It seemed straightforward. The Friends of Russell Square, one of Camden's many historic areas, had arranged a delivery of mulch for spreading over the plant beds. Mulch retains moisture in the soil, suppresses weeds, keeps soil cool, prevents it swelling in winter, and makes the garden bed look good.

One snag - the heavy bags of mulch were delivered to the opposite side of the square from where the plant beds were. Enter GoodGym: runners from Westminster, Southwark and Tower Hamlets joined three Camdeners - including Rashmi, who walked down from Tufnell Park to take part in her first ever task - welcome Rashmi!

We spaded the mulch out of the bags, and using three wheelbarrows, established a relay system to transport it across the park, before spreading it over the beds in the North-East corner. The tasks were rotated for maximum efficiency, and after 90 minutes' work, much mulch had been laid. A further task was arranged for next Saturday - Boxing Day - until the Tier 4 announcement later in the afternoon put a spade in the works. But we'll be back in 2021.

(Apologies to Emily who isn't in any of the photos!)

And we are back (again!)

Many thanks to Joel for all his efforts in getting these canal sessions back, they certainly make a difference as our 5 volunteers found today.

Meeting at the Canal & River Trust HQ at Little Venice, we collected buckets and pickers before heading out West.

Weaving our way through plenty of walkers and runners, we found the canal paths full of litter. Clearing all that we can in an action packed hour, it is safe to say that we made a difference ahead of the Festive period.

Well done to all those involved!

Great!

3 of us met to go to battle with Mr G’s front and back garden. We cleared rubbish, trimmed down plants, dug up weeds, tackled thorny bushes and even cleared an apple tree.

We were so in the thick of it that we stayed an extra 50 minutes and had lost track of time!