Five brilliant GoodGym-ers joined me on a sunny bank holiday Monday as we came together with a number of local community groups to play our part in a new garden being made for dementia sufferers in Kilburn.

With the whole weekend having been so lovely I was wondering if anyone would be coming along tonight but I wasn't to be disappointed. With everyone having been along to Brent before we dispensed with a full intro and having promised to get to the task for 19.15 we set off quickly for our short run to Watling Gardens.

There we met councillor Lia Colacicco and Gerry from Mapesbury Residents Association. The idea to bring the garden from the Chelsea Flower Show to Brent was the brainchild of Lia and she has had to work extremely hard to pull the strands together to make this happen. We couldn't be happier to have been involved and our task this evening was to help empty the last truck-load of plants. Over 800 plants had been brought over and will be planted over the next couple of days.

Big pot, little pot...

We got going straight away, little pots were to be kept outside and so it was an easy job to get these moved. A bit of teamwork was in order as we got to the larger plants. We had to be careful some of these plants were worth up to a thousand pounds! Some were taken to a lock-up around the corner and some were transferred into the nearby hall.

Rumbles of thunder

With thunder rumbling all around us the last trees were the biggest and we all got involved with Zivile and Tabitha on the truck getting the trees in position before we teamed together to lift them down. It didn't take us too long to get them down and we finished just as the rain started to fall. We got together and had a team photo on the truck bed and said our goodbyes before heading off into the rain for the run back.

Not wanting to get too wet we kept to the short run back. On the way back we compared rashes that we'd got from some of the more prickly plants (-1 on the risk assessment!) and we even managed a short sprint for the last leg to the Queensbury to decide who got the round of drinks in!

Thanks for all your help on this one - it really has made a huge difference and we'll be sure to make a detour to see the finished garden. It's great for Brent and so good to see so many groups working together to make something happen. Thanks to Lia for inviting us and so glad we could help.

Next week I'll be away but sign up for the run here, GG Brent Caretaker Damian will be in charge!

Cheers, Pritesh

Eight excellent GoodGymmers ran to the canal to tidy it for local residents.

Meeting at the Queensbury, we were joined by Scott and Zivile for their first ever GoodGym run. Give them a cheer!

After a quick chat - mentioning the GoodGym Olympics (seriously check it out guys) - we set off. It was a 3.5k run and we found a lovely route through the local park, squinting at the sun and watching the dogs play. Let's do this more often.

Arriving at the canal, we were met by our task leader Jack who handed out our tools - grabbers, bin bags, gloves and high vis vests. Our task was to work along a stretch of the canal clearing litter. With the team looking dapper, they quickly got to work.

After 25 mins effort, we had filled 12 rubbish bags with an assortment of weird and gross trash. This included lots of cans, takeaway packages, a spiderman umbrella, shirt and trousers, and lots of crisp packets. Total Trash indeed. Jack was delighted with our efforts and rewarded the team with kit kats!

We ran back on a slightly more direct route, though up hill, and got back to base for a stretch.

A pleasure to see you again Brent! Pritesh is back next week.

ps I'm not sure some rubbish next to a picturesque canal was what Sonic Youth had in mind when they wrote 'Total Trash' but it will do 🎶🎶🎶🎶