Stress is prominent in our society, and now it’s affected the trees! The parched summer we’re suffering is no fun for our barked friends either, who are shedding their leaves before the schools have gone back. They know a thing or two about survival – one of the plane trees on the site is 280 years old – but the leaves are piling up and blocking the paths of St Matthew’s churchyard

So a squad of Goodgymers – some arriving earlier than others – converged on the premises to help Lady Andrea address the situation. A special welcome to new recruit Arina, who’s just joined her boyfriend in London, and was soon converted to GoodGym, after Mile End ParkRun on Saturday

We picked up, swept, gathered and bagged, all while catching up with news of padel and tennis, job hunts, shakshuka, pubs, poetry and property

Within an hour, we’d filled more large bags than I could count (but it was more than twenty-five). Just pity the man from Veolia who comes to empty the medium-sized rubbish bin and is confronted with our leaf-bag mountain. At least he’ll have a nice tidy church garden to look at…

Returning to St Paul's for part two of the Shadwell church's summery refresh, five GGers put in a greyt shift painting the outdoor railings. The black paint was chipping away and Chloe, Kitty, Ilana, John and Sam dedicated two hours of a warm Saturday morning giving it a smart new colour.

The church leaders kindly provided coffee and pastries to keep us fuelled and plenty of conversation, about the outdoor gym classes the church's fitness team provides and their backstories of moving to the area from Germany, the States and other places. Many of them loved hearing about the work we do all around Tower Hamlets and we'll hope they can come along to a task as a GoodGymmer soon!

Earlier in the morning we also dealt with fallen leaves in the church grounds, using a battery-powered leaf blower and a good old fashioned broom.

We met at Old Spike on a hot May evening before heading out for a warm-up. Our route took us through Peckham Rye Park and over to Nunhead Cemetery, where we were welcomed by the volunteer team and set to work litter-picking around the grounds.

The cemetery was especially beautiful at that time of day with the evening light coming through the trees. By the end of the session, we’d collected four bags of litter before heading back to Peckham to round off the evening with sundowner drinks at Frank’s rooftop bar.