As July comes to a warm and sunny end, this evening saw 12 GoodGymers arriving at the Cranbrook Community Centre. A well-used, much loved asset on the Cranbrook Estate, the Centre's cared for by longstanding task owners Janet and Eileen.

Welcoming Caterina and Frankie to their first GoodGym, and Kirsti to her first Tower Hamlets GoodGym, we headed to the tool box to select our instruments for tonight’s task.

Everyone got stuck in straight away. Some of the GoodGymers worked in pairs, others on their own, all tackling a variety of jobs.

Hedges were trimmed, leaves cleared from garden borders, and litter picked.

The notice boards at the front of the centre were cleared of rose bushes, so locals passing by can see more easily the activities taking place at the centre.

As 8pm approached, the team headed around the corner to start cutting back trees hanging over the pavement!

A tidy, cared-for environment that helps to make the centre feel welcoming, our efforts in the garden were much appreciated this evening.

After posing for that all-important group pic, we headed out to the Mace Street wall for our Monday stretching session. A great end to an absolutely brilliant night.

Next week, we’re headed to the Canal Club Community Garden for gardening, cake and swimming…

Until then.

A mild June evening saw 13 GoodGymers gather at Tower Hamlets Community Transport in Limehouse.

It’s coming up to a year since we first visited Kamal here, the new home of Ocean Youth Connexions admin and training operations.

Since then we’ve weeded the wall multiple times, cleared soil, raked zillions of leaves, picked litter, emptied barrows full of greenery and done our fair share of painting.

A popular task (due to the location, well organised activity, great before and after pics and the organisations we’re supporting), this Monday night activity is always well attended, so we were able to form multiple teams again tonight to:

• Pull large areas of weeds away from walls and fences.

• Clear small weeds away from the areas of the yard.

• Dispose of the greenery in the outside park area.

• Pick litter.

• Paint gold drainpipes!

It was a fab team effort, with GoodGymers joining forces to rake piles, blitz troublesome weedy areas and climb ladders to reach high painting spots.

The time as usual flew by, and it seemed like we'd only just started before the group were gathering for the final photo and congratulating Lucinda on her 50th good deed! John presented Lucinda with her very own black t-shirt before they both posed for the obligatory pic. Congratulations, Lucinda - you're such a big part of Tower Hamlets GoodGym!

Thanks to John and Chris for pics and project management tonight.

Join the team for a fun get together in Bethnal Green this Friday at Mother Kelly's, while next week, we're back to Meath Gardens for our first visit of 2025!

Until then...

17 GoodGymers spent their Monday evening helping out at the Prospect Walk Allotments just off Meath Gardens.

The task, led by longstanding task owner Catherine (and supported by Des and Liam) was straightforward but much needed: clearing bindweed from fences and cutting back overgrown trees and weeds that had started to take over the borders.

With private gardens often limited locally, allotments are a great asset for locals, but keeping them usable and accessible takes ongoing effort, so it was good to come and lend a hand with the weeding and pruning of the communal areas tonight.

Armed with gloves and tools, the group made a start, unravelling the long vines and clearing the way for light to reach the plots. (Bindweed's spread across large sections of the site, particularly along the fencing, where it tends to cling tightly and block out sunlight).

The team also pruned tree branches, including the wonderfully-named Heavenly Tree, and removed other fast-growing weeds that tend to creep in when left unchecked.

Working for just over an hour, the GoodGymers covered a great section of the site.

At just after 8 we posed for our final pic and made plans to return to a similar task a few doors down next month! A great night with a good turnout (and a big welcome to Nancy, who joined for her first GoodGym session!).

Until next time.

A good-sized group of GoodGymers braved the prospect of a (second) downpour last night to head to our task in Limehouse.

This was our first time with lovely lighter evenings at the home of Ocean Youth Connexions and Tower Hamlets Community Transport in Limehouse.

Arriving one by one, GoodGymers caught up with the latest news as task owner Kamal prepared equipment and allocated members to tasks.

We were divided into various teams to tackle tonight’s list of jobs, which included:

• Tidying and pruning at the front of the building

• Relocating ballast and cement bags against the church wall (the heavy lifting task)

• Litter-picking around the yard; removing weeds from along the walls.

• Removing ivy from behind the buses.

It was an industrious time, with one task finishing and another starting continuously over the hour.

This has been a rewarding project to be a part of over the last nine months or so. With Ocean Youth Connexions needing to find a new home last summer and Tower Hamlets Community Transport welcoming a revival of their premises, the transformation of the yard, meetings rooms and downstairs workroom seems to have taken shape in no time.

After clearing the yard and making those last couple of trips to the bins, we posed for the all-important final pic.

Big shout-outs to Lucinda for another perfect pun and to Najwa who joined for her first GoodGym session!

Have a great week everyone – look forward to seeing you next week at Hollybush Gardens.