What a start to the week.

There we were in picturesque, spacious Meath Gardens, with the blue, blue sky; the refreshing breeze and the best company in town.

Tonight's team of 15 was a cheerful one. We took great delight in welcoming Leona​ to her first training session; said hello to familiar faces, some of whom had joined from the 6pm task at Hollybush Gardens.

And then the work began.

We whizzed through 50 minutes of:

• Laps and running drills, ranging from hip mobility to knee strike; hamstring-activators and stride lengths.
• Standing core work, focusing on recruiting those deep abdominals, glutes, and balance skills.
• Floor work focusing on abs; rotator cuff muscles, glutes - and more core stability.
• The greyhound-and-hare game, helping to tick those speedwork boxes.
• Much-needed stretching.

And then that, as they say, was a wrap.

We dispersed promptly, into the setting sun, bidding one another farewell, and looking forward to next week. So, until then!

If you have any questions, queries about tonight's session - or if you're new and thinking of joining - just drop our Area Activator Laura a line, at laura@goodgym.org. We'd love to see you at a Monday night session soon!

On time, on target

Well, it started well. 15 t-shirt-clad GoodGym runners met by the Mystical Fitness Tree in heavenly Meath Gardens at 7:15pm.

We said our hello's, and greeted members we hadn't seen for a while as we moved through our first few stretches.

Some dynamic stretches and easy laps were followed by a few running drills (it's all about the hip drive, you know) and some standing core exercises.

The team were then treated to an intense few minutes of bootcamp-esque sprints and squats, with depth, duration and repetition all used to intensify this lower body extravaganza.

After more running drills, we then moved them swiftly onto the obligatory greyhound and hare speed game, more Christmas tree shuttle runs before some final stretches. And our short photo moment for the evening.

Three cheers

It was an amazing effort. I feel very proud of our team tonight, many of whom have not undertaken a structured workout for a while, who welcomed one another so warmly, and then powered through 60 tough Monday night movement minutes.

It's official: you're still amazing.

Until next week.

It was an early start at the St Matthews church in Bethnal Green which was for the last year the welcoming home of the Bethnal Green food bank. It's been a bustling year for the food bank but they were on the move to new premises near Victoria Park, and GoodGym were on hand to help with loading vans full of produce for the big moving day.

We gathered at 8.30 with Emma and Susie especially prompt and we were shortly joined by Hannah and Danielle. Everything was nicely laid out for us and we began by packing up the shelving and then various crates of tins, pasta/rice and toiletries. Before long the first van was dispatched to drop off the initial load at the destination.

In the hiatus before the van returned we set about optimising the layout to ensure we were as efficient as possible for the next loading up, but once that was done we had an opportunity to chat and heard from Jemima and Heather all about the food bank. They explained how it was serving roughly 800 people per week, and how they are very open in that they don't need a referral so anyone can show up and benefit from free essentials so they are providing a most invaluable service.

As we were chatting Becky showed up having ran/swum there ready for a power hour of hard working. Then shortly before the van returned Aziz also arrived and we were back into action again loading it up in double quick time.

I had to leave after 90 minutes but I trust the team managed to ultimately pack up what remained into subsequent van trips ready to be re-housed in the new premises at Raine's School.

Some really great work done by the team, in a very efficient, safe and friendly manner!

What a turnout. What a safe, productive, industrious, dedicated, companionable turnout.

A big sized team headed to the huge warehouse in Poplar today to be allocated many types of stocktacking tasks by project co-ordinator Richard:

Writes Becky

“A great crew of people dropping in and out today! Our task was sorting and organising with abandon.

Richard presented us with multiple crates of miscellaneous donations for logging, passing on/reusing… There was sports equipment aplenty (in the morning I think a lot of hard work was undertaken separating basketballs from footballs…), as well as bundles of craft items and lots of stationary.

Crate by crate we unpacked and reassembled in more crates: yep, crates of paints, crates of pencils... You get the picture. And we found all sorts of interesting goodies - a spikey pink ball and the coup de grace: an elf on the shelf.”

Nick​ agrees:

“Yep, another fun filled, busy day down at the warehouse where Richard had us stocktaking a wide array of donations (yoga mats, balls – lots, in all sizes - books by the hundreds; wool, embroidery items and knitting needles; games and jigsaws…), caging items up and, where necessary, wrapping in industrial cling film to prevent them escaping.

Provided you came wearing sufficient layers, to take account of the somewhat chilly conditions inside the warehouse today, it was another enjoyable (and, we hope, productive) day in deepest Poplar.”

What a team. A big, big thank you to everyone who took part in this fabulous Community Mission, and especially to Becky and Nick for writing the report and taking pics, and to Charlotte and Jacqui for their pics too.

And a huge warm welcome to Edmund and Kezia who both enjoyed their first GG session today. Come back soon!

Crisis Community Missions return next week: there are drop-in sessions on both Thursday and Friday, 21/1 and 22/2, if you fancy getting involved.