Some people use spray-on tan ahead of the summer. But not GoodGymers. GoodGymers don't like fake tans. They prefer the real thing - those awkward tan lines on your wrist from your watch, or around your socks - every mark earned during a task on a hot summer's day.

What makes a beautiful GoodGymer, you may ask?

GoodGymers come in all shapes, sizes, colours, genders and ages. Rather than an even, sleek fake tan, the true symbols of beauty are bramble scratches, nettle stings, a bit of mud sprayed across your legs (or maybe even your face) and the occasional thorn caught in your arm. But the most beautiful thing is the smile. The smile when you show up as your true self, with a genuine intention to do something good. And the even bigger smile after the task, when you see the impact of your efforts reflected in the smiles of the people you've helped. That's the most beautiful thing.

Sevan and Kash wanted to see the smile on Ms B's face again. They had visited her before, tackling all sorts of interesting jobs: from throwing old toilets into a skip to dismantling old wardrobes, and they may even have built some furniture along the way. Ms B was indeed delighted to see them again and recognised them immediately. Her dog, Rosie, must have remembered the GoodGymers too, greeting them at the door in the hope of earning a few cuddles.

Although the mission had only been confirmed at the last minute the previous day, giving Ms B little time to prepare, she was full of enthusiasm and eager to get started. She and her carer had already made some improvements around the garden, but there was still plenty left to do. The first priority was the patio (which consisted of two parts). Ms B wanted to clean it but needed some help setting up her new pressure washer, whose pronunciation became the subject of a debate. Sevan pronounced "Kärcher" the British way, while Kash insisted on the proper German pronunciation - as authentic as Germany's eastern neighbour could make it.

While Kash assembled the Kärcher following the instructions, Sevan sorted out the new hosepipe. Soon it was time to test whether Ms B's two latest purchases would work well together. Thankfully, they did. Although Ms B had originally said she might leave the pressure washing until later with her carer, she became so excited after a short demonstration that she grabbed the spray lance herself and started blasting the patio slabs with great enthusiasm. Occasionally, she sprayed the GoodGymers as well, which, on such a hot day, was a welcome bonus after a week of sizzling and sticky summer tasks. She also thoughtfully soaked the area where Sevan and Kash would be weeding. Without the extra water, the ground would have been rock hard, so that small act made a huge difference.

Before the pressure washing could properly begin, Sevan and Kash cleared the patio of everything that stood in the way. They moved heavy bags of rubble and soil that would eventually go into a skip, carried old dried branches to one side, and shifted pots to create a clear working area. With the patio finally prepared, they turned their attention to the lawn (without grass) in the middle. Armed with a spade and new hand trowels, they dug out dandelions and other stubborn weeds, working through the freshly watered soil, which was soft and muddy despite the scorching summer heat.

After just over 90 minutes, everything and everyone in Ms B's back garden looked more beautiful: the lawn, with fewer weeds; the patio, much tidier after its first round of pressure washing; and Sevan, Kash and Ms B, all three sprinkled with hundreds of tiny muddy freckles after Ms B's joyous slab spraying. Even Rosie got her paws into the freshly watered soil and proudly left a trail of muddy paw prints across the living room carpet - that, perhaps, was a little less beautiful.

What a beautiful summer afternoon mission it was!

Kash and Sevan were back to help Mr F in his front garden today after tackling the back last time. Weeding the all concrete, sloped front garden sounded simple. There were lots of cracks and uneven surfaces that the weeds had gotten into though and the south-east facing from garden was catching lots of sun too, draining the team's energy. There was a lot more work than Mr F and his wife expected.

Pulling the weeds was the most rewarding and most difficult way to clear the concrete. Seeing the roots rip out of the ground was satisfying, knowing that they wouldn't be able to grow back quickly. If the wouldn't pull out, then Kash and Sevan resorted to cutting or scraping, which wouldn't last as long.

As the GoodGymers were working hard in the heat, Mr F's wife brought them some cold water with elephant shaped ice cubes. After a couple of minutes, the cubes had vanished in the heat and elephants were extinct, or maybe they were actually mammoths and their ice age had come to an end. Mammoth ice cubes for a mammoth task?

After an hour, the front garden was clear, so work moved to the back. Kash twisted more weeds from around Mr F's prized rose bushes and Sevan cleared the area in front of the shed. They achieved a lot and there was plenty more work still to be done. They left Mr F really happy with the result, especially the transformation at the front, before Kash and Sevan ran off to their last mission of the day.

The last two sessions in the Grove Farm woodlands have, rather oddly, coincided with the May and June heatwaves at the end of each month. This latest conservation day seemed even hotter than the one over the May bank holiday weekend. On the positive note, the temperature had dropped to "only" around 32°C, a welcome improvement after a truly scorching midweek!

Maybe the heat was the reason behind the lower-than-usual turnout? Sevan, Steph Ducat and Kash still showed up after quite demanding morning runs and, together with Mike, sought to cool down in the depths of the woods. There, upstream of the dried-up Costons Brook, the task awaited. Picking up from last month's unfinished objective, the team continued their journey into the wild green yonder, hacking through brambles, ivy and nettles, and removing fallen logs blocking the way - all while keeping a careful eye on dangerously leaning, half-rotten trees towering overhead.

Mike was hoping to get closer to the lair of Japanese knotweed, which was due to be treated by the rangers (given access to the site was provided) as a highly invasive non-native species threatening Grove Farm's ecosystem. Although the team wasn't expecting to uncover the knotweed by the end of the day's expedition, the adventurers made a few eclectic discoveries along the way. Their collection of woodland litter ranged from a shopping basket and a running shoe to a hi-fi stack system and even a wasp nest. One of the wasps took a particular dislike to Kash and made its feelings known with a sting, leaving her with a painful ankle that hindered both her walking and running for the rest of the day.

At the end of the corridor they had cut through the undergrowth, awaited "a house" - a wild camping site complete with a carpet, a table and seating. In the middle of that house, Sevan discovered another "house", and a rather bizarre one: a bird cage, which was an unusual sight in the middle of the woods, where one might expect freedom rather than confinement.

After reaching the "house", Mike suggested cutting an alternative route back, making sure both banks of Costons Brook were cleared in case the stream started flowing again with the arrival of autumn. The fallen logs and trees along the return route had to be carefully removed, one by one, until the team reached the main cleared path again.

"Grove Farm doesn't want to let you leave." - Mike.

Eventually, the nature reserve released the GoodGymers to do good elsewhere. But they promised to return in July to continue their mission, hopefully without any more heatwaves!

Believe it or not, this was actually my first run of the week because of the hot weather. Fortunately, the run to the shop for Mr G was well worth it - South Acton turned out to be much breezier than South Ealing, while Chiswick was even better in that regard, especially Sainsbury's, where the air conditioning was a welcome relief.

There were no special cooling-down items on Mr G's shopping list, just the usual products, including an additional bag of walnut halves.

In total, I ran about 6.5 km, with a cooling break along the way, and survived. I now feel ready for a weekend full of running and missions. Bring it on!

As I stood at the exit of Tottenham Court Road station, waiting at the traffic lights under the full glare of the sun, I looked up at the billboard for The Devil Wears Prada musical. My face was burning in the heat, and the combination of the blazing sunshine, the high temperature, and the diabolical advertisement felt somewhat infernal. It seemed as though the green light would never come and that I would be stranded there forever, unable to cross the road and reach the welcome shade on the other side. Eventually, however, the lights changed, and I continued on my way.

The rest of my walk to Bloomsbury to meet Ms F was mostly shaded, although it still took me a little longer than usual in the heat. When I arrived, Ms F excitedly informed me that her favourite supermarket, Waitrose, had just reopened following a refurbishment. Apparently, there were giveaways and food tastings taking place to celebrate the reopening, but all I was interested in was the air conditioning.

I was welcomed into Waitrose by a blast of cool air - though not quite as cool as I had hoped - and an entirely new store layout. While the redesign was arguably more intuitive, it made finding oatcakes surprisingly difficult. The promised freebies were nowhere to be seen. And then came the final blow: the cheese counter ceased to exist. No more Cornish Yarg for Ms F!

Once I had worked out where everything (apart from the cheese) was, I found myself carrying a six-pack of 1.5-litre bottles of Buxton water in one hand and almost the same weight in groceries in the other. Together, they amounted to at least a third of my body weight. The climb to Ms F's flat on the fifth floor was much easier than anticipated, given the heat. Sadly, no amount of resilience and physical fitness could compensate for the loss of the cheese counter.

The session at Hanger Hill Tiny Forest was the final event in GoodGym Ealing's London Climate Action Week agenda, organised in partnership with Earthwatch Europe. Over the course of the week, we surveyed three of the Tiny Forests planted within the last two years across the borough, helping Earthwatch monitor biodiversity and track the development of these young urban forests.

On a very hot Tuesday evening, we decided not to go ahead with the planned group run ahead of our task. Having assessed the risks posed by the extreme heat, we opted instead for a lighter approach to the session. Steph Ducat and Kash walked together to the task, while Amy arrived by bike. Everyone came well prepared with plenty of water to stay hydrated.

Compared with our wildlife surveys in Southall and Cuckoo Park, Hanger Hill appeared to host slightly fewer butterflies and insects. There could be several explanations for this. The forest had fewer flowering plants than the other sites, making it less attractive to pollinators. We were also surveying in the evening rather than around midday, when insect activity is often higher. Or perhaps, in the midst of the extreme heat, the insects had sensibly decided to stay out of the sun and keep cool.

While insect numbers seemed lower, the trees themselves were thriving. In fact, Hanger Hill Tiny Forest appeared to have the tallest and densest tree growth of any Tiny Forest we have surveyed this year. There were also noticeably fewer weeds and grasses competing with the young trees than at the other sites, suggesting the forest is developing particularly well.

Unfortunately, most of the tiles normally used to protect the ground dwellers had been removed from their original positions and stacked together at the edge of the forest. This limited Steph's search, but he still managed to find ants, larvae and a spider beneath the few remaining tiles. Amy, who described herself as a beginner in wildlife identification, took on the butterfly survey and did a great job identifying species with the help of Earthwatch's guide. Meanwhile, Kash completed the pollinator survey, recording mostly flies and other small insects rather than the bees and bumblebees we had seen elsewhere.

With the survey finished and the sun only beginning to dip lower in the sky, the team headed home on foot and by bike. Some of us even made it back in time to watch the football!

Next Tuesday, with temperatures hopefully returning to something more reasonable, we'll be resuming our runs and heading to a different corner of the borough. We'll be visiting the William Hobbayne Centre in Hanwell to help tidy and weed the back garden ahead of an event the charity is hosting the following weekend. We'd love to see you there!