Ms A of Ealing was anxious about the state of her back garden yet too unwell to take care of it. Back pain was to blame for stopping her from tackling the overgrown grass and brambles just after a few minutes of attempting to work. Two local GoodGymers, Sevan and Kash, came to the rescue. Ms A offered them water to cool down after their run and, of course, a set of tools:

• Strimmer - didn't have a guard (yikes!), so we shielded our bare legs with a green waste bag; the wire needed refitting only once (what a miracle!); by the end of the mission, we ran out of the line and, so with two minutes left, decided not to install a new one.
• Shears - Ms A warned us that those were dull; they did pretty well against the tall grass, though.
• Loppers - highly effective against brambles.
• Rake - perfect for... raking!
• Fork - hasn't been used - with so much to trim, there was no time to get to dig the roots out.
• Spade - as above.

The garden was large, so Sevan and Kash managed to bring two sections to an acceptable state, with a paved area leading to the neighbour's garden still needing more work. Ms A was delighted to see the transformation anyway.

"This is terrific! I'm ever so grateful." - Ms A.