It was the yearly Age UK summer party, which celebrates the fantastic volunteers that help out week in and week out at the Hammersmith & Fulham branch. So GoodGym were out to help volunteer for the volunteers!

Peter from the charity helped settle us in. It was a slightly chaotic start to the evening, as the weather decided it didn’t want to play ball and the plan of a lovely drinks reception in the garden was thwarted by the British weather. Doesn’t rain for weeks and it decides to pour the day of the summer party, typical eh?

Despite the drizzle, we had a funny old time helping serve drinks to the guests. We then went from pouring Prosecco to plating up pilau, as it was time for food. The Age UK chef had cooked up a fabulous curry feast, with all the trimmings! The room smelt amazing, as Michelle ladled out lamb and Cookie dished out Dahl to the hungry volunteers.

Once everyone was served, we were able to sample the absolutely delicious culinary delights, which were second to naan. All the volunteers were well fed and watered tonight!

Although our tummies were bursting with Bhajis and full of food, we had to keep calm and curry on, as plates needed to be cleared and pudding prepped.

Lizzie made sure everyone still had a full glass, whilst we tidied the tables to the sound of the evening’s entertainment: Lucy was belting out Neil Diamond and Frank Sinatra… The professional singer also joined in, although he wasn’t able to do it whilst carrying a stack of washing up!

Dinner service complete, the empty platters were moved back to the kitchen, where they were washed up and Katie and Lucy helped dry the dishes, and put away the plates. The final task for the evening was pudding! Everyone got a table service serving of fruit salad, and Lizzie made sure those who wanted also got a drizzle of cream to go on top.

From a drizzle of cream to the drizzle outside, our evening was over as we cleared up and left the volunteers to enjoy the rest of their party!

We kicked our big task off last night with a warm up and a debate about the best breakfast. From leftover pizza to avo on toast, fritters got a mention and the classic eggs – any which way – got the most votes. With that settled, we set off for our ongoing garden transformation project.

The big news was that we received a grant from the NHS to put towards the garden! 🎉 Thanks to this support, we’ve been able to take the space to the next level. Check out the before and after photos from when we first started at the garden.

At the weekend Jordan and I went on a garden shopping spree, coming back loaded with plants, tools, and an ambitious planting plan. The aim for the garden is to grow fresh produce to donate to local communities living with food insecurity so we wanted to get as much in the ground as possible.

On arrival, we got stuck straight in. There was a lot to plant – from herbs and flowers to a new pear tree, courgettes, chard, peppers, and tomatoes. The potatoes were looking especially healthy, the gooseberry tree had started to fruit, and the fig was looking fabulous. Unfortunately so were the weeds, so they were the first to come out.

After a good stint digging, planting, watering and sowing, we popped across to the square opposite for a our workout – mixing cardio with strength-building conditioning.

We finished up back at Omnibus for a good stretch and a lovely post-session social.

This Saturday we have a great mission helping to marshall at West London Queer Project’s 10km walk. It’s going to be a fun day out supporting a great cause – come along if you can! We also have a new weekly task on Thursdays during the day helping people with Parkinson's get active starting from next week.

Next Monday we're back for our regular visit to Doddington community garden - see you there!

🌩️ Thunder, Tasks & Trivia Triumphs! 🌿🧠

A distant rumble of thunder kept us guessing as we gathered for this week’s GoodGym session, but it takes more than a bit of potential drama to throw us off course. Despite a power outage on the tube delaying our task owner, we were well-prepped with a list of garden jobs sent over in advance – and as always, we were ready to dig in.

Before setting off, we limbered up with a quick warm-up and this week's question was pub quiz themed: How many pubs are there in London? Guesses ranged wildly, but Jordan was closest to the correct answer – a a whopping 3,500 pubs! That’s a lot of potential quiz venues…

🌱 Once we arrived at the garden, we got straight to work. There was no shortage of tasks to keep us busy:

• Shifting lemon trees into position
• Plenty of watering to revive thirsty plants
• Weeding pathways and beds
• Sweeping away debris
• Turning compost and moving it around the garden

The garden was soon buzzing with activity and teamwork and the time flew by.

💪 With a few minutes to spare after finishing the tasks, we squeezed in a post-task fitness session featuring:

• A 3-minute mountain legs challenge
• A 3-minute arm burner, in honour of International Chest Day at the gym – we're very on-brand! The result? Some burning muscles and a sense of achievement!

🏆 Then it was quiz time - the team headed off to the pub. With the muscles having been given a serious workout it was time for the brains to get a turn in the hotseat. I'm happy to report the team absolutely smashed it, scooping gold. Huge congrats to all our GG geniuses!

📍 Next week, we’re heading to Paradise Cooperative to lend a hand. If you enjoyed working in the garden this week, don’t forget we have a weekly community mission to help out at the Doddington Community Garden Kids Club – check it out and sign up here.

Have a great week everybody!

Combine three goodgymers, four enormous piles of woodchip, 1.5 hours and one squeaky barrow- what do you get?

A fantastic workout, a morning spent saving three trees and a whole lot of insider knowledge about Wandsworth! And of course a lovely sense of satisfaction at the end of it all 🌳