It was a mild Saturday morning as a perfect 10 goodgymers gathered on the Ham Lands for our monthly task helping out the Friends of Ham Lands.

This time around, we were working on a section of pathway through the woods close to the path between Teddington Lock and the road. Sharon was there to welcome us with a wheelbarrow full of tools and we spread out along the pathway armed with loppers, shears and forks to get to work.

There was a good crowd in all, as the Friends had also turned out in force, and we quickly started to make an impact, clearing brambles from the sides of the pathway. Cutting them back was often the straightforward part, but we needed to get their roots up too, to stem the tide of their return. This was a job for forks and the mattock, which we deployed to great effect to dig out the roots.

As usual it was around the 11 o’clock mark that the merry chatter amongst the gang started to turn to the delights of the Swiss Bakery, and half an hour later we downed tools and posed for a group shot before heading off for a well deserved coffee.

We will be back again on 11th March, so sign up here now! https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/helping-the-happy-ham-landers-1d7beb4d-64a9-44a0-aa59-fd0202f18f35

The eight volunteers who braved the chilly weather were rewarded with a fine winter's morning. Lucy from the furniture scheme deputised for Simon as our contact point and after chatting to her in the yard with the sun beaming down we got to work on giving the outdoor space a tidy. Then we headed into the main shop floor to move customer purchases into the collection room. A few items caught Suze's interior design eye but alas they'd already been snapped up. Victoria was joining for her first GG task.

At the end of it we headed to a café near Twickenham Green for a coffee and slice of cake.

This heavy-lifting heavy task put the gym in GoodGym, thankfully an awesome foursome were on hand. Using a mix of shimmies and strength we shifted sofas, chests of drawers and other large furniture from the showroom to the storage room.

It was interesting to hear from Simon about the charity's expansion plans and how it prices items, so that customers can get a nice sofa for around £43.50. Look forward to returning soon.