This month's social gardening club saw Sam and Future Leader Rasheed team up for the first time. The front garden outside No.19, which is the old residence of the former boss of St Margarets House, was being desperately overrun with wisteria so we got to work with shears, trying to remove the vine's roots wherever possible.

The next St Margarets House social gardening club is on Wednesday 21st October 4-7pm, hope to see you there!

REPORT BY NAZIFA

St Matthew’s Gardens had certainly accumulated its fair share of leaves, so it was time for the GoodGym crew to get involved! 🍂

The task was mainly focused on clearing leaves from around the garden and churchyard, with a little bit of litter picking thrown in too. There were* A LOT* of leaves to tackle, but everyone got stuck in. We picked, swept, gathered and bagged them up, with plenty of bags being filled along the way

I made sure everyone had bags to collect the leaves in, and it was great seeing everyone working together to clear the paths and tidy up the area. There was definitely no shortage of leaves, but we managed to make a good dent in them!

It was also my first time leading a GoodGym session, so I was really happy with how everything went. As Emma would say, I can’t “be-leaf”it was my first one!

A big thank you to everyone who came along and helped out. It was a really good experience for my first time leading, and I think we all did a great job

Willow did not join me to mow MsS’s lawn, though I think she would have enjoyed exploring the garden and snuggling up with MsS. Alas, I didn’t have gloves with me and couldn’t get to work pulling impressive dandelions at mid thigh height which would have been too much for MsS’s trusty mowing machine. Instead, we sat at the kitchen table and I learnt quite a lot about the history of this little pocket of Tower Hamlets. We enjoyed a friendly chat, but most importantly we agreed that this task will need to be put up again. No need for mowers, definite need for gloves.

This week's big Monday night task took us to St Peter's Church and it was light work for the group of 14! We welcomed new joiner Emmanuel and wished Anna a happy birthday 🎂

The first half of the session involved a sweep of fallen leaves, a quick litter pick and removing misplaced large stones from the flower beds. With sunset falling at around 7.30pm, our attentions turned to installing a network of garden lights, planting stakes into the ground at well triangulated distances apart. The switch-on moment proved a satisfying end to the evening.

Two seasoned GoodGymers, John and Emma, were joined by Rachel and Mick (Emma's parents) down from Dudley to tackle a variety of jobs on the Usk Street Allotments wildlife plot!

The awesome foursome got stuck into tidying borders, pruning trees and clearing away dead vegetation and debris. A particular focus for the mother-and-daughter duo was removing the brambles and bindweed that had started to choke some of the apple and elderberry trees, helping to give the plants space to thrive and ensuring the wildlife area can continue to flourish. Meanwhile, Laurel and Hardy (aka John and Mick) got stuck in at the front of the plot to remove dead flowers and tidy the compost and bark chip around the rose bushes to give the space a welcoming border.

Amongst the piles of twigs and cuttings, we also uncovered an old bug hotel which had seen better days. Rather than leaving it hidden away, we found a suitable spot and hung it up again, ready to provide shelter for insects once more! A robin even visited us to say hello and see what treats we might have uncovered.

Catherine, the wildlife plot lead, thanked us immensely for our work in helping with the upkeep of the plot. After a productive morning in the fresh air and September sun, we rounded things off with a well-earned cup of coffee and a chat. A lovely way to spend a Saturday morning while helping both the allotment and local wildlife 🌿☕️🐝

We were back at Ocean Youth Connexions to support Kamal for another session, helping keep the site in tip-top shape.

First on arrival, John, Sam, Kareem and first timer, Ken were set straight to work litter picking in the yard and clearing leaves. Meanwhile, Darren and I tackled the front of the building, pruning what we identified as a milkflower cotoneaster shrub, as well as clearing leaves and picking up litter.

A little later,Emma, Arina and Louise joined us. Louise deserves special credit for navigating a heroic bus journey to get there! They headed upstairs to clean and soap the doors, with Emma declaring it was “the most I've ever enjoyed cleaning doors!”

As summer fades, we couldn't help notice the darkness creeping in earlier than usual.It won't be long before the head torches make their seasonal return.

A special mention goes to Sam, John and Darren, who all took part in the Big Half on Sunday and still turned out to volunteer.

Finally, a big welcome to Ken on his first GoodGym task. We hope to see you again soon!