Soussi abdellah went on his first GoodGym community mission helping the Friends group at Stephens House and Gardens.

I arrived at the session and was warmly welcomed by one of the volunteers, who introduced me to the others, including Noah and Catherine.

We then went into the garden and spent the morning removing weeds from under the trees, working until around midday. After we finished, they kindly invited me to join them for a cup of tea. I stayed for a short while before heading back for lunch.

It was a really enjoyable and rewarding morning. It felt good to do something useful, and the setting itself is beautiful, historic, and a lovely place to spend time.

Photo of the wonderful wisteria on the turret at the café

Weather was a bit nippy but pleasant when sun was out. Anna from Energy Gardens was joined by a couple of the regular local volunteers, Lisa and Margaret , by Paul and Subham from GoodGym and also Abdellah. We planted some tomato plants and other plants as well as deadheaded and cleared some of the plants that were on their way out. Great to see many of the seedlings now are growing plants and the artichokes look especially good! As always, we received many heartfelt thanks from many commuters as well as were told we were an inspiration.