A cold a frosty morning began with parkrun for four of todays team.

Hilary joined Nick to celebrate his 100th Mile End parkrun Kevin and I headed to a very frosty Wanstead Flats.

A spot of breakfast before heading to meet up with Dimitra who had already arrived at The Up Garden.

Quick round of introductions before our list of tasks for the day off Suz.

1 paint pergola front legs turquoise back legs coral 2 bench turquoise and coral free choice of how 3 tape up and spray paint pergola roof panels

Suz was in charge of roof panel taping Kevin,Dimi and I tackled the pergola legs while Nick and Hilary brightened up the bench.

After completing the pergola we took it in turns to spray paint the panels.

Dimi headed off after an awesome effort of pergola leg painting...was great to meet you and thanks for all your effort today.

Suz then showed us the piano that had been donated and was made in Newham a mere 10 minutes walk from the garden....Hilary and Nick double checked it was tuned...it is.

We said our goodbyes and headed off.

A celebratory beer and food to finish off a wonderful day.

ADDITIONAL PHOTOS ADDED THANKS TO SUZ

Tuesday we are heading to Hackney Adventure playground

Welcome back and thank you to the team who turned out for our first session of 2025. And what a great one to start with - sorting donations for Care4Calais at their East London storage facility.

We were met by one of their long term volunteers, Andy, who explained what needed to be done - essentially weed out any donations not worth keeping, and then sort the clothes into piles of similar items (childrens, mens, womens etc) - and that we could approach it in any way we liked... This brought back memories of similar "sorting" activities from our lockdown-era sessions for Crisis at Christmas and we were only to happy to put our experience into practice. We made a good dent into the big donations pile, leaving behind what we hope is a more usefully organised pile that can be distributed on to people seeking asylum across East London.

We'll be back there again in a couple of weeks (and potentially beyond if they still need our help...) - as the pictures show, it's dark, so please remember head torches if you've got them! We've also got some other great tasks lined up for January - Hackney Marsh Adventure Playground next week (soon to be listed) but also a long awaited return to the Up Garden on Saturday to do some painting - sign up here.

T’was 15 nights before Christmas, and all through the Printhouse, only 6 Goodgymers were stirring (and probably a mouse or two).

The mission was the Christmassiest of the year, wrapping presents for the kids to spread some Christmas cheer, Our host Rosie made the task nice and cosy, The wrapping stations were ready with a drink and a snack, To make sure it was good Christmas craic, We listened to a few Christmas songs that were a bit cheesy, We had lots of pairs of scissors so the present wrapping was easy peasy, Next week we’re planning to do an Xmas social, maybe pop open some fizz, So if you fancy it get signed up and join us for a Christmas quiz

Another quick mission, took 25 mins or so from arrival at pharmacy to delivery to Mrs F's flat door. Would have been shorter if Google Maps didn't send me to the wrong end of the block!

The pharmacist asked me if I were from GoodGym and gave me a big smile when I said yes.

Forgot to take any photos so this is the screenshot of the pharmacy, courtesy of Google!

The mercury was dropping as the five hardy souls set out from the toasty warm meeting point to head over to the Hackney Adventure playground, A bracing run along the canal before meeting up with Ange to get instructions on todays task,helping to prepare a new shelter in the wooded area for the children's playgroup. Firstly clearing a path of several heavy telegraph poles,that are being reused in playground equipment , the commands of 'pivot' along with 'to me to you' were soon ringing out ! After moving the poles we had the space needed, a quick dismantle of the shelter which was relocated within the clearing in the wood ready for construction to follow. With the tasks completed we wished Ange a Merry Christmas and made arrangements to carry on the good work when they reopen in the New Year

A classic Goodgym task, maximum assistance making a big difference to Ange and her team , after a run back,plans were being made for new adventures for the group in the 2025 over a pint of OJ !

great effort all see you all soon

A welcome third time return to the always cheerful Ms V to (finally) build the one remaining item of IKEA flat pack furniture in her home (after we'd completed a bed and two bedside tables earlier in the year). Ms V was so grateful that Sian and I were finally on site to get this one done.

With sufficient space (we thought) cleared on the living room floor, we quickly got to work, closely following the instructions, but mindful that there was one panel missing (which had been used on a matching cupboard that her son had built for her last year...). After a quick discussion between project manager and deputy project manager, Sian and I worked out a plan to ensure the unit would still be sturdy enough even with the missing panel by putting additional nails into the top most shelf, and this seemed to work fine and hold the backing board in place.

After a quick check of the other (already built unit) on how best to attach the cupboard doors, we soon had the completed unit standing up and pushed up into the space that Ms V wanted it in. We explained to Ms V that she could now move the other shelves around height wise to ensure the two units matched, and we left her to deliberate on that part...