We had multiple jobs to do at Strand on the Green School last night — finishing off painting the nursery, moving a huge terrace-full of old furniture and toys down the stairs to the skip, and hedge cutting. Three different jobs, three skill sets, no problem.

We ran over to the task where we met caretaker Clare and got straight to work. Michelle, Breda, Lucy and Emily tackled the nursery painting, Jon, Kash, Maxime, Chris, Jonny and Fran became an efficient furniture-moving conveyor belt up and down the stairs, while Gus and Luis turned hedge cutting into an art form outside.

Within just 45 minutes all three jobs were complete. With 12 of us working for 45 minutes, that’s the equivalent of 9 hours (or a full working day!) of work saved for one caretaker — and Clare was delighted with how much time we’d saved her.

With the jobs done, it was time for a lower body blast with three different intensity options to keep everyone moving. We’re also all still wondering what Michelle’s mysterious final blue item could be… answers on a postcard.

After that, we headed back to base for stretches on the grass and a well-earned cool down.

Next week we’re off to Gunnersbury to sort compost — see you there for what will hopefully be a slightly cooler task!

Breda and Gus met a few other volunteers at Gunnersbury Park Museum to help setup the scene for the 100th birthday celebration of the park on the bank holiday Monday.

We were soon to get started on moving tables one by one from the museum car park into the conservatory by the pond until a truck was found to actually move the whole thing in one go. We loaded the truck with tables (too many at first so ended unloading half of them), speakers, amp and tutti quanti. That was an opportunity to visit new places within the museum! Basement, secret storage, offices.

After moving all the tables, setting them up in the conservatory, bringing also so water cooler and contemplating a job well done, it was time for the most important part of the mission: a nice and cold refreshement in the form of a delicious juice from the park cafe.