Pilates in the Park soon became Pilates in the Dark...

It was in fact a gorgeous night to enjoy this dedicated fitness session, where we got a chance to catch up on all those items on our exercise to-do list.

High Vibes

One by one we gathered in magical Meath Gardens, complete with mats, resistance equipment, lighting and Apple Music's High Vibes Yoga playlist. By 7:10 we were all set, and proceeded to whizz through some dynamic stretches and warm-up exercises.

Moving swiftly onto a little Pilates theory, we learned about the main core muscles, and proceeded to put our new-found knowledge into practice with some challenging balancing moves. Add in some already-tough body weight moves combined with a little resistance equipment, a few minutes in and we were no longer worried about feeling the chill on this October evening.

Down to the ground we headed for 'ab attack', a dedicated section targeting all three areas of the abdominals, before moving onto upper body and arms; hitting the glutes, and finally finishing with some of the less tough stuff. At last!

As we lay on the ground, focusing on flexibility and mobility for the final time that evening, and having moved on to Apple's Peaceful Music list, we concluded that a lot had been achieved, and that it was an hour well spent on a lovely Autumn evening.

Until next time.

A small group of four jogged companionably through the streets of Bethnal Green this evening, to meet the rest of the team at our task at Oxford House.

It was a gorgeously warm evening; the streets were bustling as usual, and although busy, was nonetheless a delightful little warm-up for this evening's activity.

Slowly the team grew, until we formed two decent-sized squads: one team headed outside to clear weeds and litter from paving stones, while another headed indoors to clean glasses and glass ready for a big event.

Why were we doing this?

Oxford House's mission is to 'provide a community-led, inspiring, diverse, and sustainable multipurpose arts space.' With more and more events returning to the centre combined with fewer volunteers over the last couple of years, GoodGymers have been delighted to return to this task over the last couple of weeks, to help with painting, taping, furniture-moving and gardening.

The time flew by this evening, with many areas of moss, weeds and litter being swept up, while the inside glass-cleaning crew finished in no time, and were soon dispatched to a new glass-cleaning task.

Fun, fast and very productive, it seemed like no time at all that we were lining up on the ramp for a final group shot, promising to return soon.

The big shout-outs tonight go to the outdoor team, particularly Sian, Joel and Emma, who helped come up with tonight's pun and to our Ivy, who tonight reached her 100th good deed! (Ivy's a member of Task Force, and often leading tasks and attending socials, Parkruns, and generally out-and-about on the GoodGym circuit, contributing bundles).

A brilliant night all-round, everyone, and we look forward to returning soon.

Next week our big weekday task is taking place on Wednesday instead of Monday, and you can sign-up here.

Until then.

We were delighted to be meeting back at Bethnal Green's gorgeous Town Hall Hotel this week, a splendid, welcoming base to meet for this evening's Group Run.

After a quick warm-up, we headed out into Bethnal Green's busy, bustling streets, taking in Middleton Green, scene of many a fitness session over the last couple of years.

On arrival at Oxford House, we were joined by other members, who'd made their way on foot and cycle, ready to start this evening's task at 7-prompt.

It was an absolute joy to see Deborah again, who we haven't seen for a while, as we were briefed on this evening's tasks.

Why were we here?

We haven't visited Oxford House for nearly three years! And as there are a number of jobs that the venue are happy to have a hand with, we were delighted to return to this lively community venue.

Forming two teams, we gathered in the basement toilets and the gallery. Team Toilet wasted no time preparing the space for the big task of the night: painting the whole toilet area! They quickly got to work tackling one wall at a time, in a small, rather warm space.

Meanwhile the team who'd headed over to the theatre area were busy taping up areas not to be painted as the theatre is soon to get a new look. Skirting boards, door handles...all were carefully sealed with tape.

When the taping team had finished, they proceeded to empty the theatre of furniture, stacking piles of chairs and moving the heavy piano. As usual, they finished the task early.

As they stacked the last chair and tidied away the last bits of tape, the painting team were busy finishing up in the tidiest way possible. (With a little more painting remaining, it's a good job we're back next week).

Paint brushes were washed, rollers soaked, the floor scrubbed... Finally we were able to gather for one last pic.

Shout-outs tonight to Rahul for this evening's pun, and to George, for his first GoodGym event!

Next week, we return to see Deborah for Painting Part II, theatre clearance, and a few other active jobs.

Until then.

One by one GoodGymers arrived at the Cranbrook Community Garden, where we were meeting longstanding task owners, Janet and Eileen, to help tidy up the whole garden area.

Teams were divided into two: one to head out to the front, to tackle the tricky borders behind the fence, and one to head to the area behind the garages, where everything from traffic cones to empty bottles have been stashed over the months.

Climbing skilfully over the fence, the team dived wasting no time filling their bin liners.

Meanwhile, Team Leaf were busy filling bag after bag of brown leaves by the borders. Such was their progress, we were able to form a Breakaway Squad to Roman Road, to drench a few of the young trees whose leaves are falling by the day, and who look set not to survive the summer.

A real community effort

Having been prompted by local community organisers, we knew which shops to approach for our buckets and water. Local business owners were incredibly kind and helpful, getting on board with this impromptu task. The effort was headed up by Task Force members Simon and Kellie, who formed a strong management team: Simon on tree-management; Kellie on the sales pitch to new water outlets.

We then returned to the garden for some final watering, a last pic and our favourite tree stretches.

What a night!

Tomorrow night, we have a bonus midweek task involving more watering in our gorgeous Meath Gardens. Whether you can spare 10 minutes or an hour, any help will make a huge difference.

And keep an eye out for more exciting Monday night tasks to come, including our return to Oxford House, woodchip-moving, and joining the Get Out team for gardening in Bow!

Until then.

It was a nice-sized team who came together to help the Parkview Planting Team tonight.

A toasty 28 degrees didn’t deter team members from gathering for a run, cycling and walking their way to this enjoyable task.

We were joined for the warm-up and run/cycle to the task by our Chi, who we haven’t seen for ages, and whose presence is always a wonderful surprise and addition.

What were we doing and why?

The Parkview TRA is an active, committed small group of volunteers who help keep this large estate running smoothly. Committed to supporting the environment, maintaining a healthy green space for all residents and caring for the gardens of those residents unable to tend to them themselves, they can always use a hand from a productive, energetic group of GoodGymers.

And so to the briefing…

Gathering in the Community Garden at 7pm, Catherine and Liam instructed different teams to different tasks, along with new task owner, Seb.

Teams spread out all over the estate, wheeling multiple full buckets and watering cans to young trees who don’t appreciate the absence of rain as much as we do.

Runners also popped a few plants into the ground on their way round, and a dedicated team remained in the garden to plant dozens of new baby plants for the resident plant giveaway! It was here we learned from Sara that baby plants can appreciate a little light massage, along with the correct technique!

As always, the time flew by and it was soon 8pm and we were returning barrows and buckets to the Community garden; hosing down trestle tables and figuring out the best location for our final pic.

Fantastic work, everyone!

Shout-outs from tonight’s task

• To Kellie, who recently joined our Task Force, and will be joining us in future Group Runs to learn the ropes.

• To Chris and Sam who led the running group back to base post-task.

• To Sam, who joined us again from Southwark, and who reminded us that we will be playing a seasonal game of rounders again this Saturday, from 4pm in Victoria Park.

And next week…

…we return to the Meath Gardens watering task.

Until then.