It was a fantastic evening last night at the Canal Club Community Garden.

With a brilliantly-sized team, the preparation started early as Paul, Dharmesh and John set about tonight’s big greeting effort. As GoodGymers arrived one by one the hall was filled with the sound of animated GoodGymers catching up after the weekend and welcoming new and not-seen-for-a-while faces. A big warm welcome to Beth, who joined for her first GoodGym!

Tonight’s task owners were the brilliant Sally, accompanied by Dominic, who were both unfazed by the size of tonight’s group.

With one team quickly dispatched to the rear garden to help clear the area around the shed and empty the pool, other teams were tasked with a big garden blitz ahead of the big Open House Festival on September 14th. Heading to the canal side garden, the front wildflower patch, the side borders and the rear of the building, it was 45 minutes of diligent, effective weed plucking and clearing.

Thanks to Sue for brilliant project-management at the front of the centre, who thankfully knows her hollyhocks from her hogweed and so the front patch blitz meant all the right plants remained in tact.

As is the case every week at GoodGym, the time flew. With the last bin bag full of soil, weeds and debris dispatched to the lock-up around the corner, we made our way out to the tree in front of the hall (thanks for the location direction, Emma J ;)) before making our way inside for some of Sally’s spectacular lemon drizzle cake and a cuppa.

With this being my final Monday night as your very lucky Area Activator, we enjoyed a real get together both in the hall and at the pub after. Thank you to our wonderful, wonderful Task Force, Ivo and our regular members for an absolutely cracking night to remember.

Next week, we’re back to the pretty gardens on the Parkview Estate to see what DIY and gardening tasks our Des has in store for us…

Until then.

On a humid Monday evening in Limehouse, 12 GoodGymers gathered at the Tower Hamlets Community Transport Hub, the base of Ocean Youth Connexions, to help continue to give this site a well-needed refresh.

Despite the heavy air and the threat of rain, spirits were high as we split into several smaller teams.

One team took on the painting of the metal shutters at the front of the hub.

Two leaf-clearing teams tackled the concrete yard and bus park. Bag after bag of leaves were swept, scooped and carried away to the collection area at the back of the yard.

(Removing leaves from these hard-surfaced areas isn’t just cosmetic — they can become slippery when wet and clog drains if left to build up, leading to puddles and flooding).

A third team took on the weeds sprouting from the corners and cracks of the yard. (This not only helps to improve the appearance of the area, it also helps to prevent further damage to the paving and brickwork).

By 8pm, with the final weeds uprooted and the yard swept clear we headed inside - just as well as the first drops of overdue rain began to fall.

We gathered by a large step ladder for a quick pic before heading out one by one onto Newell Street: some on foot, some on bike (and maybe one or two on the bus).

Next week we’re back with Janet and Eileen for the August garden clear-up at the Cranbrook Community Centre.

Until then.

A small but dedicated group of GoodGymers headed to the base of Ocean Youth Connexions in Limehouse this evening.

The Centre is taking shape nicely, with rooms being cleared and painted, toilets given a coat of paint and the yard spruced up.

Oliver and Sam were first to head outside. Armed with paint trays, rollers and overalls they made their way to the dark green container to complete a whopping two coats.

Meanwhile first time GoodGymer Liv headed upstairs with Justin to blitz the toilets in a speedy bathroom-painting double bill.

Charlie headed out to the shutters to start cleaning them for the next big paint job in August.

Ruby cleared the yard of leaves, twigs, soil and bits of litter before bagging and binning the lot.

It was another productive evening with GoodGymers working at an exceptionally fast pace.

At shortly after 8, paint trays were scraped, bins filled, dirty water emptied and pics posed for.

Another lovely night in Limehouse.

As I was leaving I asked Kamal how he managed to get the place looking so good in a relatively short space of time: "GoodGym", he replied, "It's the GoodGymers."

Until next time.