On a very chilly January morning, five GGers met at a much loved community space to make it more welcoming and safer for local people.

With the temperature dipping below zero, the grass was crunchy underfoot and the leaves were coated in a layer of frost. The only thing spoiling the wintry beauty was the litter strewn near benches, under trees and, frustratingly, around bins. So, grabbing our litter pickers, we wasted no time collecting bottles, discarded vapes, crisp packets and much more. As we worked conversation ranged from our tactics for keeping warm, local history and the importance of preserving it, the tastiest spots in the area for lunch and even the best vantage point to watch the boat race!

After 45 minutes we had two bulging bags of rubbish to show for our efforts so we called it a morning. Great work everybody!

A group of 9 from GG Wandsworth headed to the west of the borough to help in a local church/community centre garden. We cleared walls of ivy, chopped back hedges and trees, and fought with bramble. With beautiful sunshine and tea/coffee on offer from the hosts, a good time was had by all, and lots achieved.

Today's Mission brought six GoodGymers to Horsenden Farm on a sunny, fresh and frosty morning. Steph, Mohamed, Christos, Sevan, Kash and Kymm met at the Horsenden Farm courtyard, warming hands up at the fireplace a little before being greeted by the Friends of Horsenden Hill team.

After making our way to the changing shed, two tasks were briefed for the 2 hours on the farm, with some nice and mucky work clearing the old hay from the barn, as well as spreading straw evenly across the fields. Kash, Steph, Christos and Kymm were happy to get mucky, first changing shoes for good old wellies and then grabbing a pitchfork and wheelbarrow each. Supervised by the farm cat, Billy, the team made light work clearing the barn of old hay and stacking it all into a nice and tall heap outside. Kymm nicely created an extra treat, topping a pile of hay in the wheelbarrow with a chunky cow pat! The barn was now ready for fresh hay to be laid out for the cattle to come back to.

Meanwhile, Sevan and Mohamed busily spread out the straw evenly across the field, helping to spread seeds out for the wild flower season, and for ponies to enjoy eating later on in the year.

With our GoodGymers making light work of these tasks and after the barn was cleared of hay, the team were chaperoned to a huge compost pile that needed turning and moving from one plot to another, to help with aeration. One word of caution before we get started... Mind the RATS! And apparently... Potatoes!?

We finished just in time for another lovely Horsenden Farm wood-fired pizza for a team lunch complete with coffee and craft beers... Another successful task at Horsenden Farm!

It was lovely to see the Hounslow (and reps from Richmond, Ealing and H&F) crew come together for one big community mission ahead of our Christmas social.

Our job for the evening was to spread a little Christmas joy for the young people at the hospital where Lucy works by writing festive cards to be delivered to the ward.

There were colourful pens, drawings, poems and lots of love and laughter as we got through dozens and dozens of cards for our little friends.

Job done, it was time to down pens and up glasses as we enjoyed a meal together, reminiscing about the year we've had and looking forward to the next one. Happy holidays everybody!