On their walk between the second and third mission of the day in Hounslow, Sevan and Kash heard loud Bollywood beats and instantly got sidetracked to check what was going on. The sports field just off the High Street was full of stalls and people with faces covered in vividly coloured powder. It was the Holi festival, celebrating the arrival of spring and the triumph of good over evil!

The spring was on - the GoodGymers witnessed it when running through the roads with blossoming trees. The triumph of good was due to come with their final good deed of the day. The mission was for Ms I, who had requested moving a settee and a bed. Little did Sevan and Kash know that, in practice, the lady wanted to tidy up behind two pieces of furniture - that's why she needed help shifting things around.

The GoodGymers entered a flat, which Ms I described as congested. There was one-way traffic in most passages between the things Ms I had accumulated by accepting items that her friends had been bringing her after she moved in, frequent trips to charity shops, and buying goods like toothpaste in bulk when on offer.

To move the sofa, Sevan and Kash first had to clear the pile of things leaning against the settee. Moving boxes of medicines and supplements, craft materials, magazines and carrier bags resulted in bags of items sorted by category and even one sack of recycling and one of rubbish. The GoodGymers also recovered a futuristic-looking Dyson hoover, which Ms I hardly used since she bought it - maybe because it was not easily accessible?

It was a bargain: £10 in a charity shop. But then I had to hire a taxi to get it home, which wasn't as much of a bargain anymore!" - Ms I.

To ensure the value for money, the hoover had to be in operation, but first needed to be rearranged - like a Transformer - into something that could suck dirt and dust from narrow spaces. Thanks to teamwork, the trio worked out how to make the contraption work for them. While Sevan, who cleverly took his glasses with him on a mission, was helping Ms I read the expiry dates on the medicines, Kash, who left her specs at home (typical), was making the space behind the sofa spotless.

When the GoodGymers had just a few minutes left, Ms I requested a similar operation to be performed in the bedroom, behind the bed. Sevan and Kash speed-tidied the space and were ready for their 6.5 km run back to Ealing. What a GoodGymer wouldn't do when the triumphs of good over evil and hoover over dust are at stake?

Kash and Sevan returned to Miss S for the second weekend in a row and and found that Miss S had returned from hospital. She greeted them and asked for work to continue in the back garden or, as she called it, the secret garden. As Kash and Sevan headed out to find the tools in the storage, Miss S told them to have fun.

The usual selection of tools was in the usual place, with a new addition. The strimmer now had a charged battery. Kash strimmed the grass and weeds while Sevan lopped away the brambles under the tree. They had fun, except for every 90 seconds, when a plane passed overhead. Miss S' house is right under the Heathrow flight path.

"Which area are you going to strim?" - Sevan
"[Drowned out]" - Kash
"I CAN'T HEAR YOU"
"WAIT" - Sevan
...
"This part by the fence" - Kash

Despite the delights of the regular interruptions, they managed to co-ordinate what they were doing well enough to clear the half of the garden nearest the house. Once they'd finished, they found that there may be a path and definitely was a mini-pond, which were both hidden before. The even more secret part of the secret garden (the bit at the back) stayed unexplored and was left for the next mission goers to discover.

As Kash and Sevan left, they showed Miss S photos of what they'd achieved, which she was very pleased with. She spoke about the plans for the back garden and also trimming the cherry tree in the front, which is a whole other adventure.

On the first day of March 2026, Sevan and Kash ran 6.5km through Blondin Park, Boston Manor Park and Isleworth streets adorned with cherry blossoms to Hounslow for a day full of missions for older people.

Their first beneficiary, Mr J, had been trying to jump through the hoops to fix his curtain rail and washing machine pipe, but to no avail. The activities requiring him to tinker with a screwdriver above his head or crouching low down only made him dizzy. Fortunately, GoodGymers were there to help.

The loose curtain rail had recently dropped onto Mr J's bed, the curtain was detached, and some of the hoops went missing. Sevan and Kash found most of the hoops on or behind the bed and tightened the metal loops connecting them to the curtain. Next, they threaded the hoops onto the rail, which they later screwed into the wall fixtures. One job done.

Mr J was already delighted, seeing that the window could be covered again. Sevan and Kash then asked him about another job Mission Control had mentioned to them. The gentleman led the GoodGymers outside and showed them another thing detached from where it should have been: a washing machine pipe.

The pair quickly unscrewed slightly rusty screws, now holding only the broken pieces of plastic to the house wall, and replaced the damaged fixings with the new loops Mr J had bought. Another job done - all in just above thirty-something minutes. The GoodGymers said their goodbyes to the grateful Mr J and headed to their second task of the day: gardening, just when the drizzle started to intensify.

Shopping for Mr K, this time featuring a 4-pack of beans and the drama of a lost Nectar card (replacement on its way!)

This week’s task took us back to a very familiar place: the home of the Comboni Sisters in Chiswick. It was a bittersweet visit, as the sisters are preparing to move to Birmingham due to the rising cost of staying in their current property. After many years of helping them with gardening, lifting, sorting and everything in between, this was our final task with them — so we were determined to make it count.

Loft Carpets: The Great Descent We kicked things off in the loft, where a fair collection of carpets awaited their journey downstairs.

Jalal, Ariane and Luis were stationed up top, sending the carpets down one by one — some surprisingly heavy! The rest of the team formed a chain below to carry them safely down the multiple flights of stairs. A great bit of teamwork and a proper GoodGym-style warm-up, whether we wanted it or not!

Once the carpets were sorted, we moved outside for some garden TLC.

Jalal took charge of the lawnmower and gave the grass a much-needed cut. The rest of the team focused on weeding and tidying up the borders.

The garden is fairly large, so although we didn’t manage to finish everything, we made a big difference. With a bit of winter sun breaking through, we hope the sisters can enjoy a brighter, tidier space in their final weeks here.

It felt meaningful — and a little emotional — knowing this was our last visit. The sisters have always welcomed us so warmly, and it’s been a privilege to support them over the years. We wish them all the very best in their new chapter in Birmingham.

Great work tonight, team. A strong turnout and an even stronger show of effort and generosity. Done and indeed dusted!! Exactly what GoodGym is all about.

On Sunday afternoon, Sevan and Kash ran 8 km from Ealing to a familiar location in Hounslow. In the morning, they had packed rain jackets, although sunglasses would have been more useful, as the sun was generous enough to show its face in the second part of the day.

The GoodGymers were visiting Miss S, for whom they had battled brambles at least twice in the past. Sadly, they wouldn’t see the lady this time, as she had been taken to the hospital. The mission was still going ahead, as Miss S’s friend had left the garden gate unlocked and provided instructions on how to find the tools.

When Sevan and Kash entered the backyard and first located the outdoor loo (critical to finding the tool store), another friend of Miss S opened the door of the beneficiary's house. The look on her face was saying: “Why on earth are you breaking into a privy?” The loo-glars explained the situation and found out that this friend of Miss S had only just arrived back home and had no clue about the arrangements with GoodGym. Sevan and Kash must have looked trustworthy, as they quickly gained the friend’s trust and access to the garden. Not only that - the friend offered them access to the house, but they politely refused, as they had everything they needed in the garden.

The two knew the drill, so they spent the next 90 minutes chopping brambles, lopping overgrown tree branches, and squeezing everything into the poor garden waste bin. Kash had no mercy for the trimmings and eventually jumped into the bin to compress everything - and that method, once again, has proved super effective.

After the mission, the garden looked much more under control. Hopefully, that was one less thing off Miss S’s plate while she was recovering in the hospital. The GoodGymers were pleased that it was still bright and dry outside when they finished the task. So pleased indeed that Kash decided to walk 6 km back home and make the most of the sunlight. She told the story of the loo heist to her voice recorder while walking - what you’ve just read is its transcript.