On 29th July 1981, Charles, Prince of Wales married Lady Diana Spencer. As the country gears up for another momentous marriage, one could be forgiven for thinking that the last time a weed was plucked from the garden of George Mason Lodge was when Prince Harry's mum got hitched.

Happily, this did not deter fifteen intrepid GoodGymers who arrived at Mirth, Marvel and Maud in search of adventure and cake on a chilly evening in May. After a chorus of Happy Birthday to Raymon 'Kingfisher' Umunna, we welcomed Carmen and Amarjit to their first tasks at Waltham Forest and set off on a 2-mile run to our destination.

While the old folks inside beavered away on their big day bunting making, our hardy crew got cracking to restore this stunning tree-shrouded garden to its former glory.

Terrifying triffid-like nettles were torn from the earth at a furious rate. Bag after bag was filled with fallen weeds.

At one point we had to send out for more bags after we filled everything we were given. It was a sight to behold and a truly magnificent effort from all who were there.

After a quick photocall, it was back on the road and back to base for some stretching and refreshments in MM&M. Huge thanks go to Lizzie for bringing along the Lemon Drizzle cake to celebrate Ramon's birthday. Great ~baking~ buying skills, Lizzie :)

Next week, Return To George Mason Lodge.

On a balmy May evening, nine runners shrugged off the hurly-burly of the urban environment and headed to the peace and tranquillity of Walthamstow Marshes. Our task was to clear this stunning site of special scientific interest of litter that was blotting the beautiful landscape. Despite the heat and the challenging distance of over 3.5 km we managed a brisk pace and enjoyed a very peaceful and pretty route thanks to the navigation from and pacing skills of Ercole, our multi-marathon-man.

Along with our fantastic regulars Clara, Jennie, Ercole, Ramon and Pippa it was great to welcome Swabbi back to the group after a few weeks away and of course Lizzie, Kirsty and Alex who are on a bit of a GoodGym roll themselves. While I'm name-checking, I want to give a double thumbs up to Pippa (10km PB) and Clara (first lady at Wanstead Parkrun) - Girl Power! Fantastic running ladies:)

Anyhoo, back to the task at hand, it was nice to see that our designated marsh was not overly covered in litter. Nevertheless, the group set to work with brisk and cheerful readiness and probably cleared the site of every bit of litter therein. We filled several bags, no doubt bringing cheer to the hearts of the grass snakes, small mammals and ground-nesting birds that dwell there.

After a bit of horse whispering and packing away we wasted no time in hitting the road for the 3.5 km run back to base for a cool down stretch and a cool down drink, for some.

See you all next week for our jaunt to a local care home for some green fingered gardening - don't miss out as rumour has it that there may be some lemon drizzle cake knocking about for Ramon's birthday!

One could be forgiven for thinking that divine intervention caused the rainclouds to give way to a fine spring evening this Wednesday as a dozen GoodGymers headed out to St Mary's Churchyard in Walthamstow Village. The run to the task tonight was shorter than last week's Odyssey, but it was uphill all the way. Thankfully, there was plenty of energy left for the task which everyone set to with a zeal that would have made Alan Titchmarsh proud.

Thanks in part to recruiting sergeants Kevin and Alex, we welcome three new members to tonight's group run: Jane, Elizabeth and Kirsty all made a big impact on their first run. Well done guys it was great to have you along.

The church's campanologists struck up a soundtrack as we set up the all-important wood-chipper and the crew started moving (heaven and) earth, creating sawdust and piling logs. With one wonky wheelbarrow but an abundance of grit and determination meant enough stuff to create a small island was dugout and relocated to a compost heap.

After packing away our tools, we then headed back to base with a hardcore group taking a long-cut before we all reconvened for a much-needed cool-down session.

Excellent work everyone, hope to see you for our jaunt to Leyton Marsh next week for another task that will make the world a more beautiful place to be.