It was a bright evening along the Greenway as the GoodGym crew headed out to the orchard for a session that turned out to be equal parts gardening, community engagement, and bramble‑based acrobatics.

The orchard team had set us loose on a particularly tangled patch, and the brambles did not intend to go quietly. There were vines looping through branches, weaving into fences, and generally behaving like they’d signed a long‑term tenancy agreement. But the group got stuck in with enthusiasm — and only occasionally got stuck on the brambles. We also had a steady stream of curious passers‑by stopping to ask what we were up to. Several people showed real interest in the Orchard as well as GoodGym and idea of combining fitness with community action. If even a couple of them sign up, that orchard might have more helping hands very soon.

A special shout‑out goes to our visiting GoodGymer, Catherine from Cambridge — it was brilliant having you with us, and we’d love to welcome you back any time you’re in town.

Meanwhile, Adam took on one bramble root system with the determination of someone reenacting an epic battle scene. At one point it wasn't clear whether the root or the gardening fork was going to give way first. But victory was eventually claimed, and the root was defeated with honour.

By the end of the session, the orchard was looking clearer, the brambles were significantly less smug, and the team left with that satisfying post‑task glow that only comes from doing good together. Nice sunset too.

Tonight was group run meets community mission with Graham leading a small group from the Aquatic Center while the rest of us made our way from home.

Tonight we has been asked to remove and unsafe fence for one of the allotment community,taking things apart is always fun and we had some extra helping hands from a couple of the other allotment tenants.

This is a wonderful little community and as our friend Sybil from Emmanuel Church also has a plot here she made sure after task refreshments arrived for us.

Sunday we are having a party to celebrate our 11th Birthday

Ten of us assembled tonight for a return to Care4Calais East London, this time to help them move out of their storage space. Over the winter and spring we’ve got to know this place well — a jumble of coats, shoes, sleeping bags and other essentials that make their way to refugees and asylum seekers in need.

True to form, the evening began with the classic Care4Calais conundrum: what exactly are we meant to be doing? A couple of detective-like phone calls to long-standing volunteer Andy gave us a few clues, with some further reliance on instinct and common sense. Before long we were stacking, bagging, and squeezing items into boxes and bags ready for them to be loaded into a van and shipped elsewhere.

By the end, the place looked pretty different — something closer to neat piles than to chaos and I'm confident we’ve saved Care4Calais' volunteers a whole lot of time and effort in our short stint there.

Massive congratulations to Chris for hitting the 50 good deed milestone (well actually 51 now... and thanks for bringing the sweet treats!)

Next week, we're off to Hackney Marshes Adventure Playground and can't wait to see what Ange has lined up for us.

Three years ago we had a community mission to construct a donated metal shed at The Up Garden.

Over the years the shed has required some repairs and developed a leaking roof, but after a fund raising campaign they have enough money for a new shed so how could we turn down the request to demolish the shed.

Catherine met us at the Garden, asked us to move the last few items in the shed and to remove the guttering as it will be reused.

Hammers in hand we set to working on demolishing the shed,an ideal task after a stressful day at work for Kevin and for Chris to celebrate his 50th GoodGym task

Once the shed was down and taken apart we piled the pieces ready for collection by the local council.

A wonderful morning walk learning about indigenous and non trees in the local area alongside a litter pick.

Fun times with fun folks :O)