Last night a small but perfectly formed group gathered in Hounslow for an evening of riverside litter-picking. We were especially happy to welcome Thaty to her very first Hounslow run – hopefully the first of many!

After a quick briefing, we headed down towards the riverside to find litter pickers waiting for us. Once equipped, we got straight to work.

The haul was sadly familiar: plastic bottles, food wrappers, crisp packets and assorted bits of everyday rubbish. Most frustrating of all was the microplastic – those tiny fragments that seem to be everywhere . They're fiddly to collect and impossible to completely eradicate, but every piece removed is one less piece making its way through the ecosystem.

The scale of the challenge is huge. Research has found microplastics in every major UK river tested, while studies on the Thames have shown that small plastic fragments and films make up the vast majority of plastic pollution found in the water. Plastic bottles remain one of the most common items found in waterways, with food wrappers not far behind.

There's always a moment during a litter pick when you realise there is far more rubbish than you'll ever clear in a single session. But that's not really the point. We can only do so much in an hour, yet every bag filled improves the area, protects wildlife and makes the riverside a little bit better than we found it. Small actions, repeated often, add up.

With our bags collected and our good deed done, it was time to get back to base - with a little extra competition of course. We finished with stretches before several headed to the pub to catch the football and enjoy a well-earned post-task snack.

Looking ahead, this weekend is absolutely packed with community mission opportunities. There are too many to mention individually, but do check out the missions page where you can help marshal WLQP's annual walk, lend a hand at the canal festival, or get stuck into some balsam bashing on Chiswick Eyot. So much choice, and something for everyone.

We had multiple jobs to do at Strand on the Green School last night — finishing off painting the nursery, moving a huge terrace-full of old furniture and toys down the stairs to the skip, and hedge cutting. Three different jobs, three skill sets, no problem.

We ran over to the task where we met caretaker Clare and got straight to work. Michelle, Breda, Lucy and Emily tackled the nursery painting, Jon, Kash, Maxime, Chris, Jonny and Fran became an efficient furniture-moving conveyor belt up and down the stairs, while Gus and Luis turned hedge cutting into an art form outside.

Within just 45 minutes all three jobs were complete. With 12 of us working for 45 minutes, that’s the equivalent of 9 hours (or a full working day!) of work saved for one caretaker — and Clare was delighted with how much time we’d saved her.

With the jobs done, it was time for a lower body blast with three different intensity options to keep everyone moving. We’re also all still wondering what Michelle’s mysterious final blue item could be… answers on a postcard.

After that, we headed back to base for stretches on the grass and a well-earned cool down.

Next week we’re off to Gunnersbury to sort compost — see you there for what will hopefully be a slightly cooler task!