After a hiatus in the GGWF routine over Easter we're back for our monthly task! Four happy Goodgymmers were lucky enough to catch a break in the erratic weather on Thursday for long enough to do some serious clearing up at the Toy Library in Walthamstow, where much progress has been made on the adventure playground renovations. Helen had roped in her entire family, plus Mel from the Toy Library, and was absolutely delighted, as ever, to have some Goodgym helpers too. Many hands made light(er) work of filling a big skip with all the dismantled rotten decking we'd cleared from the playground back in March, laying weed-proof matting and gravel, weeding, sweeping and cleaning. The adventure playground is due to open on 30 May, so time is ticking to get it ready for a big future filled with lots of little adventurers! It's going to be a phenomenal addition to the Toy Library's facilities and an exciting new offering for the little ones in our community. Enormous thanks go to Kevin from Greenwich and Chloe from Tower Hamlets who came all the way to Waltham Forest to help us out, and Lily gets the prize for true dedication, using her early evening work break to come and join in! Well done everyone - the energy was high and Helen was enormously thankful for our help!

Last night brought us to Plumstead, some of us running by the river, others walking and meeting us at the location for our glamorous task of litter picking a particularly grotty spot. Good deeds definitely earned for this one! Thankfully the rain held off and we busily collected a whopping 28 bags of bottles, wrappers, and oddly some hair? It's surely Incredibles what 11 commited GoodGymers can achieve in a short space of time - great work everyone.

A huge welcome back to Kevin, who has already smashed FOUR tasks since joining last week 👏 and big cheers to Hope on your second GGG group run, great to have you with us again!

This weekend we've got lots going on:

Saturday 16th

• Flyering for MumsAid at Peninsula Parkrun: https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/distribute-flyers-for-mumsaid-at-greenwich-peninsula-parkrun

• Gardening at Oxleas Woods: https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/gardening-at-oxleas-woods

• Cleaning up at the pet cemetery: https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/clean-up-at-the-old-blue-cross-pet-cemetery-e6d263c5-2c11-43fa-8e77-c9efd3ea628d

Sunday 17th

• Helping at the Charlton plant sale: https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/helping-at-the-cabahs-plant-sale-e6216869-db5c-4f0f-870d-836747fe587f

• Gardening at Hervey road: https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/gardening-at-hervey-road-community-garden

Next week

Tuesday

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/moving-furniture-and-cleaning-at-the-wsup

Wednesday

Sweeping at Morden College and social 🍻: https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/sweeping-by-morden-college-and-social

Until next time!

Rachel

A welcome return to visit Sybil and the team at The Emmanuel Parish Church this evening, after what had felt like quite a long winter break - even the evening sun made a welcome appearance after our run across from Freaks and Geeks started under forbidding skies and passing rain showers.

It was also a very warm welcome to Kevin on his first mission in Newham. Regulars Hilary, Brad, Graham, and Nick made up the rest of tonight's gang.

Of course Sybil had much planned for us to do, and so with tools, gloves, bags, Iris plants and compost at the ready we were tasked with weeding a border bed at the far end of the Church garden, as well as removing Ivy from the wooden fence, and then preparing and planting the Irises and laying compost across the top surface. With much helpful assistance from other volunteers from the Church group we were soon down on our knees removing all the unwanted greenery from the bed and fencing, before trying to turn the soil in preparation for the planting. Helpfully a hose was at hand to make the soil a little more compliant, and with trowels in hand it was a case of dig and plant at roughly even spacing, followed by a thick layer of compost to feed the plants.

Before we knew it, the time was upon us to pack up, and as we walked back into the Church hall with tools in hand, the team produced plates of sandwiches and fruit to "replenish our energy" - always welcome after a hard day of bordering. Hilary led us on a chatting speed run back to Freaks and Geeks, where we decided to have an impromptu social in the pub to celebrate another successful Tuesday evening of weeding and planting.

We look forward to seeing these latest plants flourish in the garden, and we'll be back again in early July to do a closer inspection!

A large group of Goodgymers gathered to help Ken at the Cemetery Park. Our mission: To remove cow parsley to make way for more biodiversity.

We set to work, eagerly pulling up the roots. Some of us with more ease than others! We moved methodically from one patch to the next and it was satisfying to see the impact we made in such a short space of time. See the photos!

Among the greenery lurked some goosegrass, very familiar to us from a previous task, so we also pulled up this sticky weed as we went.

Shout out to Jade for her first Goodgym mission and to Kevin for his first Tower Hamlets mission. Thanks for your hard work and dedication to the cause! And well done everyone for a great evening's work!