Garden variety GoodGymers

The weather said 2% chance of rain, and the various degrees of optimism about that were on show as 8 of Richmond's finest turned out for Saturday morning's mission at St. Christopher's Fellowship, with the full range from shorts and short-sleeves to full-on weatherproof trousers and cagoules.

St Christopher's is a charity which aims to create brighter futures for children and young people in care, and currently has 5 residents in the Twickenham home. GG Richmond have helped out a number of times with their gardens at both the front and the back, and it was the latter which needed our help this time around.

We arrived to find the garden in totally different shape to our last visit, with heavy growth in the beds and over the vegetable patch we had helped to establish on a previous visit. But despite a few of us feeling the worse for wear, we got stuck into a wide variety of garden tasks, under the direction of Jade who worked there - dishing out gloves and tools and providing a very welcome tea-break!

We were glad to welcome a new member of GoodGym Richmond, Gaurang, who has just moved to the area from India and was on his first mission - showing he is no slouch when it comes to garden work. He did well with the shears but once he got hold of the hedge trimmers there was no stopping him!

After some light rain and cold temperatures to begin with, the sun started to shine and we were all filled with renewed energy and a determination to leave the place looking good. Chris, Ken and Sam took turns with the lawnmower, raking up the cuttings, while the rest of us worked away at the flower beds and overgrown shrubs.

After two hours of solid GoodGym effort the garden was looking so much better and Jade was delighted, as was one of the residents who came out to say hello. We were very satisfied with our efforts and the huge pile we had created to show for them.

All in all a great mission for a great cause, we look forward to helping them again in a few weeks' time! And welcome again to Gaurang - great having you on board!