We might be on the cusp of a heatwave but yesterday in Chiswick threatened a soaking - thankfully we managed to avoid a repeat of last week!

Last night we were back at Chiswick House for our regular task. Our last visit had been cancelled due to high winds — clearly Chiswick likes to keep things interesting weather-wise.

When we arrived, we met the rest of the team along with Grace, who led us over to our task area. Armed with gloves and loppers, we set about tackling bindweed, brambles and pretty much every other plant that dared grow there. Sadly there were no hedgehog sightings this time, only a disgusting collection of abandoned dog poo bags.

The time flew by as we chatted an d worked and before long we had mountains of cuttings to haul back and load up, leaving the area looking far tidier than we found it.

Then we headed over to Turnham Green for a fairly mean fitness session — apologies for that. In pairs, we battled it out to see who could rack up the most squats, sit ups, press ups and burpees. And after all that effort… I completely forgot to check which pair actually won. Oops. Sorry about that. But after surviving that session, you’re all winners.

There’s also a mission in the Sunday sunshine this week celebrating Gunnersbury’s 100th birthday — can you make it?

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…

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!

It was a bumper night in every respect last night—with so much to celebrate across the group. A huge shoutout to everyone who made the trip over to Cluj, racing everything from 10km right up to the marathon—seriously impressive stuff and plenty of great race reports filtering back. Add to that, there was lots of exciting news buzzing around the group, and it really did feel like a special evening from the outset.

We were also delighted to welcome Eleonora to her very first session—fantastic to have you with us! And big news - Eleonora is the brilliant new Area Activator for Elephant and Castle —watch this space for upcoming runs there.

A mighty group of 21 runners and cyclists assembled, ready to do good, and for the first time in months we made our return to Chiswick House. With the sun shining and temperatures firmly in the “is this really April?” zone, all the ingredients were there for a cracking session.

We made our way down to the estate garden, where we met Freya, one of the gardeners, and followed the cart down stacked with dozens of watering cans. We got straight to it, hydrating the new plants and giving everything a much-needed drink in the warm weather.

We then got stuck into digging up stubborn ivy roots and tackling plenty of weeding. Great teamwork all round.

With the task complete, it was onto fitness. Taking full advantage of the dry ground, we powered through a continuous 6-minute core blast. No breaks, no mercy—just solid effort from everyone. Strong work!

Then it was time to head back, easing out the legs with some well-earned stretches and soaking up the last of the evening sun.

Looking ahead, we’ve got a big weekend coming up: Maxime will be leading his very first session on Saturday—heading to Popesfield Allotments this Saturday

And next week, we’ll be teaming up with Friends of Turnham Green for more good deeds in green spaces 💚

The clocks went back and it was a joyfully light evening at The Strand on The Green School. The brighter evenings weren’t the only thing to celebrate though, as our favourite bearded Frenchman Augustin reached his centurion of good deeds and earned his wings (and a shiny new GG top)!

Thirteen is lucky for some, as Claire from the school has an assortment on tasks for the XIII group of GoodGymmers who were out on Wednesday evening.

Group one, made up of Alan, Ariane, Divy, Michelle and Sara went with a hop (well it Easter this weekend), skip (literally) and a jump (into said skip) to the school grounds to help move a load of garden waste into a big skip, which had unfortunately arrived later than planned. Just like the evening sky, Team MAD AS made light work of filling up the big yellow vessel.

The second assembly, consisting of Chris, Florian, Fran and the King of the Wings himself (Gus) were helping in the nursery garden to clear back overgrown ivy, which was taking over the walls and trellises. Once chopped off, the MAD AS gang were around to support with dumping the waste into their skip.

Finally, the third throng of Alana, Breda, Emily and Lucy were on paint duty. Armed with brushes, rollers and pots and trays of fresh ‘school custard yellow’ coloured paint, the awesome foursome got to work covering the rest of the playground walls and starting a second coat from a job started a few weeks back on a previous task.

Gus with his wings wasn’t the only thing flying, as time goes by quickly when you’re having fun. Three tasks completed, it was time two leave one very impressed Claire and make our way to the pub, to celebrate the only way GoodGym Hounslow know - with cake.

Congrats Gus on your achievements. We’ll be back next week at Chiswick House for another episode of GoodGym Hounslow. See you then!