It’s official: come rain or shine, Monday night is the official blues-beater.

13 chilly GoodGymers joined for tonight’s task, in Bromley-By-Bow.

Although damp, dark and windy (again), the prospect of getting together and getting a decent workout in such an enjoyable environment proved irrestistable to tonight’s study team.

Background to the task

Local schools, parishioners, residents; gardeners, dog-walkers… all are playing an important part in the restoration of this historic, pretty new park area.

Under the careful eye of the Bow Church team, headed up by Larry, the green area, St Leonard’s Priory Park, has recently seen the addition of a new hedge, new grass, bundles of blub-planting; the installation of benches - and new sheds to house equipment.

This garden regeneration means that the park will be able to host events, catering to all: from local primary schools to vibrant community groups looking to appeal to as wide a demographic across the area as possible .

Where do GoodGym come in?

Our Monday evening sessions mean a large group of GoodGymers can tackle tough weeds, clear rubble, fill in fox holes and dispose of litter and timber debris making a clear space for the regular gardening and volunteer team to progress quickly.

What we did

We were distributed along the back wall of the park tonight, removing tree branches, weeding, and clearing rubble and litter as we went.

Timber and rubble were ditched in the bin area; sacks of weeds were lifted to the park entrance, and fox holes were filled.

This is a full-on physical task.

The GoodGymers worked at their usual cracking pace, blitzing the area in no time, leaving time to start tackling the pesky fox holes.

Apart from pausing to pose for photos and pun-polling, we worked non-stop for nearly an hour-and-a-quarter.

At 8:15, we lugged the final sack to the exit, turned off head torches, and posed for one last time.

Fantastic work, team!

Shout-outs to you all, for your productivity and tenacity on a chilly November night.

A special shout-out to Rahul, who came up with this evening’s cracking pun.

Next week, we return to the Devon’s Road area, for The Big Bulb-Plant with the Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park.

Until then.