Shopping for Mr K, this time featuring a bottle of bleach

We had a brilliant GoodGym session last night – big welcome to Ariane on her very first run with us. Great to have you on board, and we hope it’s the first of many!

It was a short but sweet run in the summer heat, taking us back to a local church and community centre for another round of clearing, weeding, shifting and digging.

On arrival, we were greeted by an unconcerned rat 🐀 While I may have been a little perturbed, everyone else barely blinked – too small for an fuss apparently!

The jobs for the evening included tackling two big weedy areas, which were soon transformed thanks to some serious elbow grease. On the paths we had to do some weeding and digging before laying down a weed membrane to help keep things clear. The evening's power move was shifting a very heavy filing cabinet down the stairs – big kudos to Steph and Kash for a successful manouevre 💪

In just 45 minutes the place looked so much tidier and Carol, the the task owner said what we did would have taken her weeks so well done team! 👏

We ran back to Turnham Green where we wrapped things up with a take on a relay: while one person ran, the others kept moving with various exercises – squats, planks, you name it. There was no time for a breather!

We finished with some well-earned stretches covered in dry grass. Join Ariane again for her first community mission this Saturday – it’s going to be a beautiful day on Chiswick eyot where there is plenty of balsam bashing to do and the fight against the mitten crabs continues!

Thanks to the photographers for the photos last night - it's a bumper week of pics!

Mr A needed his old fridge to be removed to make way for a new one, so Luis and JP were on hand to help.

It was a sunny Sunday morning as we met Mr A at his door. He showed us the fridge and we quickly realised we would need to clear a path through the rest of the flat to make way for it.

We measured the fridge and went through the flat checking doorways and gaps between furniture. Satisfied we could navigate a path, we unplugged and pulled out the fridge and set off.

Fortunately, the fridge had small wheels so the going was quite straightforward. It got a bit trickier once we were outside the flat as we had to negotiate uneven tarmac and gravel, but eventually we made it to our destination, the waste area behind the front wall of the complex.

All in all, it was a satisfying task and Mr A was very grateful for our help.

Shopping for Mr K, including a bottle of Flash liquid

Luis arrived first at the allotments and was met by one of the summer show organisers. Initially concerned that it may just be one volunteer, Luis assured them that more help was on its way.

He was soon joined by me and then Suze, after sorting some bike issues.

Our task today was to weed and clear two areas around the site ready for the summer event.

It was a baking hot morning so we quickly weeded where the sun was hottest and took shelter under the canopy, to weed another area in part shade. We got through litres of water and two bags of weeds before tackling the final job; moving a large planter.

Not thinking to check what might be underneath we successfully moved the planter and in the process my feet and legs were attacked by flying ants.

A quick scramble to get them off and we were done. The allotment gang were happy with our work and we cycled off to get cold showers.

Phew – it was a warm one last night as we returned to the beautiful Chiswick House for another impactful GoodGym session!

This time, our task took us to the dog playground, where a massive pile of mulch was waiting for us. And as well as being huge it was also quite compacted,which added to the hard work. But we weren’t phased. Especially as our aim was to make the dogs of Chiswick as happy as possible with a freshly mulched play area.

Armed with barrows, rakes and enthusiasm, we set to work. The pile soon turned out to be no match for our big team. We raked, shifted, scooped, and (squeakily) wheeled mulch across the playground. Several dogs passed by mid-task, offering us an approving wag – the highest form of praise, obviously.

With the job wrapped up in no time, we relocated to a lovely grassy spot nearby for a bit of strength and conditioning - and a much needed cool down. We worked all the major muscle groups and tested our mettle with various planks. After returning the tools, we jogged back to base for a good stretch and a debrief.

Coming up: We’ve got a mission this Saturday at Chiswick Allotments in the sun.Sign up here to keep the good deeds flowing!

ps Did we mention it was hot?