What we lost in distance last night we more than made up for in productivity, positive impact and a bumper balancing session!

Our task for the evening was just across the road at Turnham Green, so we wasted no time heading over to the wild meadow where Jan from Friends of Turnham Green was waiting for us. Many of the tasks we do have an immediate impact - washing the Chiswick mural, uncovering the old pillars at Chiswick House or plastic picking at Kew Bridge, for example. This job was a little different as we were investing effort now so that come next spring, the area will - hopefully - be an amazing display of wild flowers for local people to enjoy.

Dividing up into pairs, we each took a 2 X 2 metre patch of recently mowed grass in the meadow area and began the laborious job of scarifying. For the uninitiated, this means pulling up all the loose grass and weeds to reveal the earth so that seeds can be spread. It is hard work, but ultimately satisfying - the pile of dead grass quickly grew to monster proportions.

Once that part of the task was complete, we moved on to the more delicate process of using a tablespoon to disperse the cornflower and poppy seeds far and wide. Let's keep our fingers crossed for rain to help them bed in, as if they so come up successfully next year it's going to be a glorious riot of colour.

All that was left was to use the GG red roller (very on brand) to complete their journey into the soil. Great work - can't wait to see the results!

Without a run this week we had plenty of time for a longer fitness session, this time focusing on balance for runners. And if last night was anything to go by, should Cirque de Soleil need any last minute stand-ins, GG Hounslow have plenty of candidates! As runners are constantly propelling their weight from one side to the other, good balance is important for stability and efficiency. It's definitely worth including some of the drills from last night into your weekly training.

Next week we have a new (woohoo) task. We're going to be going to a school in Brentford to help transform an overgrown space into a community growing space.

There is also a fun mission marshaling at local centenary celebrations on Saturday and setting up for a community event in a conservation area on Sunday - we definitely need a few more pairs of hands for these ones, so if you're free this weekend and want to do some good why not sign up?!

Before we kicked off our run last night, there was plenty of cheering to be done after a busy weekend of racing. We celebrated Florian and Lucy smashing the Big Half, and Jonny completing the triple at the Great North Run. Shout out to Jon for his 250 parkrun. Great running everybody! After some warming up, it was off to our task for the evening, just around the corner.

One of the benefits of going every three weeks to help out at Chiswick House is that we really feel the seasons change and gardens evolve. Last night our job was to clear brambles and ivy from some ancient pillars and stones so they can be repurposed, and there was a feeling of autumn rolling slowly in. The kitchen garden was full of giant sunflowers about to turn, the apples were ripening and there were blackberries for the picking.

We grabbed gloves, loppers and secateurs and began cutting away the overgrowth to reveal some beautiful old stone work. It was a satisfying job to do - have a look at the before and after shots to see what we uncovered! And watch out for the new placement of the pillars around the grounds soon...

It had started to drizzle so we took a brisk run back to Turnham Green where we saw off the night with a three minute mountain leg challenge. The idea is that this drill replicates a hill session - just without having to find any hills! With 90 seconds of step ups and reverse lunges per leg, this is a proper leg blast in an effectively short time.

We have a few community missions coming up which are looking a bit lonely! Can you help? On the 21st there is an opportunity to help out at a lovely community event at St Stephen's conservation area.

If you're up for a bit of saturday night fun, why not sign up for this centenary celebration mission in Gunnersbury? Not only is there the chance to help the community come together, but there is loads of fun stuff happening to enjoy at the same time!

It was a very damp transition into Autumn for the Hounslow GoodGymers, as they made their way to the final leaf clearing task with Cultivate London. The team quickly got stuck into filling bags with the final batch of leaf mulch and shifting it over to the prep area, where Steph made tipping and compressing leaves look easy!

There was considerable football chat as we got the final load of mulch cleared, ready for Cultivate to pack down the area. Bags were refilled as quickly as they could be taken away for emptying.

We also helped Cultivate with packing up soil bags, tidying pots, and clearing out the compost bins. And we were lucky enough that the rain held off for us, giving us a brief glimpse of a rainbow. To top it all off, we were even blessed with the company of Shadow, the neighborhood cat. After a swift and productive 90 minutes, we ran back towards the town hall for a good stretch.

With September on the horizon and the crunch of leaves underfoot, there were some proper back to school vibes at our task last night when we...er, went back to school.

Our job for the night was at Strand on the Green primary school, a place where we go and help out on a regular basis. However, unlike our normal visits, it was only as we got to the bridge near the entrance to the school did we find that the footbridge was closed! Luckily there was lots of local knowledge in the group and we soon opted for a slightly longer deviation.

We arrived to find loads of tools and armed with our set of instructions, we divided up into teams to tackle the various jobs. Emily, Maxime, Harvey, Matt and Jon got busy sanding down the metal trolleys so that they can be painted ready for the new term. It was painstaking work, but it's definitely going to breathe new life into the equipment.

Meanwhile Pippa was weeding and Michelle sweeping up the leaves and debris on the road, just as Eloise and Kymm snipped and pruned the hedge. Gus and Luis had the big guns out with the saw and trimmer, lopping off the tall sections of the overgrown bushes.

It's amazing what a team can achieve together. While everybody was working I was (trying) to work out how much time we would have saved the caretaker who manages the site. With 14 of us working for 45 minutes, that equates to 10.5 working hours - more than a full working day! What an impact.

There was just time to squeeze in a fitness session which featured AMRAP (as many reps as possible) and an abs based challenge based on the Oops Upside Your Head moves! (IFYYK)

This weekend there is a lovely mission to help support WLQP's birthday celebrations - sign up here and don't forget to fill in the form so they know you're coming. Next weeks it is our last visit to help Cultivate finish collecting up the leaves to turn them into mulch. The GG fun never stops!

On a warm evening, we made our way on foot and by bike to lend a hand in caring for the historic cedar trees at Chiswick House and Gardens.

With the lawns showing the strain of recent summer heatwaves, our task was to refresh the bases of the trees with a protective layer of woodchip.

We got into an easy rhythm of spreading and chatting and levelled two piles around the large cedar.

Just in time, Lucy arrived to lend a hand and orchestrate the all-important group photo at the end.

With the final barrow emptied it was time to head to the pub to raise a glass on the eve of Remy's birthday, and tuck into another much heralded birthday cake made by Eloise. So good Emily hot footed it across London to try some.

Happy Birthday Remy!