Last night a small but perfectly formed group gathered in Hounslow for an evening of riverside litter-picking. We were especially happy to welcome Thaty to her very first Hounslow run – hopefully the first of many!

After a quick briefing, we headed down towards the riverside to find litter pickers waiting for us. Once equipped, we got straight to work.

The haul was sadly familiar: plastic bottles, food wrappers, crisp packets and assorted bits of everyday rubbish. Most frustrating of all was the microplastic – those tiny fragments that seem to be everywhere . They're fiddly to collect and impossible to completely eradicate, but every piece removed is one less piece making its way through the ecosystem.

The scale of the challenge is huge. Research has found microplastics in every major UK river tested, while studies on the Thames have shown that small plastic fragments and films make up the vast majority of plastic pollution found in the water. Plastic bottles remain one of the most common items found in waterways, with food wrappers not far behind.

There's always a moment during a litter pick when you realise there is far more rubbish than you'll ever clear in a single session. But that's not really the point. We can only do so much in an hour, yet every bag filled improves the area, protects wildlife and makes the riverside a little bit better than we found it. Small actions, repeated often, add up.

With our bags collected and our good deed done, it was time to get back to base - with a little extra competition of course. We finished with stretches before several headed to the pub to catch the football and enjoy a well-earned post-task snack.

Looking ahead, this weekend is absolutely packed with community mission opportunities. There are too many to mention individually, but do check out the missions page where you can help marshal WLQP's annual walk, lend a hand at the canal festival, or get stuck into some balsam bashing on Chiswick Eyot. So much choice, and something for everyone.

On a blowy Wednesday evening, we ran up to Popesfield Allotments to continue work on a task that Breda, Maxime and Gus had already made a great start on a few weeks back.

The allotments are managed by Cultivate London, an organisation that creates and supports community growing spaces across west London. Their work helps local people access green space, learn gardening skills, improve biodiversity and grow food locally, making sites like Popesfield a valuable resource for the community.

Our mission for the evening was to empty three large compost beds - or at least make some inroads into the huge piles! The compost itself looked rich and healthy, but unfortunately the tenants had been adding plants infected with blight and other contaminated material. That meant the compost couldn't be reused and needed clearing out completely.

The wheelbarrows were, at best, temperamental. At worst, they seemed actively opposed to the task. There were plenty of spills along the way, but we soon established an effective chain, shovelling, barrowing and emptying at a steady pace. Despite the logistical challenges, we managed to shift an impressive amount of material over the course of the session.

The allotments were buzzing with biodiversity with plenty of woodlice and worms, and as we revealed more of the compost's inhabitants a clever robin appeared and wasted no time taking advantage of the freshly turned soil. It boldly hopped around grabbing as many bugs as it possibly could. It seemed entirely unbothered by our presence and happily watched us while enjoying its feast.

With the compost beds looking much less full, we headed off into the evening. Next week we're back at Chiswick House See you then!

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!

Kymm and I arrived at Waterman's Park in the May sunshine ready to get stuck in helping local volunteers to maintain the green space.

We were joined by Gus and Luis and were briefed on today's tasks; give the dragon path that the volunteers have created in the middle of the park another trim to keep the shape, or weeding and pulling up lots of long grass threatening to steal all the light from the plants.

In the warm sunshine and with the ground dry from lack of rain it was thirsty work. The volunteers were happy to have our help and assured us several plants would now survive with more access to sunlight, and hopefully a long drink.

We needed cold drinks after an hour in the sunshine, before Gus headed over to Hanwell Hootie and the rest of us headed home for a lie down!