Saturday’s second task for five Hammersmith & Fulham GoodGymers was helping out at The Green Project Shepherd’s Bush. The two Beths and Analiese ran up together 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️ from the previous community mission at Furnivall Gardens and were joined by Lucy and Jess, who had just completed another gardening task for Miss I nearby. The group of five were met by the lovely Maria, a local resident who volunteers with The Green Project and who was guiding the task.

Maria gave us a little tour of the four corners of the project and explained the tasks as we went. An overgrown hedge was in need of a trim, plus the grass also needed a haircut and, due to a kind donation of some French lavender, a new bed needed to be dug out and then the lavender plants put in. Maria took Lucy to grab some more tools whilst ‘taller’ Beth set to work on the hedge with shears . Despite her best efforts, Beth was falling a little short – she couldn’t reach the top of the hedge! Analiese took over and really came into her own, trimming even the bushy top of the hedge into order. In no time at all she had tamed its unruliness, even exposing an area of bare fence after all the tidying was complete. ‘Smaller’ Beth teamed up with Analiese and collected the hedge trimmings with ruthless efficiency.

Meanwhile, Lucy and Maria had returned with more tools. Jess and ‘taller’ Beth dug together to make a bed for the lavender plants, working hard to cut through the grass with spades. They got to play with some fancy garden tools – a spiral auger and some cultivator hand tools were perfect for making holes to sink the lavender into. Jess and Maria popped over to another of the corners to grab some soil from the compost heap, which was used to bed the lavender plants into their new home.

Lucy spent her time at the task trimming the grass with a battery-powered strimmer – she was a force to be reckoned with! Maria pointed out a few precious plants that were hidden in the grassy jungle. Trimming around these required much greater care, and therefore scissors were the only option ✂️. Lucy carefully snipped away at those last few bits, and with a layer of grass coating her leggings she has triumphed with the trimming.

It wouldn’t be a complete run report without mentioning the local resident ‘Uncle Riccardo’ who stopped by us twice during the task. His upbeat spirit stirred Lucy into song, and their melodic duet entertained us all! Even after he had left us to work, Lucy’s musical serenade continued – as we tidied the tools away, we were treated to a rendition of the GoodGym Hammersmith and Fulham song, set to backing music of S Club 7’s S Club Party! Bravo Lucy!

And that was that! Lavender planted, hedge trimmed and grass strimmed. With our thanks said to Maria, it was time to go home and wash off the mud!!!