On a dark and damp Monday evening, GoodGymers gathered at Cranbrook Community Centre - fresh back from weekends as far-flung as Liverpool, Hertfordshire, Rye (in Sussex, not the bread), Argentina(!), and of course, Newham.

Cranbrook’s lovely garden had been completely overtaken by soggy, slippy leaves - turning paths into skating rinks and corners of the garden into no-go zones. Armed with two rakes, a broom, and plenty of optimism, we set to work, clearing and sweeping until the place looked recognisable again. John even spruced up the community notice board, ready to display this season’s offerings.

We joined forces with the brilliant Janet and Eileen, who’ve been helping out at the centre for “over 20 years – I’ve lost track, it’s been so long!” Eileen had previously vowed not to come once it got dark, but the lure of GoodGym proved too strong, and she ended up getting stuck in herself.

After an hour of raking, sweeping, and gathering, the paths were clear, the leaves were bagged, and the community garden was once again safe for all the local groups who use it.

We rounded off the evening with some Alfajores that Caterina had bought back from Argentina (soft, crumbly South American biscuits sandwiched with dulce de leche), although Janet and Eileen, in true east-end fashion, insisted on calling them Wagon Wheels - and to be fair, they weren’t entirely wrong!

See you all next week 🍂

Winter has truly arrived. How do we know? Well there are the leaves, the GoodGym tasks in the dark, but mainly: the return of Anna’s signature sleeping-bag coat, ready for many months of constant service

She was soon joining forces with Tom (once he’d found us), Lobo and Mile End Emma, carefully sifting earth from holes in the concrete ground, in the style of the BBC’s ‘Time Team’. After rehousing several worms, they replaced the earth with new concrete, freshly mixed by Lucinda, who was adding another skill to her cv

Elsewhere Ilana, newly-Eastern Emma and Kevin were using paint to bring new life to some sad-looking chairs. By the time they’d finished, the chairs were transformed, two of them a pleasing shade of green and another now bright light blue

At the other side of the estate, Josh, our new signing from Liverpool, climbed ladders with Chris, Rohan and Ryan to work on a large tree, trimming numerous thinner twigs and then many thicker branches, using loppers and saws, to prevent any pedestrian-tree confrontations, while carefully preventing any debris landing on a car parked under the tree. Four wheelbarrows were groaning under the weight of our detritus, and two huge white bags were considerably over-filled

No-one seemed keen to leave, and we stood nattering for some time before deciding we really ought to get going, or we’d miss next week’s trip to Cranbrook. See you there: https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/the-big-monday-night-task-november-garden-clearing-challenge-at-cranbrook-community-centre

On a crisp autumn morning with a gorgeous mix of cloud and sun, four of us gathered at Usk Street Allotments to lend a hand on their wildlife plot. The air was fresh and the perfect Sunday setting for a bit of outdoor graft.

Our mission? To tidy up the wildlife plot and get it looking its best before the colder months set in. That meant plenty of weeding, clearing nettles, and trimming the edges that had encroached onto the surrounding pavement - with a fair bit of log moving thrown in for good measure!

The sunshine made for a brilliant atmosphere, and even though one quarter of the team might have been feeling the after-effects of a Halloween party the night before, spirits were high. Between tugging at stubborn roots and ferrying logs to neaten up the borders, there was no shortage of teamwork or laughter. By the end, the plot edges were looking sharp, and we had cleared a strip ready and waiting for some beautiful new roses to go in soon.

With good company and plenty of banter, even the most stubborn weeds didn’t stand a chance - or stop us turning the morning into a bit of a sitcom.

Allotments like Usk Street are such an asset to the community - providing a green haven for local residents, a home for wildlife, and a space to grow, relax, and connect. But keeping them in good shape takes ongoing care, so it was great to contribute to that effort. A big thank you to Katherine for welcoming us and showing us what needed doing. The wildlife plot is now looking so much tidier and more inviting - a small but satisfying difference made on a gorgeous autumn day.

“We’ll give it a go, and we’ll get a lot done, but we won’t clear all of it” was my opinion. The task was to dig out a deep, wide load of soil from a planter - which got firmer and firmer, the deeper we got - and shovel it into large bags and wheelbarrows

Others were more optimistic, and I should have dug deep into my memory to remember the many times we’d achieved such an objective in the past. And it was the whole team who dug deep into our physical resources to complete the task – including demolishing and disposing of the planter - with fully ten minutes to spare!

Star of the task was Tom, who’s speedy shovelling of huge amounts of soil had to be seen to be believed. But everyone was on top digging form – and a similar exercise was going on the other side of Rocky Park

The good news is that friends-of-GoodGym Margaret and Ash have somehow raised enough money to build the last of their new community garden beds, with improved accessibility. So we’ll be back in December to help them with that!

Meanwhile, join us on Sunday at 10:30 to help our old friends Catherine and Liam, at the allotments just off Roman Road: https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/improving-allotments-near-roman-road-2c26b74e-d164-411a-946b-406aeb52aebd

And next Monday night we’re back at the Parkview Estate: https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/the-big-monday-night-task-painting-and-gardening-on-the-parkview-estate-be901ab4-f1c1-495c-9758-1ba4ddd819cd