It was time for our regular visit to Chiswick House, one of our favourite local tasks. The grounds are run as a charity helping to preserve and maintain the historic estate for everyone to enjoy, with volunteers playing a huge part in keeping it safe and welcoming.

We met at the Estates Yard, where we were greeted by Philippa, who manages the volunteers, and Hugo, a handsome spaniel who had appointed himself Head of Operations for the evening.

Hugo wasted no time 'helping'. Within moments he had acquired a pair of gloves and was proudly doing the rounds and leading by example.

Our destination for the evening was appropriately enough the dog play area, where we were soon joined by a healthy contingent of West London's canine community. The task was to shovel and spread wood chip across the area to keep it in good condition.

We got to work raking, shovelling and transporting. It soon transpired that some of us were better protected from the weather than others (see photographic evidence). As the evening progressed, we became steadily wetter yet no less determined. Despite the conditions, the two piles steadily shrank as the play area improved.

In half an hour we were pretty much done and Philippa was impressed with the speed and efficiency of the group. It's amazing what a GoodGym team can achieve when presented with a task and a deadline.

With the task completed and the dog play area looking much refreshed, we headed back to base for stretches and a chance to dry off slightly.

Thanks to everyone who came along and braved the rain. Next up: our mission at Waterman's Park this Saturday

On a blowy Wednesday evening, we ran up to Popesfield Allotments to continue work on a task that Breda, Maxime and Gus had already made a great start on a few weeks back.

The allotments are managed by Cultivate London, an organisation that creates and supports community growing spaces across west London. Their work helps local people access green space, learn gardening skills, improve biodiversity and grow food locally, making sites like Popesfield a valuable resource for the community.

Our mission for the evening was to empty three large compost beds - or at least make some inroads into the huge piles! The compost itself looked rich and healthy, but unfortunately the tenants had been adding plants infected with blight and other contaminated material. That meant the compost couldn't be reused and needed clearing out completely.

The wheelbarrows were, at best, temperamental. At worst, they seemed actively opposed to the task. There were plenty of spills along the way, but we soon established an effective chain, shovelling, barrowing and emptying at a steady pace. Despite the logistical challenges, we managed to shift an impressive amount of material over the course of the session.

The allotments were buzzing with biodiversity with plenty of woodlice and worms, and as we revealed more of the compost's inhabitants a clever robin appeared and wasted no time taking advantage of the freshly turned soil. It boldly hopped around grabbing as many bugs as it possibly could. It seemed entirely unbothered by our presence and happily watched us while enjoying its feast.

With the compost beds looking much less full, we headed off into the evening. Next week we're back at Chiswick House See you then!

Mistakes and miscommunication happen to everyone. Standing in front of Mrs H's house on Saturday afternoon for their final task of the day, Sevan and Kash found themselves ringing the doorbell and calling Mrs H to no avail. Eventually, after 10 minutes, the lady answered Sevan's phone call, tired and surprised to find out that they were waiting at the front door. Mrs H was convinced that the mission was on Sunday and wasn't ready physically or mentally for the task to go ahead the day before. The GoodGymers had no choice but to admit defeat and jog back to Ealing earlier than expected.

Mrs H, although not knowing how the mistake had occurred in the first place, was full of regret about what had happened. She apologised to Sevan, then tried to call GoodGym on Saturday to reschedule the mission, yet no one could have picked up as it was the day off for the Missions team. Then she received a phone call with an offer she could not refuse. Well, she could have! But would you say no to Kash? Although Sevan was already busy on Sunday, Kash did some calculations after returning home from the failed mission, and figured that she could make it to Mrs H on Sunday afternoon, if she took a train from Putney, where she was expecting to finish another mission at 15:30. And that's what she did.

On Sunday, Kash ran 2km from where the train took her, and landed at Mrs H shortly after 16:00. As a single GoodGymer, she managed to cut the grass at the back and the front gardens, then speed-trim the hedge that was obstructing Mrs H's driveway. Mrs H couldn't have known that Kash simply doesn't like accepting defeat, so she was full of awe for the commitment.

"I won't forget it till the rest of my life."

The lady was full of kindness and gratitude and offered Kash a range of things, from tea and biscuits to a lift to the station (which wouldn't take Kash anywhere as the Piccadilly line to Heathrow wasn't running). Kash settled for a tea, then ran back 6.5 km to Ealing. As for Mrs H, she got her garden back. As for Kash, she got her mission. And as for defeat? It only got to enjoy its victory for about 24 hours.

For this time we had quite a team with Sevan, Kash, Maria and Amy joining us from Ealing! Most of use were here early, joining the existing volunteers of Thames 21. They publish these events broadly and as a result, on top of regular, they always have a few new faces as well, one of them who came all the way from... Stratford! We also meet Annie who has been joining the a few of the Eyot missions by herself until now. After a long and detailed briefing, covering the ins and out of Balsam, we depart towards the Eyot, equipped with Thames Mud Proof Wellies. Despite the sunny weather of the past few days the mud is as sticky as usual, since the Thames tide never stop. Getting into the island, we spread thin as each person hunt for Balsam. The bravest ones, such as Sevan, go and open up a new path in the middle of nowehre to hunt for the invasive one. After a couple of hours of slashing, searching and uprooting the team finally disband as some of us need to go to the next task. A nice bounty from this session!

Kash and Sevan were back at Mr R's for some fast flipping. After turning his medical mattress over in September, it was now time to do a back flip and put the original side back on top. Mr R had stripped the bedding off, so 3 minutes after they'd entered, they were wishing Mr R well and running off to their next mission.

On another toasty mission, there were many smaller tasks that Mrs M needed help with in her back garden. Jobs that she used to do herself and more recently couldn't as she was too tired or unsteady on her feet.

First, Mrs M asked for 2 dead plants to be removed from their pots, some daffodils that hadn't flowered this year to be cut back and to trim and tie back and overgrown shrub. These 3 items were quickly completed, so was there anything else to do?

There were 2 roses to dispose of and some weeds and invasive plants to pull out. Again, Kash and Sevan worked through these too. Was there anything else?

"There is one non-gardening job that I need help with"
"Did you see the For Sale sign outside the house?"
"An estate agent put it up early this morning"
"I'm very angry. My house is not for sale" - Mrs M

Sevan grabbed some secateurs and snipped the fake sign's cable ties, wrapping up today's tasks.