Tuesday night brought a mat lifting class in the Isle of Dogs for Aine and Fiona. Eight thirty sharp one of us arrived (8.33 for the other, you can guess which was which) to save the day for the docklands settlements caretaker. We had piles of fun!

Congrats to Fiona on finally hitting 45 tasks - a much celebrated milestone.

The Dockland Settlements Community Centre has heavy judo mats which need putting away after the community judo class. It’s a big job for one caretaker: sixty mats have to be lifted and sorted! So naturally, they sent for GoodGym.

We were told the task would take two people twenty minutes, and that the time would be halved if we had four people. (so someone was good at Maths in primary school…). In fact, SIX willing GoodGymers turned up! Marta even arrived from South of the River, though to be honest she only had to walk through the foot tunnel. Meanwhile Fiona took the chance to continue her half-marathon training in Island Gardens.

With the job completed in ultra-quick time, we offered our services for other tasks, but were told everything was done, so we faced an agonising decision. Should we drink in the Lord Nelson, or the Old Millwall Fire Station? There could be only one solution: we visited both! Quite a satisfactory evening, in many respects.

Miguel, Marta and I met Saturday lunchtime at the Docklands Settlements Community Centre at Island Gardens to pile up and away all of the gym mats left out after a judo class. The mats were deceptively heavy however after only 15 minutes, we managed to have them sorted into 2 piles (even taller than at least one of us!). Then it was a quick jog home for me through Mudchute Farm

Putting 60 Judo mats away - how difficult can it be?

This task seemed straightforward but don’t underestimate the heaviness of each Judo mat. It’s thick and chunky. Here the girls power came in - Marta and I dragged, lifted and pushed each mat on top of each other, together with 2 Docklands Settlement Centre’s staff, in no time the entire floor from covering with black mats to an empty and tidy room again - in just 8 minutes. A great evening to support the local community and also a good way to exercise our upper arms. Mission accomplished!