A good-sized team of 17 met at busy Bethnal Green tube this afternoon, to head to the wonderful Weavers’ Adventure Playground.

What were we doing, and why?

Weavers Adventure Playground has been welcoming children through its gates since 1974. With dedicated staff offering decades of experience and commitment, programme sign-ups of individual children reached over 600 during the summer period in 2021.

This playground is an oasis for local families, offering the ideal environment for children to socialise, learn and play.

Volunteers are always welcome, to help with everything from clearing and tidying the well-used hall, to tending to the green spaces.

How it started

We made our way along Bethnal Green Road, strolling and power-walking at different speeds.

We enjoyed a detour via Weavers Fields, where we ran through this afternoon’s itinerary; the health and safety stuff, and a few pre-task stretches.

We then made our way around the corner to the bright, fun-looking playground to meet Alex…

The list of tasks...

Yep, Weavers’ Alex was leading our activity, and on arrival at the playground, proceeded to welcome us to the site, and tell us what we would be doing this afternoon. Armed with a clipboard and a lot of jobs, we were swiftly divided into six teams:

One group headed out to the large shipping container, to empty it, separate items aaand… you guessed it, refill it.

Another team headed to the stone creatures (as it sounds) to give them a lick of paint, and, as Alex put it, to “beautify them”.

Another painting team headed out to the bench in the swings area to give it a few coats of multi-coloured paints of their choice.

The weeding team headed in no less than three different directions: one to the far corner of the park to tackle stubborn weeds, including bindweed making its way up the basketball court fence; another to the opposite side, by Weavers’ Fields, to cut the hedge back and tackle more stubborn weeds, while a third weeding team spent the entire time making the borders by the play park absolutely pristine.

And there was the mowing task. This consisted of a sterling solo effort, Team Tim, who negotiated an increasingly temperamental mower with a lot of uneven terrain (with a lot of tenacity).

It was all go, for two hours.

The teams didn’t stop, barely pausing to grab a sip of water.

The rain came and went; the crew unperturbed, as they lifted crate after crate; painted, dug, mowed and cleared.

Before we knew it, 3:30 was approaching and the clean-up effort commenced.

Dropping paint brushes into bins of water, securing the container fence, the team blitzed the tidying in the same enthusiastic manner they’d completed their tasks.

We posed for one final picture with Alex, before making our way to the basketball court, where Tim led the basketball fitness, and the rest of the team sped through some balance, abs and lower body moves, before we all joined for a quick final stretch and pic.

Way to go everyone.

Well done for all your hard work and for making it such good fun.

Until next time.