Camden

Mission

Now you see it, mow you don't

4 GoodGymers made their way to help an isolated older person in Camden.

  • Jody goldman
  • Rupesh
  • Elizabeth
  • Swindon runner
 
Sunday, 14th of April 2019
Here's what Ms L of NW5 had to say about the mission:

I'm just calling because I wanted to say thank you. Honestly, they were fantastic! They completely transformed my garden over a couple of hours, it was amazing.

Ms L of NW5, mission beneficiary

In the last of my trilogy of good deeds with Laura today, Laura and I ambled with Rupesh from CREOS to meet up with Jody for a mission in Camden.

Our mission for today was for Ms L. Ms L is responsible for a large outdoor space for a block of flats. When she was more mobile, she used to be able to keep up with the upkeep of the garden, but she's found it increasingly difficult lately.

As soon as we arrived, Ms L welcomed us into her garden and gave us some tools to begin the job. There were large amounts of brambles and ivy mixed together around the edges of her garden that she wanted to get rid of (in her own words, "If it grows, it goes", which are the type of instructions I love to hear on gardening missions!). She also wanted her garden mown if possible.

In keeping with Ms L's easygoing nature, she was happy for us to choose what we wanted to work on. This appealed to me a lot, as I like the idea that our nature decided what nature we wanted to work on! 😄

This largesse led to Rupesh and Laura deciding to work on some brambles and ivy towards the edges of the garden, to me deciding that I wanted to clear some ivy and brambles in a little alcove in the building, and to Jody deciding to do the last remaining job of mowing the lawn (thankfully she seemed quite happy to push along the little manual lawnmower, as I think something would have gone randomly wrong with it if I had touched it (see here)).

Over the course of the next two hours, we worked at tidying/clearing Ms L's garden, generally feeling both incredibly happy that we were making a noticeable difference and wishing that we could get through more. It really was magic how a bench gradually appeared in my alcove (underneath the garden growth), and how large parts of the other undergrowth disappeared from the rest of the garden in what seemed like a blink of the eye!

Packing up, Ms L came out to have a look and seemed overjoyed with all we'd managed in the time available, and resolved to sit down on the newly uncovered bench. Hopefully a repeat mission can be arranged to carry on with this task, as it really was a satisfying way to end a Sunday! (and also because she provided us with some amazing vegan chocolates to eat and some Which recommended water to drink 😍😋 Not that I'm easily swayed by food, or anything...) Great working with you guys! 😄

Report written by Elizabeth


Discuss this report

Dom Tooze
Dom Tooze
he/him
Monday April 15th, 2019 12:33

Well done all, sounds like a fab task

Elizabeth
Elizabeth
Monday April 15th, 2019 12:36

Cheers, Dom! :)

Redbridge runner
Redbridge runner
Monday April 15th, 2019 14:53

Mystery of the missing bench....SOLVED! Culprit: Goodgym's arch enemy...IVY!

Elizabeth
Elizabeth
Monday April 15th, 2019 15:27

@Dharmesh and defeated by Hackman - Batman's gardening second cousin once removed

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