And one by one our little group grew tonight, until there were no fewer than 13 GoodGymers working on the new hazel fence at the pretty St Leonard's Priory Park up in Bromley-By-Bow.

We said hello to first time GoodGym-ers Gurprit, Anton, Anna, and a warm welcome to Tower Hamlets to Anna!

Starting with four teams (one chopping hazel, one weeding, one digging fence-holes and one repairing our less-than-perfect previous hazel fence), it was definitely a case of learning on the job as we pruned, stripped and chopped; weeded and wove, blitzing multiple jobs at one time.

With the team working flexibly, rotating out of one task to another, particularly as time sped on ("Hazel! We need more hazel!"), it was a busy but sociable evening, with the countdown to sunset well and truly on.

A decent workout was had by all, whether digging up weeds or sawing tough branches.

It was after 8 before the team were generously stacking up the kit, and wheeling barrows to the back of the park.

With Kareem providing decent tech assistance, the all-important group pic remained in tact, despite the lack of light.

A great effort, everyone - and a final shout-out to Charlie, who came up with tonight's belter of a pun.

Next week

...we're back to Hollybush Gardens, for our first visit of Autumn with Margaret and Ash.

Until then.

A sunny evening in Tower Hamlets saw a nice-sized group of GoodGymers gather round a large woodchip pile it turned out they would clear in no time.

Background to tonight's task

The Teesdale and Hollybush TRA are probably GG TH's longest standing task. Headed up by brilliant Margaret, and now Ash, GG are invited once, twice a month to join the dynamic duo to lend a hand with various projects on one of the Estate's many pretty garden areas.

Tonight we were helping redistribute old planter wood and spread a rather large pile of woodchip.

An early arrival time for some saw Ash and Margaret instructing the first arrivals on how best to distribute the woodchip.

With project management promptly handed over to John and Chris, the team wasted no time whittling the large pile away.

A flurry of late arrivals provided the perfect opportunity to introduce the second task - transporting a large stash of planks over to another part of the estate gardens, Rocky Park.

Trolley- fulls of logs were flying toward Rocky Park at a speedy rate: lats and delts got a workout to rival the finest upper body session.

The rest of the team joined this breakaway task, by which time it was game over for what was initially a large pile of planks.

Posing for a quick pic in the planters (as it sounds), we then headed to the pub for a self-congratulatory pint. Another superb night of productivity.

The shout-outs

• A big warm welcome to Priscila who joined us for her first Monday night task.

• Well done to Michael for a FANTASTIC GoodGym debut.

• Massive thanks to John for organising tonight's post-task drink.

• And a huge round of applause for Rohan, who co-wrote tonight's report; to Fiona for delivering another splendid pun, and the rest of the table at the Bethnal Green Tavern for chipping in for tonight's report.

You all rock.

Next week, we're pruning and bagging The BIg Hedge in Bethnal Green's Patriot Square.

You snooze, you lose...

Until then.

Task Force member Fiona writes:

Summer's here!

...And so were a large group of Goodgymers to help Larry finish the final landscaping task at the Yurt.

Welcome to all those new to Tower Hamlets Goodgym! (Michael, Matt, Anna).

When we arrived there was a mound of gravel towering high to be spread over the rocky path.

We split into teams, shovelling the gravel into the barrows and raking in all directions to cover all the larger stones.

After an hour and a half we could see a smooth, beautiful gravel path leading all the way down to the monastery garden. Good effort team!

We also had our painting team,Lucinda and Victoria, who worked their magic with the brushes and painted the entire fence at the back of the garden.

Having smashed through our allocated tasks, many hands then made light work loading up the skip with panels and planks.

We definitely got a good workout in the sun! And it was great to see the Yurt garden space looking lovely for everyone to enjoy, thanks in part, to our efforts on this project over the last few months :-)"

What a beautiful evening for tonight’s activity!

We started out as a small group working out on the planters in busy Ravenscroft Park, but slowly grew, until there were a good number enjoying the final stretches shortly before 7.

Making our way around the corner to meet Ed, our task owner this evening, we decided tonight might be a hayfever special, thankful we’d come armed with tissues and antihistamines.

This evening we were working around the pretty race track garden (so-called due to its winding gravel path) and the grass-filled garden at the front of Sivill House, helping to clear some of the many weeds.

A third team were dispatched to the Orchard area, to complete an extensive watering operation.

The Columbia TRA are the tenants & residents association for the Newling, Dorset, Virginia and Gascoigne Estates in Tower Hamlets. These estates sit on-and-around the Columbia Road area, and are home to some much-loved green areas.

Our team continued to grow as we plucked weeds and hydrated trees, and we made a good dent in the garden tasks.

At shortly before 8, we started to think about wrapping-up, tipping one last bucket into the weed pile and winding the hose away for the night.

Posing for that all-important final pic (thanks for your patience as always) we wheeled barrows back to the lock-up, said our cheerios and wandered off into the beautiful evening sun.

A fantastic start to the week.

Shout-outs

Thanks to our brilliant task owner, Ed for this evening’s great activity and for tonight's pun, and to Lucinda for another splendid pun, Green Green Dry Grass of Home.

Until next time.

It was a later start than usual, allowing plenty of time for the rain to clear away. Our long-time friends Margaret and Ash, from the Teesdale & Hollybush Tenants and Residents Association, were well organised as usual, with plenty of hoes and brushes available for some of our number to embark on weeding and then sweeping the paths of the estate's community food garden.

Another group made their way to the far side of the square to shovel soil from a vast pile and transport it in wheelbarrows to the garden. For once, none of the wheelbarrows had a flat tyre, but one of them was emitting an ear-piecing squeal until Ivo worked his magic on it, and it squealed no more.