Tonight we were back at our old favourite Canbury Gardens and despite rain horizon there was still lots of watering to do both at GoodGym flowerbed and in the Community Garden.

Sabir, Luke, Dave, Tom and Jonathan filled bucket upon bucket with water and hauled them across the park to Louise, Hannah, Amy and Claire who watered all the plants.

Meanwhile Marcos was busy filling up the waterbutts from the water as it was delivered.

By the end we had a great system going and waterbutts 4,5,6,7 and 8 were filled up ready for watering by the Community Garden volunteers.

After picking a few tomatoes and beans it was time to head home.

It was a hot and sweaty evening, but that didn't stop an incredible team effort as we helped Voices of Hope prepare for their move into Kingston Library. We wasted no time getting started, splitting into teams as soon as we arrived. Dave, Luke, Marcos, John, Jana, Sabir and newcomer Hannah took on the heavy lifting, carrying desks, cabinets, pinboards and other bulky furniture down flights of stairs and into the waiting skip.

Another team tackled a ground-floor room packed from floor to ceiling. We uncovered everything from children's books, stickers and umbrellas to an old projector screen, mountains of shredded paper, a coat stand and even a monkey face cut-out board, which naturally became the star of our group photo later!

It quickly became clear that the fastest approach was a human chain. Claire, Anna and Emily kept everything moving, with paper sorted for recycling while the rest of us passed item after item towards the skip.

Outside, John soon earned the title of "King of the Skip", climbing aboard to pack everything in while Dave joined him to make the most of every inch of space. By halfway through, the skip was already nearly full.

Louise kept us organised, directing what needed clearing next, while cardboard was flattened and everyone pitched in. After a quick water break to admire how much we'd achieved, we tackled one final room full of heavy boxes, discovering a fascinating old book filled with historic photographs of Kingston Library that may even be of interest to the museum.

As the last items disappeared, Sekar swept whilst Anna vacuumed and Louise, Hannah and Marcos helped pick up the many small paper pieces off the floor. Nikita kept the human chain flowing of the last few bits to the skip. Hannah even rescued a few children's books for her classroom.

In just one hour we'd filled a skip, emptied multiple rooms and left the building ready for Voices of Hope to move into their new home. We celebrated with chocolate bars, plenty of smiles and a brilliant group photo—some of us perched on the skip, others pulling faces through the monkey cut-out.

A fantastic evening of teamwork and an amazing amount achieved in just one hour! 💚

It was a fantastic evening supporting the brilliant parent volunteers at St John’s C of E School, where we took on two impactful tasks to help improve their outdoor spaces.

The 9 GoodGymers split into two teams: one group tackled the extensive bindweed that had taken over the fence alongside the Forest School allotment. Working among their residents - two Pygmy goats, rabbits and chickens - we made great progress clearing the fence so people can now look in and parents can now focus their time growing things in the allotment for the children to see and learn about.

Meanwhile, the second group got busy painting one side of a large shed with a holly green base coat - the first step in an exciting transformation, as another parent volunteer will soon be working with the children to create a mural on the shed that will really brighten up the end of the playground.

Both tasks were hugely satisfying, and we hope our efforts will make a real difference for the school community. To top it all off, we enjoyed a final hello to the animals on our way out - always a highlight!