At GoodGym Hounslow we're practically experts at planting bulbs now! The team kicked off the season by putting in daffs at Chiswick House, last week we were brightening up the High Rd with tulips and last night we were back at Harvard Hill to plant 300 narcissus bulbs. By next week, when we go to Gunnersbury tube to help Abundance get yet more bulbs in the ground we'll be a finely tuned planting machine!

We met with one of the lead volunteers of Friends of Harvard Hill, who handed over the tools and bulbs and gave us instructions about where they all needed to go. Luckily the ground wasn't totally frozen, although it was certainly nippy conditions last night! It was great to meet our favourite project manager, Sybil the Cat, at the task. She kindly oversaw our work making sure our planting was paw purrfection.

After 40 minutes of hard graft, we had got to the bottom of the sack. There was just one more thing to do to ensure we didn't get too chilly - a lower body blast. We kicked off with pogos, moving on to curtesy lunges, jack lunges and squats before calling it a night. Job well done!

This Saturday we have a mission with Trees for Cities - you can find all the details and sign up here

Finally, a huge congratulations to Maxime who, last weekend made it to that magic milestone - 50 good deeds! What an achievement - great to see you in your black tshirt Maxime!

There was plenty of chat pre-task about whether we would be planting bulbs in the snow last night, but that didn't stop a group of be-thermalled GoodGymers turning up to help out with the second half of a big task last night. Just goes to show that GG Hounslow is made of sterner stuff!

So, after a much needed warm up at the town hall, we ran down to meet Abundance London for the second part of our mammoth task to plant thousands of bulbs on Chiswick High Rd. The plan is that the spring flowers will deter passers-by from throwing rubbish in the beds, to improve biodiversity next to a busy road, and to cheer up the place with a splash of colour!

Last week we had spent some time clearing away the leaves and doing a bit of weeding. Not only did this prep the area for planting but it made sure the pavement had fewer slip risks from the wet leaves. We grabbed our shovels and bulbs and started work.

There were established plants to get in, tulips, daffs and narcissus, and a limited period before we lost all feeling in our fingers. There was no time to lose!

With hundreds of bulbs to go in, and we dug and planted steadily. By the time we had finished, Karen from Abundance London said that we had saved them days of work! Well done everybody.

Don't forget about the session this Saturday at the Bend it like Beckham task and next week we're back at Harvard Hill - see you there!

7 GoodGymers joined forces with the CHGT Kitchen Garden volunteers on a chilly Saturday morning, to help with their annual bulb planting work. Gardener Sally showed us to the slope around the front of the Conservatory where the plan was to get 4000 crocus, narcissus, tulip bulbs into the ground. Sally gave us a demonstration of making a “flap” in the soil to drop a few bulbs into, before patting down the earth. She made it look very easy!

We split into pairs, taking a segment of lawn each, the scattered a flower pot full of bulbs to create a natural planting scheme. Armed with a variety of tools and kneelers, we got to work shovelling as many bulbs as we could into the ground, while avoiding the many worms that popped up to say hello.

We welcomed Ros to her first GoodGym session, who came well prepared with gloves and bulb planting tools! After a good hour making our way along the bank, the job was done. All that was left to do was head to the cafe to celebrate Maxime hitting his 50th good deed milestone! Congratulations Maxime, what a fantastic achievement 💚

Today, Luis and I returned to visit Ms H and help her out in the garden. We got to work clearing the garden path and cutting back a shrub that had started to grow over the neighbour’s fence. Ms H made us tea and biscuits, which we enjoyed during a little break. While we sat in Ms H’s conservatory and Luis worked extra hard not to nod off in the warm autumn sunshine we chatted about and some of our favourite places to travel. Ms H had travelled to so many wonderful places with her late husband and it was lovely to hear her memories of their adventures. We had such a nice time we forgot to take any before or after photos so here’s a photo of the biscuits Ms H likes to offer when Goodgymers visit.

Last night featured a collab with This Girl Can to highlight the #Lift the Curfew campaign, a mega skip challenge, and GG Hounslow becoming a media sensation - all in one evening! You can't say we don't pack it in at GoodGym sessions.

Our task was at Strand on the Green school, where the plan is to create a safe pathway from the tarmac to the field for the children. To do this the caretaker needed to clear a lot of unwanted items into a hired skip. This is where we came in!

First, we met at the gates of the school with Jasmira, from Sport England. She gave us an introduction to the Lift the Curfew initiative, which aims to raise awareness about the safety issues women face when getting active in darker months and to help reduce the barriers to exercising. This is something that we definitely support, as

Everybody has the right to run

Jasmira was there to take some footage of us hard at work - so we got to work! There was loads to shift, from heavy wooden structures, to plastic fencing, weird massive hanging baskets and even a traffic cone (a nice reminder of our student days. You can see it perched atop the skip in the photos!)

It was quite the workout, but when the skip was eventually filled we still had just a little bit more energy left for our fitness session. This week it was Halloween themed, packed with silly spooky moves but still guaranteed to work all the major muscle groups!

Shout out to Luis, Emily and Lucy who put in star turns in front of the camera. Can't wait to hear your wise words go viral.

We've got a couple of lovely missions coming up - can you help?

• On Saturday 15th November we're off to do a massive bulb planting challenge at Chiswick House

• On Saturday 22nd November we have the opportunity to help out at the field where Bend it like Beckham was filmed with an exciting task trimming and maintaining a 100 metre hedge!