A still, crisp, Monday night saw a great-sized group of GoodGymers gathering at the Cranbrook Community Centre tonight to help clear a big build-up of leaves.

(Leaves collecting - and staying - on the ground isn’t great for the soil. The leaves also make their way into the centre continuously at this time of year, creating an endless sweeping task for the centre’s regular users).

With the annual AGM taking place tonight, it was a question of us gathering equipment, donning gloves, dividing bin bags and getting on with it.

With teams spread out over all four corners of the little garden, the GoodGymers wasted no time in raking, bagging and binning most of the leaves.

When the AGM finished, Janet headed out to inspect the garden, delighted at what she found.

With our task completed shortly before 8, we headed out to the Mace Street wall to finish with a little bit of flexibility work to get the week off to a splendid start.

As we strolled down the street, the team concluded that The Angel and Crown would be a good bet for this evening’s post-task pint. A cracking end to a lovely evening.

Until next time.

Writes John,

"Once you’ve been to Tower Hamlets GoodGym, you never really leave. Danya and Chris both reappeared after some time pursuing other interests, and even recently-unwell Fiona made an appearance, looking dazzling (or was it her reflective cycle jacket?).

Lucinda, Tom and Ilana, all newbies this year, soon became regular attenders, while stalwarts Martin and Rohan can always be depended on.

Meanwhile, Oliver forgot to mention that he recently completed FIFTY good deeds in little more than a year.

Well done Oliver!

The task at Cranbrook Community Centre, Bethnal Green, was a familiar one: removing leaves and dirt which had gathered between the big fence and the little fence. We split into several teams; some were equipped with cutters to trim back the leaves which were overshadowing public areas. I helped sweep up the resulting debris.

Laura had to dash off to one of her other numerous activities, and somehow we managed to wrap things up and take the final picture without her guidance.

And of course we’ll be back next week - and also on Thursday!.

Finally, look out for news of a November social. (It’ll be in November)".

A team of three headed from the Town Hall Hotel to the Cranbrook Community Centre this evening, running the leafier route of Sewardstone Road. On arrival at the Centre we became four as we spend the final few minutes before our task on a couple of body weight moves and plenty of stretches.

We started our task at 7-prompt.

It’s been a while since we visited Janet and Eileen at this well-used Centre and after a strong start to summer for both hedge growth and Community Centre parties, our little team were soon put to work.

Making our way along the pavement railings, we chopped hedges and shrubs back so that they no longer posted a health and safety issue, before heading around to the back garden to rescue discarded toys from over the fence. Add in a litter-pick and a bit of fencing TLC, and it was quite the varied task.

As 8pm approached the heavens opened.

With the finishing touches to the hedge makeover complete, the team scurried underneath the Centre roof, waiting patiently for me to miscount choppers and loppers.

A lovely evening’s task – well done everyone. And a great big GoodGym shout-out to Carol for her spectacular first Monday night task.

Next week, we head to the Royal London Hospital, to tackle many large weeds in front of A&E.

Until then.

A small, committed group of GoodGymers headed to the Cranbrook Community Centre this evening.

A great little run

One by one we met at Bethnal Green’s lovely Town Hall Hotel. Pleasantly surprised four of our six sign-ups were joining for tonight’s run, it was a thoroughly enjoyable, easy run down Sewardstone Road, adjacent to Victoria Park.

Our early arrival on the Cranbrook Estate meant we could squeeze in a couple of additional moves on the planters (yep, the obligatory Bulgarian split squats and seated leg lowers).

Joined shortly by our sixth and final member for tonight, task owner Janet proceeded to walk us around to the back of the Centre to show us our first couple of tasks for the night.

What happened to the Wendy house?

First up, was returning toy cars and the Wendy house to the back of the Centre, following a flurry of parties.

Having assessed the damage to the Wendy house roof (it doubles up as a trampoline apparently), we proceeded to lay the roof back gently down onto the house, and park police bikes, sports cars and tractors, before heading over to the first leaf-and-litter stash at the back of the garden.

Pausing only to pose for the first few pics (I say pause, it was more like an additional task, waiting for my camera to flash), the team proceeded to plough their way through the small list of tasks in their usual speedy fashion.

Leaves and litter

Moving around to the front of the garden to join Eileen, it was bin bags at the ready for another great leaf-pick. Grabbing leaves and litter, we filled another few bags, excited to find a whole new leaf stash piled up just as we were ready to call it a night.

As the last of the bags were squeezed into the bins, and we packed away gloves and rakes, we concluded that although we were a small group and the task simple, we’d made a difference, and enjoyed another night together, and another fun night with Janet and Eileen.

Shout-outs

• Shout-outs to the whole team tonight, for a cracking night at Cranbrook.

• …And to Emma for tonight’s pun, and to Lobo for his pun!

(FYI: Tonight’s Pun Shortlist

• Emma: It’s bin way too long

• Lobo: Toying in the cold, a saucy kipper tale (we enjoyed an extensive discussion about the fantastic local fish bar, The Saucy Kipper, at tonight’s task).

• Laura: Have you got what it rakes?)

Yep, a thoroughly fun February night.

Next week, we need a big team, as it’s our February visit to the Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park.

Read more and sign-up here.

Until then.

A bitterly cold January evening didn't deter 11 GoodGymers from putting in an appearance at our favourite Cranbrook Community Centre this evening.

...But first the run

Back to the Town Hall Hotel, for our first run of 2024, where we received a warm welcome (in every way) from the fabulous team. Catching up on the weekend's news, making new introductions and estimating the number of head torches we'd need tonight, the time flew.

We departed in two small teams, both boosting today's step count. We soon warmed up on our running route, taking in picturesque Sewardstone Road, and heading down Bonner Street. On arrival at the Community Centre, we received another warm welcome from Janet, one of our longest standing task owners.

Tonight's task

Tonight's job was to clear the garden of leaves.

Background

Janet does an amazing job of overseeing the Community Centre along with Eileen, but after a late leaf fall, the leaf backlog is vast and a few pairs of GoodGym hands came in handy this evening (too big-a-leaf backlog and it's not good for the ground, not to mention the hundreds of leaves that make their way into the hall).

We spread out into more small teams all over the garden. No sooner was one pile finished, we embarked on another. And when there was a leaf scarcity, the team headed to local litter hotspots.

It was an industrious evening, fuelled by good conversation and Eileen's Dairy Milk gift.

As the last bin liner was emptied, and Emma checked the temperature, we concluded zero degrees was a good temperature to be heading home. After posing for that final pic in front of the Community Centre, and finalising the details of next week's big Group Run with Thames21 we headed into the night, some on foot, some on bike, all set for another week.

Until next time.

12 lovely GoodGymers gathered at Cranbrook Community Garden last night to help clear a big backlog of leaves.

It’s been a while since we joined Janet and Eileen at this busy community centre, and the team needed a hand with the following tasks:

• Clearing leaves and older plants from the borders of the community centre garden, and all around the garden.

• Collecting - and disposing of - branches in the large bin, and the main rubbish areas.

• Trimming the hedges

There was a lot to get done, but the GoodGymers worked so fast, Janet and Eileen were nonethless having to continually find new areas for us to focus on.

By the time we finished up our tasks, returned equipment and debated the best way to spend the final 10 minutes, it was time to run back to the Hotel.

It was a lovely night – great to see faces old and new, squeeze in a little mileage and give Janet and Eileen a helping hand before the busy festive season kicks in.

And a great big shout-out tonight to Ivo, who led the run from the Town Hall Hotel to the task.

Next week, we head to the lovely St Leonard’s Priory Park in Bromley-By-Bow to see Larry for some more garden-clearing.

Until then.