"The flowers are to brighten up my flat"

...said Ms C as she took her shopping inside, with Kash and Sevan following her. The first task for today's mission was to find a vase or other thing that could hold water to put the flowers in. With Kash completing the most important task of the day, it was time to start the decluttering work for Ms C.

Ms C asked the pair where they'd like to start, in the bedroom or the living room. Well, the route to the bedroom was blocked, so the living room was the way to go. Ms C's carer had tidied up by placing Ms C's unsorted belongings into black bags. Ms C had unpacked the bags so that she could see what was in them and now they needed to be sorted through by Kash, Sevan and Ms C.

Kash and Sevan spent the task crouched on the floor, surfing through the belongings covering it. They worked through documents, batteries, pens, expired medication and a number of scissors that didn't work as scissors anymore. One bag was filled with recycling and rubbish to dispose of, with the rest of Ms C's items moved onto the couch to be looked through in more detail later.

As usual, there was a stack of donations waiting outside Miss M's front door when Kash and Sevan arrived. It looked like 1 trip to the local charity shop, so Sevan asked if there'd be anything more to take today.

"Not today. There are some books to donate, but I need to get to them first"
"It's too difficult. They're heavy" - Miss M

Undeterred, Kash and Sevan pressed a little, then a little more, while Miss M was still resistant, saying that the boxes were too hard to reach and too heavy. Eventually they convinced Miss M to let them take a look after the first donations were done. The GoodGymers would then see what the problem was.

The first round of donations was easy. It was full of handbags (again) and Kash and Sevan were back at Miss M's flat in 30 minutes. They then went inside for the first time to look at the book challenge and on the way, Miss M found more coats, cushions and crocheted blankets that could be given away, filling 3 more bags.

In the living room, Sevan slid his way between a chair and a sofa to the far window. The biggest problem wasn't his body or his legs. It was finding some empty space on the floor to put his size 8s. Once there, he found a stack of needlepoint books (to donate), some wicker baskets with fabric (to discard) and 2 archive boxes. The boxes were supposed to be filled with books too, but they were surprisingly light. Can you guess what Sevan found when he looked inside? 👜s of course!

After all that chat about heavy boxes filled with books, it was good to have helped Miss M learn that the boxes could be moved, they weren't dangerous and importantly, there was something easily donateable in them.

When nine GoodGymers stood on muddy crossroads in the middle of Grove Farm woodland, Mike, the leader of the regular volunteer group, asked an existential question.

Who wants to be a beaver today?

Ash, Melissa, Thaiza and Kash decided they would identify as beavers and use their natural talents to help Mike strengthen the dams, slowing the flow of the Grove Farm stream.

Find me some wood!

Big and small, half-rotten or three-quarters-rotten logs and branches were stacked on top or wedged against the existing two wooden dams to prevent the construction from falling apart. The aim was to extend the dams' lifespan and prevent water from leaking onto the paths. Pretty good for faux beavers, right? How effective the intervention was, time will tell, but it was lots of fun - particularly for those prepared and wearing wellies like Thaiza!

Meanwhile, Devi, Richard, Harvey, Steph and Sevan were up at the wood anemone battlefield, fending off a bramble attack. The thorny plants never knew when to stop, so the blackberries kept growing ahead of the anemones blooming season next month. The good news was that, within the last three years of helping Friends of Grove Farm, we weakened the brambles enough that they haven't grown back in full power since. That means less work for the new GoodGymers, but, hopefully, more wood anemones for everyone to see at next month's conservation day!

One stop on the tube to cross the river, and a twenty-something-minute walk took me from the concrete jungle, where I work, to a canalside, an enchanted woodland and streets ruled by bold, daring foxes. In that magical land, I found Mrs M's home.

Aren't you too little for moving boxes?
Why? Are they up high?
Well, no...
Let's have a look at them then!

It's been really hot in the flat, so I took off my work shirt. The sight of the black GoodGym t-shirt, and my arms perhaps, cemented my creds as qualified to do the job. Phew.

If I was in such shape, I’d be moving boxes from here to Liverpool! - Mrs M.

The bedroom was full of... stuff. Everywhere. And boxes, which sadly didn't make it into the report photos. I took time to slowly fish out the requirements from Mrs M, who, although being a lovely lady with a sense of humour, was hard of hearing and, as she shared, was in the early stages of dementia. I gathered that she wanted access all the way to the radiator on the opposite side of the room, which was blocked not only by boxes, but also by a hospital bed. In addition to that, there was a massive massage armchair in the bedroom to make the mission more exciting.

Without hesitation, I threw myself into a game of a large-scale jigsaw puzzle, moving boxes and furniture back and forth. First, I needed to gain access to storage, where, as agreed with Mrs M, I could relocate some clothes and shoes found in boxes and on the floor. As we've opened the cartons, Mrs M would decide whether to keep things out, put them into the storage, or bin them (that's where old packaging I found ended up).

Mrs M raised the bar of the game, as she needed to walk to the living room to lie down more comfortably, then to the kitchen to get some water, then back to the living room. For each Mrs M's relocation, I had to shift the boxes in the corridor since at that point I had nowhere else to put them. Mrs M was confident she would go past the cartons with her walking frame (which wasn't physically possible) and insisted she would get a glass of water herself - only to call me later to the kitchen so that I could pour her some water, which I had offered to do earlier. Little did I know, we were about to have a lovely chat in the kitchen, after which I had no doubt of how interesting a character and a kind person Mrs M was.

After the break, Mrs M stayed in the kitchen to rest a bit more and gave me creative licence in rearranging the rest of the bedroom, already being delighted with the progress. She revealed she used to be an architect and would have loved to work with me on some decorating projects.

I stuffed the storage with items we had agreed to put away, collected rubbish, and shifted the hospital bed by 90 degrees, as I saw no other alternative to create access to the radiator. I also found a better place for the armchair, cleared the bed of clutter, and left some items in the bags from storage for Mrs M to go through at her own pace.

My idea to temporarily push all the empty boxes towards the flat's door to make room for Mrs M to freely move between the rooms wasn't foolproof. I hadn't anticipated that the carer, another Ms M, would come to check on Mrs M and heat up a meal for her. The carer hadn't expected to find a pile of boxes when entering the flat, but she was grateful to see Mrs M's hospital bed finally free of clutter.

When Ms M (the carer) left, I packed the recycling bin with collapsed cardboard boxes and waited for Mrs M to finish her soup and see what her bedroom looked like after the transformation.

Good? - I asked.
No. Not good. Fantastic!

Mrs M could not contain her enthusiasm and sat on a newly decluttered bed, looking around at her revamped bedroom. I’m telling you, no one in life makes you feel as appreciated as the mission beneficiaries do!