Emma and I nearly had a "specsavers moment" (other brands of eye tests are available) when we got to Mrs E's lift lobby to start today's mission...one lift was definitely out of order, and the other seemed very quiet...fortunately it was working, and when we got in we discovered it was of the extra large variety too.

Mrs E was so very grateful for our help - especially as she's currently sleeping on one of the armchairs in her living room, and only once we'd removed the sofa could she get her new one delivered which would make her life more comfortable.

After a bit of the usual furniture Tetris, we got the sofa out of the (wide) front door, into the lift and thanks to a helpful man on the door, out into the disposal area. We returned quickly to take the one remaining armchair down that Mrs E wanted rid of, said goodbye to her tiny kitten, and wished her well with her new furniture.

The deliveroo man in the lift was probably surprised to find himself sharing the space with an armchair - we were just both very glad we weren't taking the stairs...

After noticing Nelly had signed up during the day, Sam rushed home from work as he needed to get a vital GG item...as when everyone arrived at Old Spike Peckham and Sam went through his usual speech, he announced that it was Nelly's 100th good deed tonight! He brought out the wings for her to wear as well as the customary party hat, balloon and no ginger cake this time, but lemon cake instead.

Although, Sam did mention his ice-breaker question which was to do with National Allotment Week and National Relaxation Day, which was happening the next day: "What would you grow in an allotment?" and "What do you do at the end of a working week to unwind?"

Everyone had named every fruit and vegetable possible, but David does have an allotment and really wants to grow Brussel Sprouts. For the relaxation question, people answered from going to the gym to meditation and yoga. There were also a couple of people mentioning a stiff drink.

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Sides and back: a hedge trim

After a quick warm-up in the alleyway, Sam led the group out through the backstreets of Peckham and climbed up Chadwick to reach the top and head down the other side towards Camberwell. Paulin backmarked the run and we met Phil and Emma at the task as they had cycled there. Also, Rebecca walked over from her flat, five minutes away.

Zulieka and her girls called us over from the Wildlife Triangle as some residents had already got going on a big hedge that needed some trimming. We split the team in three as Zulieka needed three tasks to be done:

• Emma, Steve, David, Cecilia and Rosalind took a pair of loppers each and proceeded to help the residents shape this big hedge.
• Nelly, Isaac, Nathan and Paulin took four watering cans to water the plants around the estate.
• Phil, Emma, Rebecca and Sam were the last group to be given a task as Zulieka directed them to a tonne bag of soil that needed to be emptied out into a corner as the soil was surplus.

All the tasks were done in on time with the team even taking the hedge trimmings and tools back to Elmington's allotment for safe keeping. Zulieka was very pleased and can't believe next month will be our last for the year!

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out last night! It was our penultimate session at Elmington Community Garden for 2024 and we got a lot done. Thank you to Paulin for backmarking the runs.