Kingston GoodGym has a long history with the communal garden at Vine Close, which we helped clear ahead of its redesign from the very beginning. It's so satisfying to see how far it has come to the relacing setting and the beautiful pond teeming with wildlife it is today.

Georgina, the biodiversity officer from Kingston, was on hand to get us started and help with nature advice.

Jonathan, Laurel and Marcos got stuck into removing invasive plants around the banks and even made a tiny new frog friend.

Claire, Emma and Adam helped tidy up the surrounding garden and plant pots while Tom and Laura somehow managed to avoid wet feet clearing duckweed from the pond.

Everything looked great afterwards, and we could even see a few newts in the - temporarily - clear pond. A lovely task on a perfect spring evening.

This morning we welcomed a new member, Manasa, who straight away got stuck in with our tasks. The task included weeding the outside bedding strip and weeding the pots and tiding up the outside of the centre. After this we also tidied up around the back. Laura, Farzeen, Manasa and Emily left satisfied they had done a good job with lovely chats.

In Manasa's own words 'It was a wonderful experience that felt very familiar, as it reminded me of the gardening I used to do back home in India. This activity felt incredibly nostalgic yet energising. I truly enjoyed volunteering here and meeting lovely people, Thank you all.'

This morning in the sunshine we set to work carrying on digging up the weeds and tufts of grass around the beds,all whilist having a chat.