The weather looked like it was threatening to rain as Liam and Vikky met at the Hope Street suitcases, but luckily the downpour held off. ensuring they didn't bother arrive drenched following their run to the task.

Upon arrival, the team grew to seven strong as they met Bekah, Sallyann, Miriam, Dike and Laura. Armed with tools and ready to roll, the group got straight to work tackling the out of control weeds in both the front car park and along the driveway running down the side of the building.

It was no easy task, with one particular section requiring all of our weed destroying skills. Through great teamwork however, every single overgrown patch was defeated. By the time the session wrapped up, the green bin was overflowing with weeds, leaving the area looking neat, tidy, and welcoming.

A lovely task to start the week, swift run, great company, and a very satisfying result for a hugely important local charity!

Having been unable to ride for a few weeks, I was pleased to have a reason to get out on my bike, and do some good!

Bekah and I were tasked with moving a sofa in order to create space for a hospital bed so that Mr R can return to his family home, which until recently he shared with his wife, and at 92, he will have very many happy memories there.

A friend and neighbour of Mr R, Brian, was at the house to allow us entry and give us some useful information.

A quick appraisal of the situation soon led us to the conclusion that the sofa was not going to fit through the doorway. Brian informed us that in fact, the living room window had to be removed in order to accommodate the three piece suite when it was originally delivered.

After some discussion, it was clear that the only sensible thing was to take the bed out of the room instead. Brian told us that it had come from the back bedroom and could go back there.

Having tried and failed to contact the referrer to update them, Bekah spoke with GG Mission Control and it was agreed that the best course of action was to complete the task by removing the bed, create the space, and allow Mr R to return home without further delay.

So, after about 30 minutes of deliberation, discussion, and debate, measuring doorways, furniture and angles, the task was completed in a relatively short time.

Bekah and I were happy to have completed the task, but it did remind us of how important it is to have clear lines of communication and access to support when needed.

We wish Mr R all the best with his recovery and return home.

On a finally cool summer evening, Goodgym assembled at St James Gardens to get to work giving the park a bit of a spruce up.

We divided into three teams: Bekah and Sallyann on the litter picking, Ellie, Dina and Clara on the weeding and Naser and Vikky on bench varnishing duty.

We were joined by Friends of St James Gardens who provided fun facts (like what a pineapple weed is) and witty jokes (a lorry carrying Strepsils overturned on the motorway; there was no congestion).

We soon got 'into the groove' of the task, quite literally in the case of the weeding, whereby we were digging up weeds between the paving slabs. Likewise the varnishing team successfully varnished two of the newly installed (and very nice looking) benches for years to come by very carefully applying Varnish into all the 'grooves'. Even the litter picking duo conquered the 'grooves' of the park, retrieving litter from some of the nooks and crannies.

All in all, after two benches varnished, two bin bags filled and a good chunk of patio was weeded, we called it a night and said our goodbyes before heading off in our various directions until next week!

We were asked to help Ms Y cut back her blackberry bush to maintain her tenancy. When I arrived Miriam and Ms Y were already chatting away, Ms Y was telling Miriam all about the local seagull, Sammy, who comes to visit her twice a day. After short introductions, and a warning it was "a big job", we headed into the back garden where Ms Y announced "Welcome to the jungle!".

The bramble had indeed taken over the majority of the right hand side of the garden. After a super quick pow wow on approach ("I think we just dive in"), we did just that. Miriam took one side of the garden and I took the other. In the distance and mostly hidden by bramble we could see Ms Y's Greenhouse - she wanted to be able to access it again to fix a tear in the roof so it remains waterproof.

I'll be honest, we're generally super efficient at GoodGym but I wasn't holding out much hope for 2 of us being able to get rid of all that bramble in 90 mins. I thought we'd make a really good stab of it, get a good dent gone, but potentially have to report to the referrer that more help was needed. Nonetheless, we cracked on and started to do what we could.

It was slow going work. The brambles were so twisted, gnarly and tough it took a long time to make any headway. We could both completely see how they're apparently carnivorous plants - we were getting battered! They kept attaching themselves to my shirt, shoes, leggings, skin... Miriam's excellent new gardening gloves made her feel invincible and she expertly whipped through the bramble, but as good as the gloves are, they can only help with what they cover, and her upper arms were super scratched.

Ms Y wouldn't even entertain the idea of sitting down and not helping us. Although not steady on her feet, she cut through the parts we'd hacked and made it easier to bag them up, helping us throughout the whole task. As she helped, she chatted, and told us all about the numerous cats who come into her garden (some hers, such as Guinness, who we met, some not hers), the pigeon who she feeds, and all the animals she's looked after over the years. It was lovely to hear how she has such a way with animals. The time flew as we chatted away, and before I knew it - the greenhouse was in reach! Buoyed by the tangible progress we'd made, we were determined to get through the last sections and spent the last half an hour clearing the way to the greenhouse with Miriam singlehandedly raising a forest of brambles over her head to take out to the green waste pile.

I was so glad Miriam remembered to get a 'before' picture to capture the difference. It really felt like a very good job well done and super valuable for Ms Y, who can now access her garden, the greenhouse, and keep on top of the garden before it becomes overgrown again. Ms Y clearly loves her outside areas and puts lots of love and thought into them, this was a good example of a one-off task which is really beneficial to help her get on top of it so she can now continue to maintain it.