World Cup fever had reached its peak with England’s semi final just hours away, but that meant plenty of time to fit in a good deed before kick off.

We met with tonight’s Manager, Jan from Friends of Turnham Green who gave us a briefing and a tactical run down of the big game and the goals for the evening. There was a trimming and clearing at the edges of the wildflower meadow to be done, litter to be picked, and the plants around the rockery needed a good watering following the wave of warm weather.

Time for kick off. No time to sit on the Spence! Kash and Gus tackled the strimming, whilst Max, Florian, Alan, Michelle and Steph raked up the trimmings, ready to go into one of the big blue Saka’s supported by Lucy. The other rubbish bags were taken on by Breda and Fran, also armed with the infamous Turnham Green tongs, as they Rice-d to defend the area from litter. Emily took it a little bit Eze-r, Pick(ford)ing rubbish and sharing the joys of GoodGym with the locals. Finally, playing up top on his own was Jon and the hose, giving the plants a good old hydration break on the rockery.

Captain Ana called for full time. A team photo to Marc (Guehi) the occasion was taken, and a shout out to the Birthday Boy Alan, who celebrated a big shiny birthday on Monday. Hopefully a big shiny World Cup trophy coming back to England will also celebrate 60 years soon too!

The green was looking a lot less Messi, and Jan was pleased with the results. All that was left was to get ready for the real kick off at 8PM. Kane we bring it home? COME ON ENGLAND.

UPDATE: We in fact did not bring it home, much to our disappointment and now join our French counterparts in feeling miserable because of 11 grown men kicking a ball around. Euro’s in 2 years anyone?

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!

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!