On another chilly Monday evening, ten dedicated GoodGymers gathered at the Tower Hamlets Community Transport base to support local youth organisation, Ocean Youth Connexions.

The group took on several important tasks this evening, including clearing the fence area, relocating soil, and painting two large containers as well as a balcony railing.

Our activity with Ocean Youth at the base over the last eight months have helped to enhance the premises by improving its outdoor area, thereby assisting the charities in maintaining a safe and functional environment for their administrative and training activities.

Clearing the fence area involved removing debris, ensuring the space became tidy and accessible, while relocating the soil required the team to shift large amounts of earth to designated areas.

Three teams headed to the painting tasks: tackling the two large containers required physical effort and plenty of precision. The GoodGymers, however, managed to ensure even coverage, while working in tight spaces at different heights. Painting the balcony railing also required a steady hand and careful technique to cover intricate metalwork…

It was after 8 when we decided to call it a night, Gathering brushes, overalls, paint trays and tools, we headed back into the building, to gather for our final picture.

Another great evening down in Limehouse.

A big well done to the whole team for getting so much done tonight.

Next week, it's back to Rocky Park!

Until then.

It was a smaller but thoroughly committed team tonight who arrived at Newell Street to see Kamal at the Tower Hamlets Community Transport Hub, the new base for Ocean Youth Connexions.

Why were we here?

Ocean Youth Connexions (OYC) is a youth and community organisation established in September 2000 by local volunteers from the Ocean Estate.

OYC offers a wide range of activities, including youth club sessions, half-term and summer provision, cycling proficiency training and employment support.

Having relocated last year to the Tower Hamlets Community Transport base, Ocean Youth Connexions are playing a key role in tidying up the back yard of the space, ready for it to be transformed into a hive of activity, including hosting workshops and housing minibuses!

Community transport is an essential part of a thriving local area, making sure that everyone can get where they need to go, regardless of age, ability, or income.

It also allows community organisations and charities to offer more opportunities, making sure that cost and lack of transport don’t become barriers to taking part.

Our task tonight

Tonight we were preparing one of the containers for another big paint job, and continuing to clear the back of the yard for the new fence.

Despite being short of a few lights this evening, the GoodGymers managed well, climbing ladders, navigating wheelbarrow punctures and shifting a lot of soil.

With many trips around to the debris area, as always, this was quite the workout. Up and down ladders, emptying loads, plenty of crouching and squatting. Quite the Monday night upper body workout.

The beautiful sound of St Anne’s chiming 8 let us know time was nearly up.

With one final barrow-wheel and a run-in with a blocked sink, we proceeded to finish up for the evening.

Posing for our final pic with Kamal, we said our cheerios around said sink, rooting for Lucinda and Kamal as they gave the stubborn blockage one final push.

Heading out into another chilly Monday night, we concluded that was another fun night with Ocean Youth Connexions and we look forward to returning in a couple of weeks.

Five intrepid GoodGym folk lit their head torches and donned gardening gloves in this satisfying Thursday-night task at the new Ocean Youth Connexions hub.

Our mission? To clear 7 mounds of earth (which Saturday’s team had so expertly created) and cart everything round the corner ready to be composted.

We shovelled, we lifted and we hauled at least 16 large woven refuse sacks (in a past-its-prime wheelbarrow) which equates to over 750kg of earth. 🧑‍🌾

That’s 150kg per person 💪

⭐️ Brilliant team effort! We continued working together to help fix Ilana’s jacket problem. Most importantly, we finished the job! Super effort, Everyone! Well done!!! ⭐️

Seven GoodGym enthusiasts met with Kamal at the Tower Hamlets Community Transport hub to support Ocean Youth Connexions prepare for a busy season ahead.

Danya, Emma, Hedley, Lobo and Oliver travelled round the corner from Felix Project and joined Ilana and Megan with sweeping, raking and shovelling earth into manageable mounds… ready to be hefted round the corner to a large communal compost heap.

⭐️We heaped, we heaved, we laughed and got a lot done. Well done, Everyone!⭐️

We’ll be helping Kamal at the hub again on Thursday 30 January.

Another chilly Monday night and another great-sized group of GoodGymers over in Limehouse!

Tonight we were back to the Community Transport base, where Ocean Youth Connexions lead Kamal is heading up the building makeover project.

A new base for the charity, the team are keen to open up facilities for workshops and room hire, and expand the options for community transport, to enable more opportunities for groups to get out and about.

We were greeted with another well planned list of activities. It was a delight to see the group grow one by one - and great to welcome the running group who'd made their way from the Town Hall Hotel, expertly led by Jacob!

As usual, teams spread out all over the site: one large team headed out to the car park area to begin the huge task of removing the last of the leaves and an enormous amount of soil; another to the container, to sugar-soup and then paint ready for the Spring. There was a team at the front of the building doing a cracking job of pruning a tall and wide overgrown bush, and preparing the railings for paint. The team at the top of the building made a start on the balcony railings, finishing the paint-prep scraping before grabbing the gloss and aiming for at least one coat.

It was all go.

As one task finished, another started. The team were unperturbed by the chilly temperature and a flat wheelbarrow tyre - on they went, until St Anne's chimed 8, and we started to think about calling it a night.

We started to wrap up at 8:10, and were back inside posing for our report pic at just after 8:15.

A few of us headed outside for a chatter, another pic, and a quick can of Athletic Brewing, before heading home, satisfied with another productive night.

Well done, everyone. Another lovely start to the week.

Until next time.

Eight GoodGymers braved the winter chill to lend a helping hand sprucing up the space at Ocean Youth on Saturday afternoon, with the wonderful Kamal leading us. As we arrived, we were able to admire our hard work from last weeks task in the daylight (a rare occurence this time of year)!

Dividing into three teams, we got to work:

1️⃣ The Branch Managers – Taking on the fearsome overgrown bushes and vines creeping in from the churchyard, Michael, Ilana and Kitty fearlessly hacked, snipped, and tamed the encroaching wilderness. There were moments when it seemed the greenery might fight back, but with teamwork and determination, they emerged victorious (cc the impressive before/after pics)!

2️⃣ The Weed Warriors – Weed got tonight, who weeds tomorrow?! Armed with sheer determination and a selection of weeding tools, Lucinda and Emma tackled the backyard of the centre hub, evicting stubborn weeds from every crack and crevice. There was much satisfaction in watching the weeds meet their untimely demise!

3️⃣ The Scrape Society – Positioned at the entrance, Lobo, Anna and (briefly, Oliver!) took to scraping the shelf, getting it primed for a fresh coat of paint. With the precision of artists (or perhaps archaeologists, uncovering ancient layers), they left no flake unturned.

Despite the cold, there was plenty of laughter, much discussion about Saturday night plans, and a general sense of job satisfaction. Seeing the centre in daylight was definitely an added bonus!

Another GoodGym mission complete for the Tower Hamlets January challenge – weeds vanquished, paint prep sorted, and weeds thoroughly put in their place. Until next time (tomorrow!), Ocean Youth!