The second 6km run of the day took Sevan and Kash from Southall, through Osterley Park, to the final, third GoodGym session that Saturday. The two stopped in front of a house adorned with planters full of colourful flowers that made them think it wasn’t late autumn yet. They knew right away that someone who loves gardening lived inside. Soon, they found out that the dweller loved her dog too.

As soon as they rang the doorbell, they heard incessant barking. It was Miss B’s dog, an old girl whose name in English meant little mouse. The poor pooch couldn’t see well, but was lovely if given some time to settle. After sniffing the GoodGymers thoroughly and being rewarded with a treat for good behaviour, Miss B’s companion was Sevan’s and Kash’s best friend, looking for cuddles.

Miss B loved her eco-friendly garden, but was too unstable on her feet to take good care of it. Having 90 minutes of Ealing Goodgymers’ time, she asked them to complete a unique set of gardening tasks:

• Uprooting last season’s tomato and chilli plants
• Deadheading old flowers
• Trimming a shrub in a pot
• Planting violas so their flowers could keep the planters colourful throughout the winter
• Replanting a kumquat and cavolo nero plant
• Sweeping leaves for the compost bin

The session, which finished after sunset, sharpened Sevan’s and Kash’s gardening skills more than the multiple missions they had done this season so far. The new experience was not the only reward! Miss B had some home-baked carrot cake to share and a green chilli pepper that Kash had saved from the compost bin. What a lovely end of a November afternoon!

Today I helped Mrs G with her front garden. Sadly when I turned up her niece answered and the door and was having to take her to hospital but she kindly provided some gardening tools so I cracked on. Mrs G has become quite immobile so she was grateful for the help weeding her front garden. Along the way I found a few treasures in the form of shells and uncovered a small rose bush hiding underneath the overgrown grass. Hopefully we can visit again to finish off and uncover some more treasures.

7 GoodGymers joined forces with the CHGT Kitchen Garden volunteers on a chilly Saturday morning, to help with their annual bulb planting work. Gardener Sally showed us to the slope around the front of the Conservatory where the plan was to get 4000 crocus, narcissus, tulip bulbs into the ground. Sally gave us a demonstration of making a “flap” in the soil to drop a few bulbs into, before patting down the earth. She made it look very easy!

We split into pairs, taking a segment of lawn each, the scattered a flower pot full of bulbs to create a natural planting scheme. Armed with a variety of tools and kneelers, we got to work shovelling as many bulbs as we could into the ground, while avoiding the many worms that popped up to say hello.

We welcomed Ros to her first GoodGym session, who came well prepared with gloves and bulb planting tools! After a good hour making our way along the bank, the job was done. All that was left to do was head to the cafe to celebrate Maxime hitting his 50th good deed milestone! Congratulations Maxime, what a fantastic achievement 💚

It's hard to measure the impact GoodGym has had, but nine years and 6217 is a good place to start! Not only that, but we have had 9 people reach 50 good deeds, a massive 17 people soar over 100 good deeds, and one person is well on their way to a giant 1000 good deeds. A special shout out to all the lovely faces that have joined in the last year and are well on their way to reaching their first milestone. If you've come to one session or 500, you've all been part of something really meaningful. Here's to the next year of doing good and getting fit!

We kicked off the night of celebrations with a warm up and thanks to Ariane, a beautiful selection of party hats! In our best party wear we ran up Chiswick High Rd for the first of two weeks of sessions there to first clear, then plant. This is a busy area which often gets lots of rubbish chucked into the raised beds. It has been taken over by Abundance London, a local charity, who want to make it more environmentally friendly. The hope is that if it is filled with spring flowers and cleared of leaves, it will stop people littering, create better air quality and look beautiful too.

We got straight on with the work, clearing the space and packing up leaves into bags. In just a short window of time we managed to get no fewer than 50 bags, which is amazing. The area looks so much better, has reduced the chances of slips and is all ready for our planting session next week.

Everybody knows that no party is complete without a fitness element, so it was on to Turnham Green for our birthday themed session. First up was a balloon relay - everyone got their own balloon and the challenge was to transport it between our knees using lateral jumps. The first team to complete the sprint and then pop their balloon between their knees (squeeze those quads!) wins. The ladies achieved the first victory, so it was on to the next game to decided who took home the prize. This involved keeping a balloon in the air, and involved quick wits, fast reflexes and even faster twitch muscles. Again, it was the ladies that emerged victorious and snagged themselves an early Christmas selection box!

On Saturday we have a lovely mission planting bulbs at Chiswick House -why not join in the fun!

Happy Birthday GoodGym Hounslow - here's to all the litter picked, trees planted, community hubs planted, gardens created and mulch shifted so far!

Shopping for Mr K, this time featuring Ryvita

It was all about the wildlife in Chiswick tonight as we delivered information locally about hedgehogs underneath the beaver moon!

Wild Chiswick is an organisation which works to protect vulnerable animals in the area. There have been recent sightings of hedgehogs for the first time in years at Strand on the Green and Jo, who runs the project, wanted to make sure the population continues to grow. Our job for the night was to deliver information leaflets to houses in the area so they knew how to care for hedgehogs, improve their habitats and help them thrive!

We divided up into teams and, like the well oiled machine we are, started delivering the leaflets at impressive speed.

We were done before we knew it, so meeting back up with Jo, we posed for some photos under Justin Beaver. (thanks for the punspiration!)

Then it was back to the town hall for a short but sweet tabata session working our major muscle groups.

The good news? The task was very effective - Jo got an enquiry about creating a habitat before the evening was out! Amazing work.

We have a couple of weekend missions coming up. Fancy taking part in a huge bulb planting task at Chiswick House??

Or maybe some hedge care in Heston is up your street.

Either way you'll be kicking off the weekend doing something positive for your community and getting in a great work out!