Andrada met up with Asad, Kat and Louis and Oliver early morning at the farm. The sky was sunny and clear, and everyone was eager to get to work. Pat met us at the gates and given us the task for the session.

During this session, farm enthusiasts Asad, Kat and Louis filled the new raised beds with manure and reused soil from tomatoes pots from the greenhouse.

Oliver and Andrada were busy digging and filling up the space next to the main path around the raised beds with woodchip to prevent the main path from flooding. This involved doing multiple trips with full wheelbarrows and using the freshly removed soil to level up the entrance to the donkeys’ field, which needed a bit of flood prevention measures as well.

It was a busy 90 minutes for all of us, but we got to unwind for 30 minutes at the end by picking up apples from the orchid and feeding them to the lovely Rollo, Pollo and their piglets.

We ended our visit by hanging out with the new baby calves on site 🐄 whose names are still debated by the farm’s staff. All we know is that they will carry names of biscuits!

A fab-sized team gathered in Newell Street this evening for our task with Ocean Youth Connexions and Tower Hamlets Community Transport Hub.

Meeting outside King’s Wharf Park before 7, we caught up on the news from the weekend and discussed the night’s task.

Kamal, from Ocean Youth, came down to greet us as our group size was growing and we slowly made our way into the garage area to be briefed on tonight’s task.

Ocean Youth Connexions offer a range of youth provision across the borough, during term time and the school holidays.

The organisation has recently relocated its offices to Limehouse, to join the Tower Hamlets Community Transport team, a small charity ‘set up to provide transport to voluntary and community groups in Tower Hamlets’.

Gathering in the garage area, surrounded by equipment for tonight’s task, Kamal proceeded to run through the list of tonight’s activities, which included another big leaf-clearing in the outdoor area; a thorough cleaning of all the upstairs windows, and a sugar-soaping of the toilet walls, in preparation for next month’s big painting activity.

The GoodGymers worked fast, moving onto new tasks including radiator-cleaning and jasmine-pruning.

It was now well and truly dark, complete with an Autumn wind, but thankfully, the outside area at the Hub is beautifully (flood)lit.

As always, the time flew and just before 8, Emma, John and Lucinda were heading up the task wrap-up effort, finishing slickly and precisely at 8.

Another great night with Ocean Youth - we return on the 28th October... Save The Date!

This blustery Monday evening saw us heading to a brand new task in Limehouse.

Fitness first

Starting with a short fitness session outside the café, GoodGymers joined one-by-one enjoying the use of the outdoor furniture for seated leg lowers, tricep dips and a most effective hamstring stretch.

And so to the task…

The Royal Foundation of St Katherine is a retreat centre and ‘urban oasis’ in Limehouse, established by Queen Matilda in 1147.

Task owner Larry, previously of St Leonard’s Priory Park, is heading up the project to transform a disused space around the popular Yurt Café into ‘a monastic-inspired garden of reflection with herbs, sensory plants and new seating.’

Our task tonight was to dismantle the planters, pot up trees and shrubs - and fill the skip!

GoodGymers wasted no time in putting the PPE to good use. Armed with sturdy gloves, protective eyewear, hammers and screwdrivers, several teams headed to the planters to start the dismantling.

A task requiring a bit of strength, plenty of strategic thinking and a fair amount of patience, the GoodGymers made good progress. Removing the sides of the planters, examining the wood, sorting debris, no sooner had they finished one planter, they headed over to the second.

Meanwhile a second team were tasked with digging up a larger planter towards the end of the row; salvaging some trees and shrubs, re-potting them and moving them carefully to one side.

It was a hive of activity: sifting through dozens of objects from surplus plant pots, coconut shells to well-established snails, the team worked continuously until after 8.

Finishing with a final few frenzied trips to the skip and a discussion on the optimum spot for our last pic, we concluded it had been an excellent night.

We return to the task next month, with a two-part task to help Larry blitz the clearing project in time for the redevelopment!

Next week...

...Meanwhile, next week sees us heading to the Cranbrook Community Centre, for some more leaf-clearing and other gardening tasks.

Until then.

Two Goodgymers helped out the regular foodbank team to sort food and toiletries ready to be handed out to clients on Monday. We sorted, counted, stacked and weighed the new donations. Then it was all hands on deck for the final countdown to 3:30pm to unload a fresh food delivery.

A fantastic team of 14 met in Devons Road this evening, with Ken and Terry from the Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park.

Why were we here?

Ken explained that this planting project undertaken by the Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park is helping to create a green corridor through this area of East London.

What does that mean?

Well, by populating the Lea Valley Green Route (the area from Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park, out to Bow Docks and on to the Lea Valley), with bulbs, plants and trees, we’re essentially making more nature available to more residents.

It will allow more wildlife to move between the Lee Valley, and the Lee Valley Park, into the Borough.

Creating ‘stepping stones’ in this way, between green space and urban street spaces, benefits everyone: green spaces that are inhabited by wildlife, trees and plants, not only mean more areas for all residents to enjoy, they can also help to reduce the effects of pollution, often an issue in large cities.

What we were planting

Terry talked us through the mix of trees we were settling into the ground, which included:

Purging Buckthorn (Google that one)

Grey Willow

Wayfaring

Spindle

Oak

Beech

Hornbeam

Dogwood

Wild Privet

Various factors were involved in the choice of the trees, including:

• Comfort (avoiding too many thorns, so litter-picking isn’t too much of a mission).

• Butterfly appeal (the Brimstone butterfly seeks out buckthorn on which to lay its eggs).

• Green-ness (beech and hornbeam tend to hang onto their leaves).

• …And a general ambition that plenty of berries and flowers will come out at different times with this mix, and attract insects.

Speedy work

Our large team set about this big planting mission, all around the park, following careful, precise instructions from Ken.

Tree after tree was produced for the GoodGymers to expertly settle into their new home.

No sooner had the obligatory pictures been taken, and the final few poorly-lit areas been populated with trees, than Ken called it a wrap.

200 trees in less than an hour! Way. To. Go.

We collected tools, loaded the wheelbarrows, posed for one last group shot, before saying our cheerios for the night.

Shout-outs

The big cheers this week go to:

• Clare, whose first GoodGym event it was! Well done Clare, hope to see you again very soon.

• Johnny, for saving the location day, and speedily dropping the all-important pin.

• Kevin, our brilliant head torch technician…

And most of all, to Ken and Terry for three, fabulous Monday nights out in Tower Hamlets.

Next week

...we’re back to Devons Road, for another big gardening task with St Leonard’s Priory Park!

Until then.