Last night’s GoodGym Hounslow mission began after a day where thunder had rattled windows, lightning cracked across the sky, and hailstones had come down hard. Surely (we hoped) the weather had got it all out of its system by now?

It had not.

Spirits were high as we arrived at the task and got stuck into an eclectic evening of gardening, tidying and creative endeavours. We split into teams and spread out across the site.

Maxime, Tish, Michelle and Steph tackled the weeding operation, bravely taking on stubborn weeds and overgrown patches that had clearly enjoyed the recent rain a little too much.

Meanwhile, Chris, Emily and Alanna were busy clearing away piles of wet leaves — filling sack after sack with slippery mulch.

There was the evening’s most artistic assignment - Fran and Lucy took charge of transforming an old tyre destined for a new life as a raised flower bed. The mission was to entirely wrap it in rope to create something both practical and beautiful. It was certainly a first for GG Hounslow, but then we're always up for something new.

All systems were go… until the heavens reopened.

Rain came down suddenly and relentlessly, soaking tools, gloves and enthusiasm. But in true GoodGym style, we carried on as long as we could, squeezing every possible minute out of the session before the weather finally won.

The good news is that there’s definitely more to come. That tyre still needs to be completely wrapped, and now the big design question remains: do we continue with the same colour rope, switch it up with something different, or fully commit to a rainbow masterpiece?

As we packed up and headed home beneath a colourful sky, it felt very much as though the weather itself was offering a pretty strong hint…

Three brilliant Hounslow GoodGymmers made the journey over to Westminster last night to help transform a hidden little space tucked away in the middle of a maze-like estate. It definitely took some finding but once we arrived there was plenty waiting for us.

One local resident had invested in an impressive collection of herbs and flowers ready to plant - all very much fitting into the purple theme. After some careful positioning, it was time to get everything into the ground.

It wouldn’t be a community gardening task without the usual challenges: hard soil, a selection of “interesting” tools, the puzzle of making the planting plan work, and some particularly persistent allergenics floating around. But the team powered through and managed to get all the lavender, sage and thyme planted.

The result looked fantastic by the end of the evening, and the task owner was delighted — confirmed by a lovely message from him this morning. With a bit of rain over the next few days, the space is going to be flourishing before long: sweet scents, more flowers, better biodiversity, and extra forage for the nearby bee hives. All the good things.

Great work team!

What a week for GoodGym Hounslow — so many celebrations, achievements and adventures to catch up on!

Fresh off the back of the London Marathon, the good things just kept coming. Florian was busy acting as a guide runner at the Hamburg Half Marathon, while Steph completed a double-header, topping things off with a marathon in Milton Keynes. Add in Will racing in Copenhagen this weekend, plus some adventurous international parkrunning tourism, and it’s safe to say there’s absolutely no stopping you all! We love to see it.

Last night our group run headed out to Dukes Meadow via what we'll call the scenic route. On arrival, we found a few GGers had already beaten us to the task and got stuck in early.

We were joining forces with Abundance London to tackle a huge mound of mulch that had been fly-tipped across several parking spaces. Task organiser Jen greeted us with a cautious, “Just do what you can — I don’t expect you to finish it all…”

But this was her first encounter with GG Hounslow...

Armed with rakes, shovels and wheelbarrows, we got to work. Barrow-load by barrow-load, the mountain steadily disappeared until the hidden parking spaces were finally revealed once more. Great to see some brilliant teamwork in action.

Meanwhile, Emily and Lucy headed over to the beautiful riverside garden, where they took care of some much-needed weeding and tidying, helping the space look its very best for passers-by.

With the sun out, the river alongside us and plenty of heavy lifting involved, it turned into a stunning evening and an unexpectedly thorough fitness session too.

Don’t forget — there’s a mission happening this Saturday at Watermans Park. Can you make it?

Great work everybody!