Monday evening saw the return of GoodGym Richmond to the Lynde House care home, one of our favourite places to help out in the local area and where we have previously built a free-standing flowerbed, removed cobwebs from awnings, varnished benches and put up Christmas lights.

Gitana had a new task for us this time, which was to help several of the residents in a session of flower arranging. But before we got going with that, we were asked to plant some pansies outside the front entrance to the home to brighten up the flowerbed there.

The flower arranging took place in the back garden, where six of the residents gathered in the warm evening air. We were provided with flowers including carnations and some greenery gathered from the gardens of the care home. We worked with the residents to help them select the stems they wanted to include in their arrangement and cut them to size for the vase. Everyone was very pleased with the results, with the arrangements being taken inside to brighten up the residents' bedrooms.

There was plenty of chat going on, with many congratulations sent Lucy's way for her successful completion of the London Marathon on Sunday - she even had the medal with her to show everyone. All in all a great mission in which we brightened up Lynde House in more ways than one!

Six GoodGymers turned up to tackle the litter along the roads across Petersham Common with help from Sky (child) and Julia (friend of Petersham Common). We set about to tackle the mostly car thrown litter and soon found lots from pillows, bedside table, hubcaps, bottles and crisp packs galore. In less than an hour we had numerous bags full of litter (sadly there is lots more!). Well done to Sky for finding the hubcap and her enthusiasm was infections as she handed out the chocolate chip cookies at the end to all the GoodGymers! Thanks to all for coming out and making a difference!