GoodGymers arrived from all parts of Bethnal Green and Mile End. And not just from there. Nia came all the way from India, partly to do the task, but also because she was greatly missing our lovely January weather. Mile-End-Emma arrived from Australia, quite recently, and new-boy Gabe (welcome Gabe) claims to live outside Tower Hamlets altogether, over there in The City. Even though nobody lives in The City. And we all arrived bang on time - except for the usual tardy suspects, of course...

Nia, Lobo, Gabe and Bethnal-Green-Emma, were using their artistic talent to paint chairs (Bethnal) green, as well as varnishing a table and chair. Lucinda and Mile-End-Emma were filling gaps in a brick wall, doing a great job (according to Mile-End-Emma). Several miles away, at the other end of the estate, Ilana, Ciarán and Bethnal-Green-Emma were restoring a graffiti-covered wall. Closer to home, Rohan and I practised for our future potential careers as dentists pulling teeth, as we yanked nails from planks of wood, using the back ends of hammers

All this vigorous work was our best bulwark against the cold. But January isn’t over yet - there’s still a special Tuesday task at Ocean Youth tonight, then Saturday lunchtime at Rocky Park, and the usual Felix Project tasks the same day. Be there or be somewhere else!

We had a lovely day out in the sun in Ms A's back garden today. Kevin, a former professional gardener was the man with the plan. Myself and him got to work on uprooting the many tree stumps in the garden while Ilana took on the prickly task of putting part of the large pile of thorns and branches into garden bags so they can be removed. Several stumps later and with 3 full garden bags Ms A treated us to some lovely coffee and biscuits to top off the mission. Some return visits will definitely be necessary.

Had a nice afternoon at Mr D's. I started by cutting down a bamboo type tree at Mr D's request and spent the rest of the mission just bagging up the piles of cuttings which I presume had been left by previous volunteers. Lots of these were thorns so I was bagging them while trying to avoid snagging myself. There is still more work to done, namely cutting down another bamboo type tree, bagging up one of the piles I didn't have time to tackle and collecting some of the ubbish lying around the garden. Mr D is very happy with what's been done so far.