Five Goodgymers gathered at a BRAND NEW task at Globe Town Community Garden in Bethnal Green.

The group met at the Camel pub (home to previous TH Socials) where John and Aine rushed in a few minutes late after post parkrun breakfast. Task Leader George was there to meet us with Rob who’s a good gym member but also actively involved in the garden and was the link between our groups. Roshan and Asad were also waiting patiently for their tardy task force to arrive.

We walked over to the garden where we were met by Lubna and got started with a lovely cup of mint team to warm up while George talked us through the history of the garden and also the planned tasks for the day. The group split roughly in two: - Asad and Roshan tackled the carpentry work in fixing up some of the plant beds under the direction of George - John, Aine and Rob worked through ploughing, fertilising and planting in the existing beds.

We all worked happily in the sun for several hours planting potatoes (shocking to no-one that the Irish gal volunteered for that role!), carrots, rocket, coriander and pruning the green beans. The carpenters worked hard and fixed up beds for even more planting in the future.

Aine even stabbed a go at fixing the strimmer after a few failed attempts from the rest of the group.

After another quick coffee break and cracking open the hob non biscuits we parted ways with the promise we would return in the future.

A special welcome to Roshan - hopefully its the first of many good gym tasks for you!

Warm weather, warm welcome

It was a warm night as we gathered outside our lovely hotel base to welcome new runners, talk through tonight's task and welcome Dani, the new GG trainer for Derby!

After a couple of dynamic stretches, we headed straight out to our task, via a recce of the planters we were going to be tending to on Roman Road. Expertly navigated by Bryon and Chris, and formidably back-marked by Katherine, we made excellent time to our first planter, which set the tone for the evening: we whizzed up Roman Road, identifying which planters needed the most work; those that just needed just a lick of varnish, and areas that were in desperate need of a bit of litter-picking.

And then we arrived at the Fire Station, to be greeted by three of the warmest welcomes from the phenomenal Globe Town Community Gardeners, Joseph, Marco and Jess, who were brilliantly prepped with everything from wire brushes to a scooter (on which to shuttle varnish between planters).

Productive planter work

Two minutes of efficient briefing and we were dispatched: teams of 4 and 5 ran up Roman Road to their designated planters to start blitzing cobwebs, uprooting unsightly weeds, ditching Coke tins and glossing panels.

It was quite a sight to look down Roman Road and see a sea of red t-shirts dotted along this busy street, earnestly at work. Shop vendors came out to film; residents and local businesses came over to thank, and pedestrians smiled. We were appreciated last night. Of course, that's not the driving force for any GoodGymer ever, but it is so much appreciated and very much adds to a sense of community and positivity on the night.

Timings were adhered to and the work was complete by the 10 minute countdown. Last to finish were the painters working on the London Buddhist Centre planter who insisted on finishing the last panel (quite right - "GoodGymer's prerogative").

And so we gathered for outros and pics - and water. Courtesy of the Bethnal Green Fire Station crew (thank you very much - you made our night!).

What a brilliant time, all down to fabulous GoodGymers and our truly, truly terrific task owners tonight - powerhouses of efficiency, smiles and appreciation. We'd love to join you again soon!

Single leg burpees in the sun

So we still had time to run some of our fitness session as planned (with a last minute bit of mileage for our recce, I wasn't sure if we were going to have time for our scheduled workout). Cut a bit short, the runners still managed single-leg burpees, monkey push ups, eccentric lunges and a speedy lap of the Museum Gardens. Way to go. And in 30 degrees.

Monday night shout-out's

Bundles of appreciation for lots of runners tonight.

Thanks to Katherine for brilliant backmarking (and an additional thank you to Katherine, from us all, who attended the Shindig at the weekend, and will be briefing us further soon).

To Bryon and Chris for expertly, instinctively leading the crew to our first planter; and to Dani and Sam for being so hands-on and doing so much, while learning on the job.

And I feel compelled to give a mighty shout-out this week to Polly and Si who opted to take the task of jumping into a couple of tree planters and blitzing the worst litter (in terms of volume and material matter) we have ever seen.

To finish, a HUGE GG welcome to our first time runners, Caoimhe and Jill - well done for a fabulous first run, and we hope you'll come back very, very soon.

Don't miss more fun this Saturday!

On Saturday, we're doing it all again! It's the Tower Hamlets Summer Planting Party, complete with: two tasks, some running and Pilates, and a picnic and the pub.

Come for as little or as much as you fancy - this is YOUR day. Details and sign up can be found here.

And next week, we're back to Weavers Adventure Playground for our first visit of the year! Details and sign up are here.