Winter has truly arrived. How do we know? Well there are the leaves, the GoodGym tasks in the dark, but mainly: the return of Anna’s signature sleeping-bag coat, ready for many months of constant service

She was soon joining forces with Tom (once he’d found us), Lobo and Mile End Emma, carefully sifting earth from holes in the concrete ground, in the style of the BBC’s ‘Time Team’. After rehousing several worms, they replaced the earth with new concrete, freshly mixed by Lucinda, who was adding another skill to her cv

Elsewhere Ilana, newly-Eastern Emma and Kevin were using paint to bring new life to some sad-looking chairs. By the time they’d finished, the chairs were transformed, two of them a pleasing shade of green and another now bright light blue

At the other side of the estate, Josh, our new signing from Liverpool, climbed ladders with Chris, Rohan and Ryan to work on a large tree, trimming numerous thinner twigs and then many thicker branches, using loppers and saws, to prevent any pedestrian-tree confrontations, while carefully preventing any debris landing on a car parked under the tree. Four wheelbarrows were groaning under the weight of our detritus, and two huge white bags were considerably over-filled

No-one seemed keen to leave, and we stood nattering for some time before deciding we really ought to get going, or we’d miss next week’s trip to Cranbrook. See you there: https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/the-big-monday-night-task-november-garden-clearing-challenge-at-cranbrook-community-centre

After three weeks of tackling this wild garden, Kevin, llana and Kareem finally finished! Each session ran for almost two hours and felt like we were on an adventure. The place looked like it hasn't been tended for a very long time and was completely overgrown full of brambles, trash and loads of thorns (had our fair share of scratches along the way)

We even found animal carcasses hidden in there (not the kind of treasure we were hoping for). The highlight was a neighbour's cat who watched us like a tiny supervisor making sure we didn’t slack off.

By the end we cleared everything up and piled all the cuttings in one corner for the council to collect. We also fixed up the fence and did a bit of woodworking. Kevin came prepared with the right tools and some spare wood!

It was hard work but super satisfying to see the transformation. Now Ms A actually has a garden she can enjoy instead of a mini jungle. A great team effort all around and mission accomplished!

“We’ll give it a go, and we’ll get a lot done, but we won’t clear all of it” was my opinion. The task was to dig out a deep, wide load of soil from a planter - which got firmer and firmer, the deeper we got - and shovel it into large bags and wheelbarrows

Others were more optimistic, and I should have dug deep into my memory to remember the many times we’d achieved such an objective in the past. And it was the whole team who dug deep into our physical resources to complete the task – including demolishing and disposing of the planter - with fully ten minutes to spare!

Star of the task was Tom, who’s speedy shovelling of huge amounts of soil had to be seen to be believed. But everyone was on top digging form – and a similar exercise was going on the other side of Rocky Park

The good news is that friends-of-GoodGym Margaret and Ash have somehow raised enough money to build the last of their new community garden beds, with improved accessibility. So we’ll be back in December to help them with that!

Meanwhile, join us on Sunday at 10:30 to help our old friends Catherine and Liam, at the allotments just off Roman Road: https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/improving-allotments-near-roman-road-2c26b74e-d164-411a-946b-406aeb52aebd

And next Monday night we’re back at the Parkview Estate: https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/the-big-monday-night-task-painting-and-gardening-on-the-parkview-estate-be901ab4-f1c1-495c-9758-1ba4ddd819cd

GoodGym returned to Ms A’s garden for round two — a follow-up to our earlier mission to reclaim the space from a thick tangle of brambles and vines.

With gloves on and sleeves down, we got to work clearing the last of the thorny overgrowth that had taken over the 105-square-metre garden. Bit by bit, the remaining thickets gave way to open ground, making the space feel lighter and more manageable.

By the end, all the brambles were gone, leaving just a few piles of leaves for our final visit. One more session and Ms A’s garden will be fully clear, safe, and ready to enjoy again.