What happens when community spirit, elbow grease, and some local heroes meet in a garden?

You get a classic GoodGym B&D group session, and this week’s mission at Gale Street Community Garden in Becontree was nothing short of brilliant.

With summer approaching, the garden is being prepared to host wellbeing activities for local residents. It’s all part of a vision led by community collaboration with Breda and Nassaba, who’s spearheading a movement to make green spaces across Barking and Dagenham welcoming, safe, and vibrant hubs of activity.

But before yoga mats can be rolled out, the space needs serious groundwork.

That’s where GoodGym B&D’s very own dynamic duo, Peter and Emdad, stepped in.

Peter and Emdad brought energy, determination, and great teamwork to the task. With gloves on and smiles ready, they got stuck into clearing large tree trunks, dragging branches, and moving green waste to designated zones. The aim? To open up space and make it safe and usable for the exciting summer programme ahead.

“You two are the GoodGym Powerhouse!” Nassaba beamed, as the garden transformed before her eyes.

💚Heavy Lifting with Heart What made the session even more enjoyable was the spirit in which the work was done. While shifting logs and navigating prickly brambles, Peter and Emdad worked with a calm rhythm and total focus, all while cracking jokes, encouraging each other, and showing what GoodGym is all about: making a difference together.

There were lighter moments too. From spotting wild blackberries, apple and chickee fox to being accidentally caught in camera time-lapses, the session was full of cheerful teamwork and genuine joy.

🤩Not Just a Garden – A Vision As volunteers powered through the task, they had the chance to speak with Nassaba about her wider plans – including a future task involving the repositioning of a heavy water tank to improve garden access.

While Peter and Emdad assessed the job with their usual can-do attitude, it was agreed that this was a task for a future session, when more GoodGym muscle could be gathered.

This forward-thinking approach is exactly what makes these sessions so rewarding: each visit builds on the last, and each task brings us closer to creating lasting change in the community.

🙋‍♂️So… What Is a GoodGym Group Session? GoodGym group sessions are volunteering missions with movement. Simple, time-limited tasks for local charities and community organisations that help them get essential work done. Whether it’s shifting soil, painting fences, delivering flyers or weeding a wild space, every task is designed to be achievable, practical, and community-driven.

Some sessions start with a group run, walk, or cycle from a set meeting point, while others, like this one, are more localised, with volunteers making their way directly to the task site.

No specialist skills are needed – just a willingness to muck in, work as a team, and enjoy the process. Tools and safety equipment are always provided by the organisation,

Across the country, GoodGym volunteers are clocking up thousands of hours supporting grassroots initiatives – and the impact is real. From food banks to forests, schools to community gardens, many of these spaces simply wouldn’t function without the help of dedicated GoodGym teams.

🏃That’s a wrap!

Back in Becontree, Peter and Emdad wrapped up the session with a well-earned sense of achievement. The area was cleared, the trunks relocated, and smiles all round. They proved once again that even with a small team, big things can happen.

With brilliant photos captured by Nassaba and Emdad, and stories to share, the Powerhouse have left their mark – and the garden is well on its way to being a thriving hub of health and happiness this summer.

Want to join the Powerhouse next time? Sign up, lace up, and show up – the garden needs you!

See you soon, Peter!

"This is what it must have been like during the industrial revolution..."

"...I know. But shoveling gravel instead of coal?"

Last night at the Barking Food Forest, De and Steven celebrated a task well done with Nikhil and Shaun from the project.

Huge kudos to @DeDon for squeezing in this GoodGym session during his work break - travelling all the way from work in Horncurch to the task and all the way back again straight after to continue work.

A true Ledge End.

The task was satisfyingly simple. Speed-walk with the wheel barrow 100m to the other end of the Forest. Fill barrow with gravel. Walk back. Lay the gravel in the channel to help sure up the new greenhouse.

Repeat. Until channel full of gravel.

Also, an absolute delight also to meet Murtaza - former manager of the well known Bromley-by-Centre in Tower Hamlets who has run many community garden projects, can't wait to see them again!

Well done all!

See you soon, Steven

“I love it…working with a spreadsheet all day, this is a life saver”

Japanese garden water-feature, bamboo fencing, walled-growing garden, pavilion, outdoor kitchen, auto-irrigation greenhouse… these are just some of the plans Nikhil and Laurelle are incredibly excited about.

As co-ordinators of Barking Food Forest, they have a hugely ambitious programme of improvements planned for the whole community to benefit from. First on the list was a special mission for GoodGym B&D - to control the tall grass in the kitchen-garden that appears every summer and plays havoc with the vegetable boxes.

Excited to find out more about this magical place, as soon as we arrived, families were just leaving after bringing their own plants to pot-out in the kitchen-garden. In fact, any local resident can come and plant their food here – just one of the massive benefits Barking Food Forest brings to the area.

"The Good Gym have really helped us out with their amazing effort. It was great to meet everyone, lots of good vibes, laughs & much needed muscle power! Looking forward to their next visit already" (Nikhil, Barking Food Forest co-ordinator)

Laurelle started the session by taking us on a whistle stop tour of the Food Forest; a huge amount of work is planned to make this oasis even more paradise like.

Nikhil showed Peter how to cut the gauze used to suppress the grass growth, whilst Steven and Emdad shovelled wood chip into barrows and transported it to the kitchen-garden to lay a 2-inch deep barrier to prevent grass coming up.

This important work will not only make the kitchen-garden more accessible, but save hours in the future by preventing weeds, grass and other unwanted seedlings taking root.

Playing a part in this unique project gave all the GoodGymmers a huge boost, and we can’t wait to be back again next Tuesday 6.15 (15th July). Join us by signing up here

See you soon

Steven (B&D Area Activator)

NB – if you are a local not-for-profit organisation that would benefit from GoodGymmers to complete practical tasks in outdoor greenspaces, please get in touch steven.champion@goodgym.org

*“You’re keen?“

“Well, I’ve never dug before!”*

Having run Gale Street Organic Community Garden in Becontree for over 20 years, Bridget has had less time to look after this beautiful greenspace recently. Fruit trees, vegetable beds and the shed have all been calling out for some TLC….

… a call that was answered by 8 GoodGymmers last night who were celebrating GoodGym Barking & Dagenham’s very first ever session!

Huge kudos to all GoodGymmers in attendance:

🏃 De, and Claire and Steven get a special well done for coming to their first ever GoodGym session 🏃 Louise came in from Islington especially to help, 🏃 Cecilia's regular weekly running club was cancelled so we were lucky enough to them her come in from Greenwich, 🏃 Peter loved their first time digging 🏃 Emdad cycled in from Barking (watch out for his article about this session in the Barking & Dagenham Post coming soon), 🏃 Jack was on content creator duty (excited to see their first attempt at a TikTok video).

So much was achieved in just 45 minutes – check this out: 3 vegetable beds were measured and marked out and 2 trenches dug, from which 20 feet cubed of soil was removed. Very dry, hard and dusty soil. This is a huge achievement!

“I thought you were all going to chicken out and not come as it is so hot, but you didn’t! You came; you worked with good humour; I’m so impressed” (Garden owner Bridget)

“You’re a powerhouse… fun, and great energy having you guys here” (Task owner Nassaba)

Everybody really enjoyed themselves, experiencing first hand the benefits of spending time doing physical activity in nature. Soooooo much more fun than the gym. And we learnt lots about soil science from Bridget who has degrees (yes, plural) in the subject (urine does actually improve compost - this article was nearly titled "don't take the pi**")

And we’re in demand – Nassaba is working with me to plan many more sessions soon, so keep an eye out on the B&D area page of the website!

See you soon

Steven (B&D Area Activator)

NB – if you are a local not-for-profit organisation that would benefit from GoodGym volunteers to complete practical tasks in outdoor greenspaces, please contact me on steven.champion@goodgym.org