A chilly evening saw a team of 15 enthusiastic GoodGymers in the James Middleton Garden to help with the creation of a new ecology pond.

This addition to the community garden will provide a rich habitat for local wildlife (including a dedicated Frog Hotel and a Bug Hotel). Enhancing biodiversity in an already flourishing green area, the pond is set to become a thriving ecosystem for amphibians, insects, and other small creatures.

We were joining Margaret and Ash from the Teesdale and Hollybush TRA tonight, who do a great job improving and enhancing the Estate’s gardens.

The main task for the evening involved digging out an irrigation area close to the new pond. Good drainage is crucial, ensuring excess water is effectively managed during heavy rain and preventing oversaturation of the surrounding soil.

Most of the team headed to this area, putting their spades to work and making swift progress, while a smaller team transported the excavated soil to a designated corner of the garden.

Another group was dispatched to the far end of the site to re-home a sizeable pile of woodchip, spreading it around the planters. (This layer of mulch helps to retain moisture, suppress weeds, and enrich the soil).

And guess what? The time flew!

It was nearly 7:50 when we started to gather tools and pose for the final pics.

The team then rallied together to return the wheelbarrows and tools to the Rocky Park toolshed.

Another satisfying evening in East London.

Until next time.

11 Goodgymers arrived on this Funday Sunday task to help the Hoxton Trust with their compost area.

After a great introduction from Eslam we split up into smaller groups to tackle different areas of the composting process.

One group started turning compost and moving it into a specific area in the garden. Whilst the other starting filling the Jute Sacks, layering them like a lasagne with different ingredidents including Coffee Chaffs and twiggs.

It was great to see everyone getting stuck in, and having a go at the big wheelbarrow push over the compost hill! The garden has very little capacity so amazing to see such a big turn out to help them.

Welcome Hayder and Zharina to their first good deed! And well done Lobo and Rue for their second good deed of the day taking part in the weekly London Fields Park Run.

And well done to those that joined the social run, adding KMs to the January Challenge 🏃‍♀️