A bit of drizzle first thing wasn’t enough to put us off our Saturday morning good deed, and the sun was shining for us!

Seven of us met with Ollie (who had been roped in by his Dad, who normally helps run this task!) outside the boathouse along the beautiful riverside in Richmond. Our job today was to clean and sand down the doors, ready for a good oiling. An important job, as being on the riverside, the doors have to battle all of the elements from the rain and sun to high tides and silt.

We split into two groups to take on a sops each - Beth, JP, Rosie and Ollie on one, and Divya, Ishan, Lucy and Sam on the other. First job was sanding down each doors, making sure they were smooth and thus would be able to take in the oil when it came round to it. A good scrubbing (which was a lot of sanding off silt and dirt) and a wipe down with some old rags, we were ready to get the paintbrushes out.

Luckily, the weather was on our side, and as sun had come out, it was dry enough to start the first coat of teak oil. Efficiently and effectively we streaked the doors in teak, and the first layer was compleak. The sun was maybe a bit too out, as it was shining right onto the doors, making it tricky to see, as Sam found out.

The only thing to do was let the oil dry in, and wait it’s second coat - which is planned for Mondays group run. So, in the words of Arnold Schwarzenegger… *Oil be back. *

Goodgymmers descended on Furnival Gardens to help dig out the ever prodigous alkanet and clear the grass from around some newly planted trees, both of which should help to encourage the growing of the trees and other plants within the gardens areas.

This'll surely benefit all when summer rolls around.

Part of our mammoth tree planting task at Petersham Common. An absolute pleasure to welcome GoodGymmers from other areas, and first timers Andreeca, Anastasia, Tim and Laura. What a brilliant first task to be part of: creating a lasting legacy in our beautiful green borough.

Ken gave us a brief introduction to the Common and woodlands restoration which included restoring the middle layer of the woodland. He explained how there was an upper canopy and ground floral plain but how the woodlands was mismanaged for around 50 years and had the middle understory canopy removed regularly. We were helping to plant 25,000 trees to restore this vital habitat where most of our native songbirds nest in the understory between the ground and 5m height.

Ken gave us a demonstration of how to plant a tree and told us about how it was vital to get the plant at the right level in relation to the roots and the stem so it had a good chance of survival.

We set about into the woods with native trees soaking their roots in buckets of water and started planting bird blocks of trees happily chatting away with each other. In no time we had planted 500 trees between us and Ken was very pleased with our work and thanked all of us from the Petersham Common Conservators.

We are back to plant more on Monday 6th March, sign up for the session to join us.

After last week's soaking it was a joy to meet up in the dry with the hope of spring poking its head just around the corner!

It was our first session back at the Community Kitchen Garden at Chiswick House last night, and the start of our regular visits there every few weeks. It's an important local resource for local communities, and is run as a charity. At one time not too long ago the kitchen garden was in a state of neglect and disrepair until a group of local residents turned it into a community project which is today used for teaching local residents, schools and community groups about horticulture and growing food.

It was only a short run down to the gates where we were met by one of the lead gardeners Chris, who led us into the dark of garden, past the creepy disembodied warning voice, and to our task for the evening.

Our job was in two parts - to lay down cardboard in a huge area of the garden to prevent weeds growing as it gradually decomposes, and also to shovel mulch into bags to spread over it. This method means that the gardeners don't have to use weed killer and other nasty chemicals to keeps the weeds down, allows the nutrients to soak into the soil and also means that nothing is wasted. As Chris wisely said, 'if in doubt, mulch!'

The two teams got stuck right in, and before long we had loaded up countless bags of mulch to be transported to the cardboard lawn. With 30 hectares - the equivalent of 30 football pitches - of land to cover, there is plenty to keep us busy over the next few months!

Job done we headed over to Turnham green for a tough but effective speed fitness session. Great job on the shuttle runs everybody! Next week we have a community mission in partnership with Wild Chiswick, and there are also two great missions coming up to help protect the riverway - you can sign up here and here - and this one features shire horses!.

Have a great few days of doing good and getting fitter GG!