It was a fantastic evening last night at the Canal Club Community Garden.

With a brilliantly-sized team, the preparation started early as Paul, Dharmesh and John set about tonight’s big greeting effort. As GoodGymers arrived one by one the hall was filled with the sound of animated GoodGymers catching up after the weekend and welcoming new and not-seen-for-a-while faces. A big warm welcome to Beth, who joined for her first GoodGym!

Tonight’s task owners were the brilliant Sally, accompanied by Dominic, who were both unfazed by the size of tonight’s group.

With one team quickly dispatched to the rear garden to help clear the area around the shed and empty the pool, other teams were tasked with a big garden blitz ahead of the big Open House Festival on September 14th. Heading to the canal side garden, the front wildflower patch, the side borders and the rear of the building, it was 45 minutes of diligent, effective weed plucking and clearing.

Thanks to Sue for brilliant project-management at the front of the centre, who thankfully knows her hollyhocks from her hogweed and so the front patch blitz meant all the right plants remained in tact.

As is the case every week at GoodGym, the time flew. With the last bin bag full of soil, weeds and debris dispatched to the lock-up around the corner, we made our way out to the tree in front of the hall (thanks for the location direction, Emma J ;)) before making our way inside for some of Sally’s spectacular lemon drizzle cake and a cuppa.

With this being my final Monday night as your very lucky Area Activator, we enjoyed a real get together both in the hall and at the pub after. Thank you to our wonderful, wonderful Task Force, Ivo and our regular members for an absolutely cracking night to remember.

Next week, we’re back to the pretty gardens on the Parkview Estate to see what DIY and gardening tasks our Des has in store for us…

Until then.

One by one we arrived at the Canal Club Community Garden on Waterloo Gardens this evening.

The garden and surrounding areas of the community centre has become something of a local hub for growing, relaxing - and getting stuck into outdoor projects.

The centre itself is well-used hub that runs a wide range of local activities from youth projects to gardening and cookery workshops, with the garden being an important part of the centre.

After a quick hello and a look around, task owner Sally briefed us on tonight’s gardening tasks.

Dividing into three teams we made a start clearing the overgrown borders, weeding the paving stones and picking litter.

GoodGymers braved thistles, nettles, bugs and all manner of weeds in tidying up this pretty garden.

Our workout was completed with a few trips carrying full bags of nettles, weeds and soil to the bin lock-up around the corner.

To top it all off, we were treated to homemade lemon drizzle cake, fresh coffee and - for some – a brief dip in the small pool in the cherry tree garden...

Sally was the best task owner and host. What a lovely night.

Next week, we’re Limehouse-bound…

And just in – Rue’s speed session in Victoria Park this Thursday!

Have a good week!

The Canal Club Community Garden at Belmont Wharf is a wild-flower space overlooking the canal. It’s used for food growing, and as a wildlife habitat. Produce and plants are shared with the local community and it’s a place of calm for all to visit.

Unfortunately, weeds have thrived in the paved area at the front of the space, and GoodGym were required to put this to rights. Louise worked with a hoe, Jo with a spade and John tugged out roots with his gloved hands.

After a hard-working hour and a bit, including a sweep of the plant debris, the area looked much much tidier. The GoodGymers headed off for a well-deserved café break, and stayed there for three hours!

The Canal Club Community Garden in Bethnal Green is a food and wild flower growing community garden built by boat dwellers and the local community. A tidy space reduces the potential for anti-social behaviour - which is where GoodGym come in.

An hour's community grafting on a Sunday afternoon proved a popular attraction, with a waiting list for sign-ups. Being tucked away, between a council estate and the canal, the garden is quite hard to find, so we weren't going to "hit the roof" when one participant turned up slightly late. Indeed, the "before and after" pictures (8 and 13) show just how much gardening and litter-picking six people can manage in sixty minutes. Even though those pictures make it look as if Leo did it all by himself.

There was a bonus: the garden offers free pizza to children every Sunday afternoon; the kids get the chance to make their own. The invitation was extended to GoodGym, so we've now added "chef" to our catalogue of skills. And the threatened rain never arrived.

A special welcome to Lucy, all the way from Hammersmith & Fulham, who joined us for her 399th Good Deed after a GoodGym photo-shoot in Mile End Park, having also passionately taken part in our "North of the river" team for Saturday's rounders contest.

The Canal Club Community Garden is a small wildlife community garden, built for food growing and wild flowers and wildlife habitat, on the site of an old timber yard.

The weeds there weren't just poking up between the paving stones, they'd taken over the area. That is until Amber, Beth and John turned up, with sharp spades and an hour's hard graft. By the time they'd finished, the area was virtually clear of unwanted greenery.

This evening we visited the Canal Club Community Garden by Victoria Park and what a hidden gem it is! We were met by Sally and Dominic who put us straight to work weeding a huge paved section outside the main garden. At first glance it was an intimidating area to clear (lots of large weeds which nearly sent us toppling over!), but in full GoodGym fashion we got stuck in. Well done to Isa for taking on a challenging plant on the playground fence! A few passers by commented on our excellent work and while we were clearing Dominic found a surprise pearl in the undergrowth!

By the end of this mission we were thrilled with our work - the area had been transformed in just an hour! We had enough time for Sally to show us the beautiful gardens. On the canal front this was such a treat - full of plants to attract wildlife, a pizza oven, a little 'igloo' and strings of fairy lights. It really is magical. This tidy up was in preparation for their Celebrating Creative Communities event on Saturday which looks wonderful! There will also be live music until 10pm, so do pop along and show your support!

Thank you to TaskForce member Tracey and Area Activator Laura for taking fab photos. Welcome back to Jennifer on her second mission - we hope to see you again soon! And thank you to Becky, Si and Jo for a soggy run home through Victoria Park!

Next up Isabelle is leading a mission on Saturday to St Paul's Church in Shadwell to meet the Tabard Growers and shovel soil - sounds like a great arm work out!