Best-laid plans often go awry... and tonight was one of these times. Our resilient leader Rachel had organised two tasks for the evening (as our little group is not so little anymore!) but alas one fell through at the last minute so all 13 of us ended up together at Claremont Gardens in Surbiton. Fortunately the task here was big enough to take us all and then some.

We all congregated by the dried up pond in Claremont Gardens and task owner Georgina explained that the pond needed to be stripped back of rubbish, sticks, logs and dead/unnecessary reeds so that it could be filled up again. The liner had unfortunately failed which meant, even after all the rain fall of 2026 so far, the pond was mostly dry.

Many hands really were needed for this task as there was a whole load to do. Sticks and logs were collected from the pond bed and turned into a bug hotel up on the bank; reeds were pulled up from the driest parts; Dead vegetation was removed; huge clumps of reed roots were extracted and swathes of grass were dug up, roots and all. We found a few of our amphibious friends along the way and made sure that they hopped off to a safe spot.

The hour flew by and we made great progress. The next step is to fill the pond and hope that our work means that the water holds this time! There's plenty more work to do in and around the pond so hopefully we'll be back to check it out again sometime soon.

Kingston GoodGym has a long history with the communal garden at Vine Close, which we helped clear ahead of its redesign from the very beginning. It's so satisfying to see how far it has come to the relacing setting and the beautiful pond teeming with wildlife it is today.

Georgina, the biodiversity officer from Kingston, was on hand to get us started and help with nature advice.

Jonathan, Laurel and Marcos got stuck into removing invasive plants around the banks and even made a tiny new frog friend.

Claire, Emma and Adam helped tidy up the surrounding garden and plant pots while Tom and Laura somehow managed to avoid wet feet clearing duckweed from the pond.

Everything looked great afterwards, and we could even see a few newts in the - temporarily - clear pond. A lovely task on a perfect spring evening.

Congrats to all who got out there this week and did that little bit to improve your local environment. It's amazing what a little bit of time litter-picking can do to an area, making it a more enjoyable space for everyone. Go team!

Out we went this week with our litter pickers and tidied up our parks and streets. Well done to all those that got out and about.

A trash-tastic DIY mission to do a bit of good to our local environment, wherever we may be. Thanks for all those who got out there and battled storm Goretti to get the job done!

With 2026 just about up and running, so were GoodGymers from all over the country, picking up litter in their local area. Great that so many folk got involved in this task - what an excellent way to start the new year. Keep up the excellent work all!