They say third time’s a charm, and Tuesdays task at the church of St. Michael and St. George’s in White City was just that. It was instalment number three of clearing all the garden waste from giant bags into black sacks, so it could be disposed of and taken away. We had spent two missions previously working our way through ten of the giant industrial carriers, and there were only five or six left to finish the job.

We had faith in the team that tonight would be the night. The numbers had dropped for some reason (the heavens had been open all day, and didn’t look like they were going to be stopping for us). So six brave and slightly soggy GoodGymmers took on the task, and were greeted by Ben the Vicar who set us off to work.

We had an A Team of Aine, Arba and Andrew; plus Beth, Lucy and Harvey who had come to visit from the lands far away in exotic Ealing (great to have you for the evening, Harvey). The first bags were loaded up into the mini van to be taken away for disposal. The van was aptly named ‘Lucy’, and she was driven off into the west London rain as the other Lucy arrived on her own set on wheels. Perhaps disguising her secret alter ego as a doing-good transformer? As Beth said though, ‘there would have to be a nuclear explosion for Lucy to miss a task’.

Andrew and Harvey worked hard and managed to get through the first bag in impressive time. Aine has arrived and got ‘stick’ in with Beth, shifting the mulch from one bag to another; whereas Lucy was delicately moving bits of wood one by one, as she continued her ‘exposure therapy’... This task always seemed to be full of snails, and Andrew helpfully advised Lucy to avoid the yellow bag, where a family of molluscs were enjoying the British weather. Rather than get stuck in like the others, a more gentle approach was taken (thank god the others were more efficient)! Arba was also there, demonstrating unbe-leaf-able multitasking skills - managing to snap twigs and scoop leaves whilst listening to a webinar AND dealing with Lucy’s Tuesday trivia...

‘Waitrose was the first supermarket in the UK to sell hummus, but what year was that in?’

Aine was the closest, with a guess only a year out; and also managed to show off by winning some of the other questions courtesy of quiz mistress Lucy. She then decided to take things into her own hands (and not just the bits of tree she was moving between sacks):

‘Which county in England was graphite discovered in?’

There was some deliberation, and then the answer from both Lucy and Harvey: ‘Cumbria’! ‘Correct’, came the reply from Aine - and off we went on a discussion about the pencil museum! Can’t wait for the GoodGym pub quiz olympics now (although better keep an eye on Harvey and team Ealing for competition)!

With the drizzle, our minds filled with knowledge and the impending anxiety of a snail attacking at any moment; before we knew it we were down to the last bag. With a final flourish, Beth tipped the last remainders into a black sack. Bags all tied up and stored around the corner, we got a big thank you from Ben (plus some satsumas as a treat for our hard work), and Harvey got his traditional post-task selfie with the team.

Off we went, third time lucky, mission accomplished. Nice to have you with us Harvey, and nice to have you back Andrew! Hopefully next time we are taken to church, we will be in the dry and in a snail free zone..

(Also in answer to the Waitrose question, hummus first appeared in UK stores at a major supermarket in 1988). Hope that enlightens you and you can show off your new found knowledge to all your friends and family.