Volunteering at Hackney Night Shelter

First session at Hackney Night Shelter

A lovely sunny morning for a paddle along the River Lea, guided by Leaside Trust coach Beate, who got us kitted up with a life vest and paddle, and got us warmed up with some reactive catch the paddle games.

We boarded our canoes in twos and quickly learned how to navigate the waters of the River Lea. The weather was on our side as we explored the River and encountered wildlife as well as other vessels.

After this great social paddle we went to the Springfield Cafe for a well earned lunch.

Thanks to the Leaside Trust who treated Goodgym to this lovely canoe trip 🙌

11 Goodgymers arrived on this Funday Sunday task to help the Hoxton Trust with their compost area.

After a great introduction from Eslam we split up into smaller groups to tackle different areas of the composting process.

One group started turning compost and moving it into a specific area in the garden. Whilst the other starting filling the Jute Sacks, layering them like a lasagne with different ingredidents including Coffee Chaffs and twiggs.

It was great to see everyone getting stuck in, and having a go at the big wheelbarrow push over the compost hill! The garden has very little capacity so amazing to see such a big turn out to help them.

Welcome Hayder and Zharina to their first good deed! And well done Lobo and Rue for their second good deed of the day taking part in the weekly London Fields Park Run.

And well done to those that joined the social run, adding KMs to the January Challenge 🏃‍♀️

On a very wet and cold morning a group of intrepid Good Gymers, JO, john, Louise, and Nick, joined the London Fields Junior Parkrun core team to set up and marshal a quickly improvised wet weather route. Thankfully no one's spirits were dampened by the rain as lots of enthusiastic juniors put in epic performances to both run and orienteer around the course. With customary zeal the parkrun GoodGym combo made swift work of packing up in record time so we could all dash off somewhere warm and dry.

Despite the biting cold before the snow hit yesterday, 20 hardy GoodGymers and friends braved the elements for a Bonus Saturday Litter Pick in and around Mile End Park. Armed with litter pickers, bags, hoops, and a whole lot of enthusiasm, we were determined to make a visible impact.

After gathering at the Art Pavilion, we split into smaller groups to cover more ground. One team worked their way over Mile End Bridge, while others tackled the towpath. This helped us to sweep through a large section of the park, ensuring we reached some of the more littered areas!

We were lucky to have John from Friends of Mile End Park join us, bringing along Fendi, his enthusiastic little dog! John provided all the necessary kit and shared insights about the park’s ongoing upkeep. He explained that Friends of Mile End Park run a monthly litter pick, with the next one happening next week - but any extra help in between is always welcomed, as it’s a well-used park in constant need of care.

Over the course of the afternoon, we collected an impressive 34 bags of rubbish, including some rather bizarre finds - a large plastic grasshopper and a broken pack of top trumps among them! It was a fantastic team effort, with people joining in as we went along.

With frozen fingers and a well-earned sense of satisfaction, we wrapped up the session and a good group of us headed to The Star of Bethnal Green, where we thawed out with a well-deserved celebratory drink!

A huge thank you to everyone who took part - whether you’re a seasoned GoodGymer or a first-time volunteer, your efforts made a real difference and it was a great way to spend my birthday. See you next time!! 🎂🥳

Emma