13 inspiring GoodGym folk made a wonderful difference in Kentish Town last night!

Some people can distinguish a grass from a weed and a weed from a flower. I am not one of these people.

But many of these intelligent beings... everyone apart from me... were present in our special group!

Our group in red 👉 Alison, Danny (on their first good deed - hello!), Helen, Imogen, Jackie, John, Majid (on their first good deed - huge welcome!), Sarah, Siobhan, Steve, and Will 👉 arrived in Kentish Town (not far from the Prime Minister's house!) to meet the wonderful Hilda (who was also on their first good deed!!) 👉 and we were there to help her cultivate a healthy hedgerow 🌳💚

I watched in awe as this group identified the 'keeps' from the 'get-rids' while also sharing stories and connecting. The weeds were piled – bag upon bag – and the remaining wild flowers and bushes noticeably started to breathe. And I resorted to taking photos and walking up and down in an attempt to look busy.

Across 60 bright evening minutes this group opened space in the hedgerow – and the fruits of their efforts will carry through into June and beyond – this would have taken a single soul 13 hours to match!

Thank you so much, everyone, for a well-spent evening ☺️

Here's to next time!

Great sunny Friday vibes everywhere in Camden ☀️ today. Gosia and Alex decided to spend this afternoon by helping Mrs J in tidying her garden.

We arrived around 5 pm at Mrs J's door and rung a buzzer 🚪. She warmly welcomed us but then right away told us that she just heard some bad news so it was clear she didn't feel particularly well today.

She showed us where the garden 🌱 is, where the tools are 🧹🧹 and also what needs to be done. The garden looked quite tidy from the first sight🕵‍♀️, but the devil is in the details! It turned out that actually many leaves 🍂, dirt and dust was hiding between the flower pots.

We then indulged ourselves in a sweeping / hide and seek journey, maneuvering between the various objects in the garden and also our conversational topics 💬.

Mrs J also asked us to change the bird food 🐦, a task that was handled by Mr Alex whose height and agility were just perfectly right for the job. When Mrs J suggested we could get a stool 🪑 we kindly but promptly declined 😆.

We thought we did a pretty decent job with sweeping and stuff but Mrs J did find a couple of spots that did not reach this perfection 👀. We quickly caught up and neatly packed the waste into provided bags.

Before leaving the flat we have taken other bin bags that were already there when we arrived. We put all the waste into the bins outside Mrs J's property. We hope, that our visit sprinkled a bit of good spirit energy in Mrs J's day 🙂.

Why does sweeping never end with just sweeping?

This is my experience of GoodGym...

"...yeah – that sounds about right – maybe just start with some sweeping over there..."

...and before you know it... you've built a gazebo or painted a bench!

Just sweeping was how our wonderful group – of Charlie, Danny, Emily, Gosia, Gus, Imogen, John, Michael, and Steve – started at the beautiful Cecil Sharp House on Wednesday evening.

In perfect May sun, sweeping strewn leaves is a good place to start – I even thought perhaps it really will just be sweeping – but then...

... Emily grabbed a hose and started dousing the (bountiful) flower beds around the house – I even flowers inch their heads towards the flowing water, and then...

...Charlie, Danny, Gus, Imogen, and John descended on a pile of... well, I'm not too sure what it was really – wooden crates, fallen branches, cut ivy – a pile of things that needed discarding! I turned my back and before I knew it... the van's boot was cleared, the crates had been snapped, and everything had been tidily bagged up! And then...

...seemingly everyone was busy planting seeds (all manner of wonderful flowers) in a row of planters! And not to forget...

...the sweeping that everyone started with... that was all finished too :)

And we finished off by cutting some fresh mint (all gifted to us by our brilliant host, Susannah) to take home – very wonderful!

Amazing work, everyone! Thank you for a lovely evening!

BLEEP BLEEP BLEEP...

...what's that, we all said...

...BLEEP BLEEP BLEEP...

...it's a fire alarm, we all realised as we arrived at Ashdown Crescent Sheltered Housing yesterday evening...

...IT'S BEING SORTED...

...we were assured – which it safely was – just as our wonderful group (of Celine, Danny, Hanry, Helen, Emilie, John, Justine, Siobhan, and Steve) got going with multiple tasks in Ashdown's special communal gardens!

Emilie, John, and Siobhan cracked a thirty minute miracle turning an overgrown patio into a serene space to relax - amazing!

Justine and Danny seemed to be constantly filling green bags – they captured weeds, trimmings, and other debris – and their efforts transformed the main entrance way into a space to enjoy - wonderful!

And Celine, Hanry, Helen, and Steve must have dabbled in a little magic to make the difference they did - tired and dead-wood filled planters ended up pruned, spruced, and planted with seeds and blubs - magical!

Thank you so much, everyone! Here's to next time!