Branching out

Great to see so many lovely GGers turning up to spend their Wednesday night supporting local communities. Did you know that recent surveys have shown that 77% of volunteers believed their mental health has improved due to volunteering and that 78% of them said it reduced their stress levels? Couple that with the benefits of getting active and it's no wonder we were floating zen-like through our task for Friends of Turnham Green!

We met at the Town Hall before heading over to the rockery to meet Kathleen, who had our jobs ready for the evening ahead. First up Tish and Jon volunteered to go round the perimeter of the park clipping off all the plastic ties in what eventually turned out to be an epic job. The next group opted for leaf picking, while some of the others did the same for the branches (some of which definitely identified as logs) and the remaining group shuttled the boxes and wheelbarrow back and forth to the collection points.

It's always amazing to see how much we can get done together, and after 45 minutes we had created an impressive pile of leaves and wood ready for chipping, leaving the ground ready for the spring flowers to burst through. As there was no run involved we had plenty of time for a bumper fitness session, which began with five sets of strides during which we focused on various technical points.

It wouldn't be a Hounslow fitness session without an element of competition, so we moved on to the whole body workout with a twist. A quick round of rock/paper/scissors decided who was going to take on the challenge first, and we worked through squat thrusts, step ups, side planks, tricep dips and dynamic squats with each person trying to outdo the last. There were some incredible numbers being achieved, you're all machines!

Next week we have a mindful task helping with the Comboni garden project, and there is a community mission to help paint at the Sea cadets HQ on Saturday.