On a warm Saturday morning in July Patrick, David and I (Paul Bown) arrived at Edward's house in the Stepney Green area to cut back and tidy his front & back gardens. Edward is David's coach and he has been going to see him since October 2014 (nice one David) - if you are interested in the GoodGym Befriending Programme contact (Stephaine on steph@goodgym.org) - it's the best thing I do on a weekly basis.

With Goodgym assembled and the mission target clear we set about weeding and tidying up the small front garden. The recent heat had certainly dried everything out, so we were pulling up dead plants. David had kindly been to collect some plants before arriving at the mission so we could lighten up Edward's front garden! After we swept up and filled two black bags full of weeds/dead plants we moved through the house to get started on the back garden.

David and the other amazing GoodGymers had done a brilliant job in clearing the garden in the Spring but the weeds had grown back with ferocity (as you can see in the before photo). We decided to go for the clear, pile and bin bag later strategic. In the midday sun we were pulling up all kinds of weeds, avoiding dog poop and counting the dozens of snails which occupied the garden. After some great chats about future running ambitions and travelling experiences the time had flown by and we will packing the piles of weeds in strong black bags.

We piled the 8 black bags at the front of the house and then said our goodbyes to Edward. 2 hours well spent! Good work team!