I helped the lovely people of the WG Grace Community Centre and Chinbrook Orchard plant an apple tree (variety: Discover) in the square surrounded by some bulbs.

It was raining but quite a few others (old and young) joined in.

There was also Morris dancing, tea and mince pies and other good stuff happening in the community centre.

Ten GoodGymers came to Peter's call when sadly about ten days ago, we received the news that Stompie the tank was taken away from Stompie Gardens for "renovations". This wasn't the only bombshell to drop as Peter explained to Sam that he was asked by the site owner to clear the site, which meant Stompie Gardens would no longer exist...Yet, where would all the plants that they have been planted over the years go?

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End of a chapter, a beginning of a new one

Community spirit is very much alive, especially within GoodGym. Earlier in the week, this task had four people signed up to the task, but come Saturday morning (a few hours before the task) we had booked out the session. Ten hardy GoodGymers including the likes of first-timers: Asad, Jae and Dave coming out for a great cause to save the Stompie plants! GoodGymers from all parts of London (Bromley, Tower Hamlets, Lambeth, Wandsworth and Southwark) descended on a small street corner in Southwark.

Peter and his crew had already done most of the hard work by digging out almost all the plants and keeping their roots intact. As we arrived the majority of the plants were bagged and put on makeshift trolleys and wheelbarrows. We all chose our weapons (trolleys or wheelbarrows) as we dragged and pushed the plants amongst them; banana and bay trees to their new home. Like a freight train, we travelled from Mandela Way across the busy New Kent/Old Kent road roundabout and into Tabard Street as we zig-zagged our way to Kipling Estates. We carefully unloaded the plants side-by-side against a wall in their new garden and headed back with empty trolleys as we had a second round to do.

Upon arriving at Stompie Garden most of the remaining plants had to be bagged up, but there were one or two stubborn plants that didn't want to move homes. Kaz had a talk (and dig) with that spiky fern and sorted it out. 🙃 Whilst Dave and Jae took on a tougher plant. The rest of the team had already loaded the second lot of plants onto the trolley and were heading back to Kipling Estate. This time, we knew the route and it was more efficient. There were one or two times a plant fell (I know, it's emotional for them too), but overall, all plants made it safely to their new breeding grounds. One resident was happy to see these new plants, but slightly unhappy to hear none of the plants were cannabis...you can't please them all! 😂

Finally, we headed back to Stompie Gardens to collect our belongings and say goodbye to Peter, his crew and Stompie Gardens. It's been a pleasure and we can only say - Tanks for the memories! 🙏