It has been a while since we headed to St Christopher's in East Twickenham, but we know the place well! Their amazing huge garden and front drive look very grand but need frequent maintenance to prevent weeds and plants taking over, making it look unkempt and making stairs and patios risky to walk on. Between the lot of us we swept up, scrapped moss, cut back bushes, weeded and put the waste in the compost for a good hour. There is always more to do there but it does feel satisfying to see things tidied up.

The task owner was very grateful for our efforts and we felt pretty good about them too!

Three GGers were thrilled to be given indoor tasks at St Christopher’s on this rather damp and breezy Saturday morning.

First up, sanding down a large table to prepare it for a nice pre-Christmas revarnish. Next, we cleared items out from an old storage room and helped move a desk in to create a private consultation and counselling space.

Finally, we tested our Tetris skills finding space for some donated crockery in the kitchen cupboards. Bodies and brains well flexed, we shipped out to our various other weekend activities including birthday cake, hibernation, and yet more tidying.

Looking forward to our next visit already!

On our latest visit to this children's home in St Margarets, GG was tasked with giving the large rear garden a bit of attention. Firstly, Sam, Steph and the returning James were joined on Richmond Green by Chris and Anita for a couple of laps followed by a run across the lock bridge to the task, where we met Honor, Adam and JP. St Christopher's had no specific gardening job they needed doing so we used our wit and Anita's expertise to find improvements to make to their lovely green space.

Tasks included removing the bindweed convolvulus from a number of plants and shrubs, cutting away brambles and reordering the shed. It was a fine summery evening for keeping fit and doing good!

The heat may have been huge, but the desire to GoodGym on a Monday eve is bigger!

Starting with a warm up in Richmond, we headed across the green and down to the river to run across the lock and back along the river on the north bank into East Twickenham, turning in to St Christopher's Fellowship.

We are very familiar with the garden there and get on with weeding, litter picking, cutting back and sorting out without needing instruction! The brambles had been weaving their way around everything and weeds were clearly loving the heavy rain followed by sunshine, until we turned up!

45 minutes later the large garden felt more under control again, even if our own temperatures were not so much!

We are back there next month to keep on top of the summer growth.

A chatty run along a very quiet riverside this evening as we welcomed Zak to his first experience with GoodGym during his visit from Bristol. 😁

Our destination was St Christopher's Fellowship in East Twickenham where we often go to help in their large and quite unruly garden. We made a plan for ourselves with some extensive weeding in the vegetable patch and against the main building, Anita's monumental effort sorting out the compost heap and plenty of tidying up in the front drive.

A successful 45 minutes later, everything looked more manicured, even if our gloved hands did not!

Is it too early to get excited for spring? At this task we got very excited when the fog lifted and we were enjoying blue skies with beautiful sunshine. At St Christopher’s, we were clearing an area of weeds and cutting back shrubs and trees. Closer to spring time, St Christopher’s will be planting new plants and vegetables. We enjoyed spending time here and then went off to get a coffee in Marble Hill Park.