Across the balcony from each flat on the Parkview Estate is a planter, visible to anyone walking through the estate. Many of the planters contain colourful flowers, giving the estate a much brighter look and countering the graffiti and litter to be found in some areas. But some of the planters are full of nothing but dry earth, a few twigs, and maybe a weed or two.Which is where GoodGym come in

We met in the community garden, a familiar place to us by now, except for Sam, who still got there eventually. “Have you seen Sam?” asked Emma”. Yes, he’s walking up behind you” I replied. Soon we were loaded with buckets of soil, a wheelbarrow (which we somehow took up in the lift), filled watering cans, and those all-important geraniums

Local knowledge was provided by Seb, a resident of the estate, as well as task owner Catherine, a long-time friend of GoodGym who also provided a cheat-key to enable us to get into the block

Some residents already had one or two plants opposite their front door, so we asked them if they minded us filling the gaps with a couple of geraniums. However, one resident who said “yes”, was unsure what “the missus” would think when she returned

Eventually, we’d flowered the whole of the Sidney House block. But there are other Parkview blocks which would appreciate the same treatment, so put a date in your diary for 13th June and sign up for our next visit at https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/parkview-free-plant-giveaway-538b5ba6-27b0-4fcd-97c1-317997cbd35a

It might have been a Bank Holiday, but it was still a Monday, so GoodGym Tower Hamlets were in action, albeit rather earlier in the day than usual.

We returned again to the gardens around Glasshouse Community Centre, where as usual Catherine had lots for us to do, ably assisted by her ever-keen son Liam.

Long-term GoodGymers Eilidh, Heather, Johnny and John were joined by relative newcomers Vlad, Lobo, Grit, Oliver (doing his second Good Deed and he’s already tried two areas!) and Isobel, on her first ever task before cycling down to Blackheath. Welcome Isobel!

Johnny worked hard even though he was still recovering from a five-hour Tough Mudder which his family had "kindly" bought him as a present.

Several tasks were undertaken. Nearly a hundred geranium, verbana and tomato plants were potted, weeds were removed from flowerbeds and new vegetation introduced, while wheelbarrows of soil were wheeled around the estate before depositing their load onto the beds.

Meanwhile we also trimmed the flower baskets on the glasshouse itself, which used to be looked after by a resident who’s now left the estate. And we saved the life of a huge worm!

We were away before lunchtime, but we’ll be back soon to help with much-needed summer watering, Watch this space!

Two tasks; two fantastic teams.

We gathered by the lock-up at Mile End Park's Art Pavilion just after 7 to meet John, one of the best task owners in town.

The brief? To dig over two planters on The Mound and clean the pond.

It sounded like a pleasant way to pass an hour on a sunny Monday evening, but 90 minutes in, boy, were we glad we skipped the gym.

John headed up Team Pond who, armed with pond nets and rakes, headed over to the pond behind the Pavilion to clear it of weed and all other debris. Wet, mucky and laborious: this was not for the faint hearted.

Meanwhile Team Tulip, headed by Jo, made their way up to the large planters on top of The Mound. "Just a little dig over, and then pop them in," John had breezily said of the last of these Spring bulbs. Well. With fewer forks that we would have liked, not to mention the solid terrain​, this was a workout-and-a-half. We called for reinforcements from the Pond Posse and the team worked solidly for 70 minutes, getting the grass shifted, the soil turned, and the bulbs planted

At 8:33, the last remaining GoodGymers, Grit and Rohan, were glimpsed accompanying John to return the tools along Clinton. Way to go, folks.

A brilliant evening all round, and a special shout-out to our Dave, who tonight hit his 100th good deed. Great to see you, Dave; hope to see you soon :)

Next week, it's Bank Holiday Monday, so Our Big Task falls on a Saturday, when we'll be heading to Tower Hamlets Cemetary Park to commence Operation Cow Parsley. You snooze, you lose.

Until then