8 of us met in the shadows of Mile End Art Pavilion - a nice flat surface if you ever want to practise riding a bike. Also, a convenient meeting point for a night of litter picking. Shout out to Dan for leading a run from the Town Hall hotel. No doubt more runners will join him in future weeks!

People arrived in dribs and drabs and were kitted out with pickers, bin bags and gloves (all kindly provided to us by Kamal of Ocean Youth Connexions). What a legend. Before we got to the task at hand, we first addressed the question we all wanted to ask each other, but hadn't until now dared to ask: What is your favourite sandwich? Answers included salf beef, cheese and pickle, and coronation chicken. Some loved cheese, others hated it. The latter were asked to leave the task immediately. Only joking, all cheese views welcome. One (John) refused to answer the question entirely, not being a fan of sandwiches (too much bread). Fair enough, though I would argue it's all about the ratio of filling to bread, which can always be increased. Sandwich discussion complete, we got to work seeking out litter in the park (well, most of us did. My contribution was helpfully instructing John to place rubbish in, surprise surprise, a bin bag).

We focused on the Art park which is sandwiched (...) between Canary Wharf and Victoria Park, sometimes venturing towards the towpath. The hour passed swiftly and we ended our clean up at the top of the big hill, the lights of the city twinkling behind us. At that point, it seemed appropriate to undertake some experimental photography, under the guidance of Gabe (teaching some of us how to use the Long Exposure button on our phones for the first time). Then commenced, what onlookers may have mistaken for interpretative dancing, attempts by Darrenand Gabe to write the GG logo with the light of their head torches. Great effort by all (and some impromptu direction by Emma . You can judge the quality of the results yourselves...

Amongst the sandwich chat, and photo shoot, we did in fact fill a few big bags with rubbish. I believe Anna and Gurprit achieved the greatest rubbish haul (results not verifiable as I was not paying that much attention). It was an enjoyable evening spent in good company.

We had a great group of 16 runners gathering at Hollybush tonight, braving a very chilly (but thankfully dry!) evening to take on a truly mulch-needed mission, shifting a massive new delivery of mulch and transforming the space in record time 🌿❄️

It was lovely to see a mix of familiar faces alongside some new ones, including Justin, who joined us for his very first GoodGym task, a huge welcome to you!

Meeting on site, we quickly broke out the tools and got straight to work. Our task was to spread the fresh mulch across James Middleton Community Garden, giving the beds a smart new layer to protect the soil and prep everything for future planting. At the same time, some of the previously laid mulch had broken down beautifully and was ready to be dug up and reused in the planting areas, a great example of garden recycling in action 🌱♻️

With Margaret and Michael expertly leading the charge, we soon formed a slick production line, shovelling, barrowing, spreading, and smoothing. Despite the cold, everyone kept moving as the mulch piles steadily disappeared and the garden visibly transformed before our eyes.

In just 45 minutes, what had looked like a huge job was completely turned around. The beds were freshly covered, the planting areas prepped, and the whole garden space was looking smarter, tidier, and ready for the next stage of growing.

We wrapped up with our new group photo method: everyone forming a circle, bending over and facing the camera on the ground while someone captured it in .5 mode, (Thank you to Emma for the idea) resulting in a wonderfully ridiculous (and very GoodGym) moment to end the session on

All in all, a brilliant evening of teamwork, community support, and a seriously mulchtastic transformation, huge thanks to everyone who came along and made such a difference despite the chilly temperatures!

If darkness hadn't quite fallen by the time we arrived at Sivill House, it was certainly teetering over the edge. There was some illumination from the estate lights, and people brought head torches, but our main concern was the effect of the gloomy conditions on those all-important task photos!

Task owner and GoodGymer Ed directed us to a very large pile of woodchip which had been donated to Columbia TRA. It was happily sitting in the car park, but it really needed to be in the gardens, the other side of the estate. It didn’t look too large a pile, until we realised how far back it went…

Still, we had five wheelbarrows, plenty of shovels and bags, and most importantly a 17-strong squad of GoodGymers. It felt like a real workout as we persuaded the reluctant woodchip to separate from the security of its pile, to a new life – mulching! This technique suppresses weeds, conserves soil moisture, insulates plant roots and improves soil health and fertility. Yes, we’ve enabled all those things!

A special welcome to newcomers Angelique and Ryan, who really threw themselves into the task. Hope to see you back soon! And thanks to Fiona who took some good photos after all!

Despite the darkness, the night was still young as we headed off, with a suggestion that one of the task owners had invited us to the pub. We didn’t know where we were supposed to go, so after wandering around for a bit, four of us headed for the Royal Oak to congratulate ourselves on all our good work