And one by one our little group grew tonight, until there were no fewer than 13 GoodGymers working on the new hazel fence at the pretty St Leonard's Priory Park up in Bromley-By-Bow.

We said hello to first time GoodGym-ers Gurprit, Anton, Anna, and a warm welcome to Tower Hamlets to Anna!

Starting with four teams (one chopping hazel, one weeding, one digging fence-holes and one repairing our less-than-perfect previous hazel fence), it was definitely a case of learning on the job as we pruned, stripped and chopped; weeded and wove, blitzing multiple jobs at one time.

With the team working flexibly, rotating out of one task to another, particularly as time sped on ("Hazel! We need more hazel!"), it was a busy but sociable evening, with the countdown to sunset well and truly on.

A decent workout was had by all, whether digging up weeds or sawing tough branches.

It was after 8 before the team were generously stacking up the kit, and wheeling barrows to the back of the park.

With Kareem providing decent tech assistance, the all-important group pic remained in tact, despite the lack of light.

A great effort, everyone - and a final shout-out to Charlie, who came up with tonight's belter of a pun.

Next week

...we're back to Hollybush Gardens, for our first visit of Autumn with Margaret and Ash.

Until then.

Meeting under the arch at pretty St Leonard’s Priory Park just before 7, the team were all ready for tonight’s fitness session.

We focused on dynamic warm-up moves, single-leg exercises, balance moves and some standing core work, before finishing with plenty of stretches aimed at the upper body after a long day at the desk.

Task owner Larry joined towards the end of the workout, talking Oliver through leaf blower basics before we gathered for tonight’s briefing.

After clearing the path speedily of leaves (Oliver got to grips with the leaf blower in no time) we set about weeding the path, in a straight line (a tougher task than it looked).

Pushing back soil, grass (and worms) without creating an uneven surface was no mean feat. Some skillful techniques were required, including Rohan’s accurate string line and Fiona’s very precise scoring.

Up the path we moved, marveling at what the workout this was. From the isometric squats to the shoveling of wet mud, everything from obliques to delts got a look-in here.

At shortly after 8, we were heading back down the path, tools in-tact, debating tonight’s pun, before posing for that all-important final pun.

Next week, we return to Hollybush Gardens to help Margaret give the Ellsworth Street flower beds a winter makeover.

Until then.

A dry evening saw 8 GoodGymers gathering in the pretty St Leonard’s Priory Park in Bromley-By-Bow.

Kicking the evening off with a short fitness session around the planters, we ensured core was fired up and balance challenged by the time this evening’s task commenced.

Our job tonight was to continue the construction of a small hazel fence around the wilding area.

A pretty, useful area, this patch serves as a great habitat for pollinators, as well as being the home to blackberry brambles and wheat.

The team started at the back of the park cutting branches for the fencing and the fence stakes.

Following the disturbance of what appeared to be a small wasps’ nest, half of the team promptly headed to the wilding area to start the preparation of the stakes.

It was a fun and physical task: team members cut hazel, sawed stakes, dug holes and weaved the fence.

With just ten minutes to go, there was a small area of the fence still to be completed - minus any fencing material... Ivo headed to the far side of the park returning with a good hazel stash, before Larry made the executive decision that a nearby Sycamore tree would provide the final few stakes.

The fence was finished shortly after 8, with the team posing for one final pic by the new fence.

A lovely night in East London, well done everyone.

…And a big warm welcome to Sophie, who joined us for her first GoodGym. Great effort Sophie, look forward to seeing you again soon!

Next week, we’re heading to Wapping, to join the Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park team for a big gardening session!

Until then.

Another beautiful Monday night saw a small-but-dedicated group of GoodGymers heading to the pretty, well-tended gardens of St Leonard's Priory Park this evening.

Starting with some lower body work around the useful vegetable planters, we sped through a short fitness session, concluding with some time-honoured stretches using the beautiful trees as props.

Welcoming the final couple of additions to tonight's group, Larry our task owner proceeded to show us the area we'd be focusing on tonight: the soon-to-be fern glade area. A shaded area of the park, on a previous visit to the park we'd laid the woodchip in this area, but following a damp summer, weeds have grown tall and the woodchip concealed. Working steadily, filling large bags with weeds, we made our way around the area, tackling a variety of weeds, some definitely more stubborn than others.

It was a nice little upper body workout as it turned out (grabbing a weed by the root works the rear delts nicely), not to mention the perfect opportunity for a squat or two.

As 8pm came and went, and the sun proceeded to set, we decided one final blitz of a large tree area would be the perfect end to a productive night.

As we gathered the last fork, and Chris emptied the last weed bag into the compost, we concluded it had been an enjoyable, productive companionable evening.

We return to the Park next month, for some more garden-clearing.

In the meantime, coming up:

• Our new September series of sessions with Bethnal Green Foodbank!

• Pilates in the Park next Wednesday!

Until then.

The Fitness

As we lined up around the vegetable planters for tonight’s workout, slowly our little group grew, until there were no fewer than six GoodGymers performing seated leg lowers, Bulgarian split squats and incline push-ups on the edge of these miniature gardens.

As we completed a few post-workout stretches, our remaining members for tonight’s task appeared, ready to be briefed by Larry, our task owner, on the big task ahead for tonight.

Why were we here?

The St Leonard’s Priory Park is a park in Bow that has been ‘a place of prayer and gardening for 900 years’. The St Leonard’s team garden here every week to continue this legacy. Over the last year, we’ve loved joining Larry from the Bow Church team in this picturesque spot in the middle of a busy, bustling, well-connected area of our Borough.

The park is well supported by the local community: residents attend weekly gardening sessions, monthly feasts and - very soon – the Forest School!

Yep, tonight our task was to head back to the pretty, overgrown area at the back of the park to help clear some tall weeds and bundles of nettles for a new outdoor classroom for the neighbouring primary school.

The Task

The team wasted no time in getting stuck in to the task of clearing a mass of nettles, bindweed and other pesky plants (many of whom had long, well established roots). Spread out into all four corners of the area, they pulled, raked and bagged at a very fast pace.

We saw spiders, snails, plants of many types… (St Leonards Fascinating Fact #13: The park is now home to the Stag Beetle...).

Yes, this area is now Biodiversity Central.

What IS biodiversity?

In a nutshell (forgive the pun), it’s variety. We learned more this evening about the increasing amount of flora and fauna in this space, and the way boosting the ecology of the site helps attract more wildlife (more insects = more food for birds, more pollination of plants…).

Put simply, maintaining biodiversity helps to preserve quality of air, soil and water, so every little really does help.

The final lap

Back to the team: the bags were now getting full; Sree had mown the lawn, and it was after 8…Time to call it a day.

As the last bag was hauled to the side of the tool shed, we stood and marvelled at the before and after site. Posing for one final picture in the area where 4ft nettles had previously stood, we concluded that it was a Monday evening well spent.

We’ll be returning to this lovely spot next month to help clear…yep, the other side!

(…While next week we head to the Royal London to join Nancy and the Barts Volunteers Team for some more hospital tasks).

Until then.

Great to see such a good-sized team in Bromley-By-Bow for this morning’s activity!

Background to today’s activity

The team were here to join Larry at St Leonard’s Priory Park for some tough gardening tasks!

St Leonard's Priory Park is 'a community led project with Bow Church in Bromley-by-Bow. Boasting a 1000 years of history, this area is being revitalised by local people for local people.' With weekly gardening sessions, picnics and coffee mornings, the idea is to create a beautiful, useful, well-used little park in this corner of East London, that will appeal to local residents and visitors of all ages.

Currently the park hosts a gardening group every Saturday from 11-1, and offers community meals. It's also enjoyed by local school projects, and other programmes supporting some of the younger residents in the Bromley-By-Bow area.

After a short warm-up to prepare for the task, complete with a few useful stretches, we headed over to meet Larry for a briefing on today’s activity.

We were helping build and fill the new vegetable planters ready for a new part of this community project.

Dividing into two groups, the team wasted no time filling wheelbarrows full of soil and compost; foraging for branches and logs and preparing layers in the planters.

(There was even a small bit of DIY involved).

Slowly our team grew as the morning went on, and before we knew it, we were no fewer than 13 battling it out to wheel the last barrow of soil over to the beds.

It was active, it was warm, but it was rewarding.

The time seemed to fly by, and it wasn’t long before we were posing for one final picture and saying cheerio to Larry.

A fantastic effort from everyone on a sunny Friday – well done for all you achieved.