I helped cut back Mrs R's garden so that she can enjoy the summer.

The GoodGym Lambeth crew were out in force this week, and what a force they were! 💥

Our merry band of do-gooders assembled at the legendary Papa’s HQ, laced up their trainers, and set off for a quick loop around the block before getting stuck into some seriously satisfying border edging back at base. 🏃‍♂️💨

Now, some people might think border edging sounds like a snooze. Those people have clearly never seen THIS lot with a spade. 😤🔥

Our small but perfectly formed squad — Tilly, Michael, Dan, Ben, Marie-Noelle, and a very special welcome to first-timer Alfie 🎉🍾 — absolutely smashed it from start to finish. Six heroes. One mission. Zero untidy borders. 🌱

A MASSIVE shoutout has to go to the one, the only, Tilly 🦸‍♀️ who stepped up as run leader this evening while the usual boss was away. She kept the troops in line, the pace on point, and the vibes absolutely immaculate. We’re not saying she was born to lead… but she was born to lead. 🤩

Session well and truly nailed. 💪🏼 The borders have been edged, the kilometres have been run, and the community is just that little bit tidier thanks to you legends. 😱❤️

Check out the pics — they say a thousand words, but we think “flipping brilliant” just about covers it. 📸✨

See you next time, GoodGym Lambeth! 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️💚

Helped Ms G in the house moving some bags to go to the charity shops down stairs then headed out to the garden to weed the beds and patio

Sevan's story

Kash and Sevan's first E of the day, Mrs E, had them stumped for a while. Mrs E was moving out and had inherited items from a number of relatives who'd passed away. She needed to sort through the items that she'd inherited before moving so she needed to get access to them.

All of the clothes to be sorted were in the loft and Mrs E was sure that the pole to open the loft hatch was nearby. Kash and Sevan hunted high and low and there was no sign of it. They were stuck, so they thought about alternatives.

1. Could one give the other a punt up to the high ceiling? Maybe, but one of them wasn't keen
2. Could they create a makeshift pole from things lying around? Apparently not
3. Did Mrs E have a ladder? Yes!

Kash went to find Mrs E's step ladder and returned with something very short, leaving Sevan still 20cm away from unlocking the hatch. Mrs E said that there was a bigger ladder hiding somewhere, which Kash found. It was so tall that Kash could reach the high ceiling herself and drop the ladder down.

Finally able to start the search for clothes in the loft, Sevan climbed up and looked around, finding lots of bags and suitcases. Some were empty, some contained documents, one was full of video tapes and plenty had clothing, curtains and blankets. Mrs E's priority were the last groups, so those fabrics were slowly moved into Mrs E's spare bedroom.

Mrs E believed that there wasn't much more in the loft, except for some pots and pans. Kash and Sevan brought them down too, plus 48 toilet rolls that Mrs E wouldn't otherwise be able to get to.

There were still plenty of items left in the loft, so Sevan described what was there and showed Mrs E some photos. She was surprised as she thought that the GoodGymers had more or less emptied the space.

Kash and Sevan closed the loft hatch the same way that they'd opened it and walked to their next E of the day. Ms E, who lived not too far away.

Kash's story

A black and white cat jumped off the bed as Mrs E got up to search for a stick to open the loft. The attic hid years of history the lady hadn’t seen for a long time - and probably wasn’t looking forward to seeing. The previous year was a devastating time, when Mrs E, already struck with illness, lost several family members, and now had to move out of the property. And now that stick - the key to the past that had to leave the house together with Mrs E - was nowhere to be found.

Two strangers who came all the way from West London to help Mrs E, and introduced themselves as Sevan and Kash, couldn’t find the stick either. But they had an idea. A long step ladder they found in the kitchen let them reach the high ceiling and open the treasury of Mrs E's family history. The lady asked them to bring down any clothes, bedding, glassware and dishes they could find in the loft and organise them into suitcases and black bags to keep in one of the bedrooms.

The carrier bags currently storing the belongings in the attic were so fragile that they’ve been falling apart in Sevan and Kash’s hands before making it to the lower floor. But the two had ideas to remedy that, and patiently repacked the items into sturdier bags that could be safely carried down.

Ninety minutes of problem-solving and moving things around brought the most important items to the spare bedroom for Mrs E to go through. That concluded the first chapter of reviving the family history. Mrs E was grateful to have people to help her with what would otherwise be impossible on her difficult journey to the past. Video cassettes, lampshades, carpets and bags of sandpaper will have to wait in the loft for the next adventurers who will dare to venture to the further corners of Mrs E’s past.

Ms E had been living in her house for more than thirty years, but over the last three, she had been battling to have two tall trees trimmed. The trees had been growing in the neighbouring property, but kept dropping large branches regardless of the boundaries, even destroying Ms E's shed in the past. After years of anticipation, the overgrown branches finally came down, but - with them - a few planks off Ms E's fence.

The lady requested GoodGym's help with the repair, and Sevan and Kash from West London responded to the call. The task was a puzzle for all three, who were trying to figure out what the fence looked like before the neighbour's makeshift fixes, what parts were missing, what they could be replaced with, and how to piece together broken planks. After a lot of thought and trying things out, three planks found their place back on the fence, concealing an unsightly gap. The rest could no longer be attached to anything, and the GoodGymers had to give up there.

The remaining time of the mission was used to pull out and bag blue alkanet and trim a neighbouring plant invading Ms E's garden. Ms E concluded that GoodGym's help was brilliant, and even the presence of people coming to help her cheered her up!

Prepared new stock to be handed over tomorrow morning when the food bank reopens after the Easter holidays.