A site for saw thighs

A bit of drizzle didn't put off dynamic duo off, Patrick and Michael, who crossed many borough lines to see off and saw off some low-level greedy stumps from a plum tree and weeded out interlopers for an elderly lady in North London.

I'd had a busy morning of doing a cheeky 5km for parkrun's 13th birthday and another mission in Islington but just managed to fit in a plate of avocado on toast before my double mission with Michael.

It was really good to see Michael again. Must say, missions are a great way to catch up with fellow runners while doing good stuff for older people in need

Have you heard? GoodGym is the word!

Our host, let's call her Sheila (not her real name) welcomed us and had heard of GoodGym from friends. Sheila has been in her home for decades and is still able to do light garden maintenance. We heard how she used to work in healthcare and keeps fit doing aquacise and Zumba (v impressive!). Alas, it's getting harder to keep the garden in good shape on her own so some help was very much appreciated.

Sheila really loves the concept of GG and stayed out to chat with us while we worked.

The root of the problem

We had a power hour to make a meaningful impact and were asked to achieve two things:

• Give new life to her plum tree by removing the appendages at the base of the trunk. Apparently, Sheila had a poor yield of plums because the shoots at the bottom were sapping all the nutrients.
• Remove the interlopers and beautifying the garden by weeding and turning soil. On the surface straightforward, but we had to be very precise what should stay and what should go.

I told you, saw

We took it in turns and both had a go at each job.

The tougher job was getting down low to trim off the shoots and saw thick stumps; it was a major upper-body workout and tough on the thighs squatting down, and thankfully the handsaw was up to the job.

The weeding needed more precision to make sure we didn't take out any flowers but Sheila was around to direct us.

I want you back

Within the hour we'd filled a big bag and done GoodGym proud. Sheila was looking forward to a future visit from GoodGym and hoped to have the same dynamic duo!

We packed up and set off for another run and another mission adventure down in Haringey