The less than clement weather this evening didn't stop 8 intrepid GoodGymers from donning their cagoules and heading over to Surbiton Library for some extreme gardening. The task was to empty out two ivy root filled planters to enable them to be refilled with cleaner soil ready for planting.

What a wash out! The weather was stormy from the get go with lightning in the distance and heavy rain starting soon after we arrived. We were even treated to a bit of hail too! This was just a mere distraction (kind of) to us GoodGymers as we set to the heavy work of emptying the beds. Mattoxes and shovels flying all around, we managed to fill four big ton bags with waste and were thankful of the run home to warm up!

A big congrats to Marie-Noelle who was celebrating her 50th good deed this evening - amazing work!

Tuesday's group run got us up the hill to Surbiton Library where we met the walkers and the cyclists. A great turn out which was much appreciated as we had some heavy work to do. The ivy in the planters had got 2/3 foot deep and the poor plants were trying hard as they could but were struggling to get through the mass of roots and stems. It was our job to get rid of as much ivy as possible and free the plants.

With great gusto we grabbed loppers, secateurs and mattox and got to work. It took great effort to give the planters a haircut but we really got into it with our head torches in the dark. Once we shorn the first planter within an inch of its life we split into two teams with the first team continuing to get out as much of the root mass as possible and the second to start the process again with the other planter. So many hands did indeed make light work and we started the tidy up process well within the hour. Three massive sacks of green waste was produced from the two planters and 11 very delighted GoodGym volunteers!

We are looking forward to the next session where we empty out more of the planters so we can refill with good soil and then the planting can be done. Join us for the next session at Surbiton Library

This evening's mission was to carry on with the great work GoodGym have carried out previously in and around the flowerbeds @ Surbiton Library. 9 avid weeders came together to crack on with the dandelion-plucking, litter-picking, flowerbed-tidying, broom-sweeping and lavender-pruning.

The enthusiasm we were all showing was obviously infectious as our numbers soon increased to 10 as a passerby appreciated our efforts so much he got involved himself! To be seen again (more formally) in another task soon we hope.

It's always amazing what can be achieved in an hour with many busy hands - what a transformation. From stacked with rubbish and weeds at 7pm to super-clean and tidy at 8. Excellent work team!

This week Emma, Jade, Jorge, Rachel and Dave met at the Quaker Centre to start their group run. A half lap of Fairfield Park and up the hill to Surbiton Library – the hill never seems to get any easier but Strava tells me that my time is getting quicker so the training is paying off!

We met up with Jana, Tom, Larissa, Laurel and Marie-Noelle at Surbiton Library, did a round of introductions and got straight to it. Our plan for this evening was to remove yet more ivy but on the other side of the path and have a general tackle of the weeds that had started to grow round the building. Glendale had kindly brought us some more plants so we could plant them in the gaps that we had created from removing the ivy.

The hour passed quickly – lots of work, lots of laughs. No broken spades this week as we had a mattox to mash up the thick ivy roots which made their removal so much easier. We finished up within the hour and said our goodbyes to some of the group and the rest of us went to the Albion for our monthly social.

A big welcome to Larissa who made it out on her second task tonight. Lovely to meet you – thank you for all your hard work. See you all soon!

Affter 5 Km run, ten Goodgymers went to the rescue of the Surbiton library to polish and beautify the outdoor areas. A pleasing task that was dived in three teams to optimise the time and get rid of ivy that affects the plants.

The chores consisted in untangling the ivy, weeding, sweeping, litter picking, tidying up with useful tools like brooms, forks, spades etc, which the group carried out with success.

Thanks to Petra that brought Easter chocolate eggs and hope to meet us again for a new task.

After hearing the news that Kingston GG is reaching new heights in accumulating new members and listing new missions, Rachel led the team to the loft heights of Surbiton Library. Ivy - the plant not the person - had taken strangle hold of the plants out of the front and needed some classic GoodGym treatment. 7 of us hacked and pulled and bagged at least 6 bags of it all from one side, but after looking up and around it was clear that this was just round one.

Welcome back to Emma on her 3rd mission and don't forget all to check out more missions for this weekend and April too.