemetery park. We worked our way diligently through all of the planting, some even digging so furiously that their tools snapped!

Big welcome to Ariane who joined as from Hounslow. And a big thank you to everyone for a very productive evening. Make sure to take a stroll through the park from February to April to see the fruits of our labour!

One of the nice things about follow-up sessions is to see the progress of the project.

The different rooms are starting to take shape, things falling into place step by step, almost ready to be fixed in place.

This evening more little bits of prep to be done:

• Kareem joined Kat in rolling up more of the wrapping paper
• Tom joined Finn putting together stools for the cinema room
• sorting bottles, cleaning re-purposed floor tiles & folding sports towels were my contribution

More sessions to follow this week - grand opening from 12.30 on Saturday.

P.S. anyone know an available DJ for the opening event?

There'll be no more worries about temporary furniture solutions folding under pressure, now that this table has been fully assembled. A few screws later and it was ready to support the DVD player and all of its other TV accessory friends. They're all now at a much more appropriate height, so there's no bending needed to whack in a DVD and press play on an old classic.