Mr M had been living in his flat in Shepherd's Bush for sixty years, but the last year had been very different. Since he lost his wife, life had become lonely, and there was no one to look after the big back garden quite as well as Mrs M did.

"She was good with those things," Mr M said to the two volunteers who visited him on a Sunday afternoon, looking at an overgrown climbing plant.

The older gentleman asked Sevan and Kash to trim the plant, which Sevan identified as wisteria. Mr M was also hoping the two would have time to tidy up the area around a small wooden box by the fence. The mysterious box, now empty, was supposed to be home to Mr M's friend, who had lived in the garden for 54 years! Kash couldn't quite believe that the companion really existed, but the garden was vast and full of hideaways, so the GoodGymers agreed to watch where they stepped.

Sevan volunteered to take care of the wisteria, which he was able to tackle without using a step ladder. Kash joined him, but only until Mr M mentioned his strimmer.

"My daughter messed it up," he confessed.

Defunct strimmer? Kash is your woman!

"Let's have a look!" Kash said.

She quickly turned the tool around and discovered it was missing a spool. Sevan joined the investigation and found a new strimmer line in the shed, but not the mechanism needed to attach it. Then Mr M appeared with the missing spool, which still had plenty of line on it.

"Good news! The strimmer is working now," Kash announced triumphantly, having plugged in and tested the tool.

Mr M was delighted to hear that. The grass didn't need strimming at the moment, though, so Kash bagged some of the wisteria cuttings before venturing to the back of the garden in search of weeds to eliminate. By then, Sevan was making good progress with the trimming and no longer needed any help.

At the back, Kash encountered the Big Bad Bramble. Before chopping it down, the GoodGymers enjoyed their modest share of sweet blackberries. Kash began cutting the bramble stems, but suddenly paused.

"Sevan, he's here!"

Clearing the bramble revealed the shape of an ancient creature, half the size of a rugby ball and encased in a hard, brown shell. The volunteers looked at the tortoise with awe, full of respect for this individual who had been slowly walking the Earth for much longer than they had!

Kash gently cut away the rest of the Big Bad Bramble, careful not to drop any cuttings on the tortoise, which wouldn't have been nice even though he wore solid protection on his back. The expression on the reptile's face hinted at slight disapproval, as if he were upset about losing his shady hiding spot.

While bagging the thorny brambles, Kash devised a cunning scheme to wrap them in the bindweed she was pulling from the ground at the same time. Meanwhile, Sevan cut back a few self-seeded sycamores and embarked on a bonus task of trimming an overgrown rose bush, far too tall to be considered easy to maintain.

Ninety minutes flew by, and five black bags were soon filled with cuttings. Mr M praised the volunteers for their good work, then said he could do with some rest, so it was the perfect time for Sevan and Kash to wrap up and walk to another mission in Shepherd's Bush that day.

After Steph came a few weeks ago to tidy up Mr M's garden, 2 more GoodGymers were dispatched to tidy up the side passage and the main section of Mr M's back garden. Mr M was well known to Kash and Sevan as they had been working on his garden for the last 4 years.

Kash knew where Mr M's gardening equipment was stored and how best to use is, so she put together a plan. It was too dry to dig out any weeds, so first the plan was to pull out all of the tall weeds and bindweed, then use Mr M's highly effective mower to cut everything down to ground level. The pair ripped as many weeds out as they could before Kash moved onto mowing.

Sevan headed for the side passage to pull out more weeds. Weeds growing out of the drains. Weeds growing out of the neighbouring wall. Weeds growing out of Mr M's building. They were well established and Sevan thought that they were bigger and stronger than they were last year. It was detail oriented work, trying to move quickly and at the same time, be through.

While Sevan was crouched down pulling roots from paving, Kash made a surprising discovery. A key that looked like it was for a door lock. Kash asked if it was Mr M's and it wasn't. Mr M considered throwing it away so that he didn't have to worry about it, then he changed his mind and put it on his table. It would be something to ponder over later.

Kash and Sevan wrapped up leaving Mr M much happier with the appearance of his garden for now. The grass and weeds will be back in a few months, so there'll be another chance to catch up with Mr M later in the year.

Daria and Gus joined forces with the H&F foodbank again.

Stackung trays, unloading the van, slicing bread and making individual pastry bags (the best part!).

40min and it was all done. Another efficient one!

Until next time!

Back at the Tiny Forest for Earthwatch tonight and wow — the weeds had gone full jungle mode. Some of them were nearly 5ft tall after just a month! 🌿 That sun has really been doing its thing.

The focus was gardening, but the ground was super dry so every weed put up a fight. We got in there and did our best to clear what we could, but it was tough going. The soil needs some love and water for sure.

We didn’t get it all, but we made a start. This Tiny Forest definitely needs a bit more work next time to get it back on track.

Big well done to everyone who came out and battled the heat and the weeds. Small forest, big effort! 💪

First visit to OXFAM Fulham tonight and what a lovely, super-organised shop! 😍 We were welcomed in and got straight to work on the floors.

Matthew and I teamed up as the Floor Dream Team 💪🧹. I took the hoover round to get all the dust and fluff, while Matthew went in with the mop to tackle the scuff marks. By the end the whole shop was gleaming — you could practically see your reflection in it!

It was also great to meet Sarah, the shop manager. She showed us how they sort and organise all the donations, and it was really impressive to see the system behind the scenes. Makes you appreciate every item on the rails even more.

Well done to everyone who came! Thanks to OXFAM Fulham for having us for our first time — we’ll definitely be back.

Until next run 🙌

Chop was the word of the day. Arriving at location i initially wonder if we're talking about a front or back garden. It's a front garden with completely overgrown trees. The request is simple: chopping everything in sight to allow Mrs A to maintain a small garden. After clearing out the entrance I'm faced with a challenge: it takes time to put everything in trash bags! Mrs A takes an executive decision: today I'll focus on chopping and bagging will be a later day job by her or someone else. Given that i double down, creating a massive pile of branches! It's then time to go, a bit more work to be done later.