This evening we headed over Richmond Green and across the bridge into East Twickenham to visit St Christopher's Fellowship. We know the garden very well and there is always a lot to do to tidy things up but even more so after all that rain followed by sun, the garden had grown a lot since our last visit!

We welcomed Debs from Richmond Council who got stuck in with Liz, Adam and Suze working to clear the vegetable patches of some very abundant weeds! Debs went to town on a stubborn Pyracantha but that one may require a second chapter!

JP and Chris did a lovely job hedge trimming while Jenna, Lucy, Nina and Monika cleared up the lovely drive at the front of the building.

A busy and energetic evening for all with the compost heap swelling by the end!

A big shout-out to Monika who completed a mega 50km hiking challenge yesterday and to Lucy who is running the London Marathon this weekend and Adam who is walking the virtual version. ⚡

It has been a while since we headed to St Christopher's in East Twickenham, but we know the place well! Their amazing huge garden and front drive look very grand but need frequent maintenance to prevent weeds and plants taking over, making it look unkempt and making stairs and patios risky to walk on. Between the lot of us we swept up, scrapped moss, cut back bushes, weeded and put the waste in the compost for a good hour. There is always more to do there but it does feel satisfying to see things tidied up.

The task owner was very grateful for our efforts and we felt pretty good about them too!

Three GGers were thrilled to be given indoor tasks at St Christopher’s on this rather damp and breezy Saturday morning.

First up, sanding down a large table to prepare it for a nice pre-Christmas revarnish. Next, we cleared items out from an old storage room and helped move a desk in to create a private consultation and counselling space.

Finally, we tested our Tetris skills finding space for some donated crockery in the kitchen cupboards. Bodies and brains well flexed, we shipped out to our various other weekend activities including birthday cake, hibernation, and yet more tidying.

Looking forward to our next visit already!

On our latest visit to this children's home in St Margarets, GG was tasked with giving the large rear garden a bit of attention. Firstly, Sam, Steph and the returning James were joined on Richmond Green by Chris and Anita for a couple of laps followed by a run across the lock bridge to the task, where we met Honor, Adam and JP. St Christopher's had no specific gardening job they needed doing so we used our wit and Anita's expertise to find improvements to make to their lovely green space.

Tasks included removing the bindweed convolvulus from a number of plants and shrubs, cutting away brambles and reordering the shed. It was a fine summery evening for keeping fit and doing good!

The heat may have been huge, but the desire to GoodGym on a Monday eve is bigger!

Starting with a warm up in Richmond, we headed across the green and down to the river to run across the lock and back along the river on the north bank into East Twickenham, turning in to St Christopher's Fellowship.

We are very familiar with the garden there and get on with weeding, litter picking, cutting back and sorting out without needing instruction! The brambles had been weaving their way around everything and weeds were clearly loving the heavy rain followed by sunshine, until we turned up!

45 minutes later the large garden felt more under control again, even if our own temperatures were not so much!

We are back there next month to keep on top of the summer growth.

A chatty run along a very quiet riverside this evening as we welcomed Zak to his first experience with GoodGym during his visit from Bristol. 😁

Our destination was St Christopher's Fellowship in East Twickenham where we often go to help in their large and quite unruly garden. We made a plan for ourselves with some extensive weeding in the vegetable patch and against the main building, Anita's monumental effort sorting out the compost heap and plenty of tidying up in the front drive.

A successful 45 minutes later, everything looked more manicured, even if our gloved hands did not!