Marathon week had arrived and the buzz was in the air from the very start — excitement, some nerves, and plenty of discussion about Sunday’s big event. If you’re around, come join us to cheer — it’s one of the best days of the year!

Last night we headed out in both walk and run groups towards the allotments in Chiswick, where our friends at Wild Chiswick had plenty lined up for us. We had a great turnout, so with all hands on deck and no shortage of jobs, we got stuck in.

There was watering to be done, a leaky pipe system to wrestle with, raised beds that needed weeding (carefully avoiding the fragrant mint plants), trees to be planted, and even the construction of a dead hedge. Everyone found a task and got moving quickly all set in beautiful surroundings. We even had a very friendly duck who was there to oversee our activities (hope there were no anatidaephobics there last night...).

Despite the season, it was surprisingly chilly — though the good news is that there are perfect conditions expected for those gearing up for the weekend’s races.

Good luck to all our marathoners taking on Sunday, to Florian heading to Hamburg for the half marathon, and of course to everyone getting their parkrun fix. A proper weekend of racing lies ahead, built on the back of a great evening of doing good together.

Same time next week — we’ll be back at Chiswick House!

This evening we headed over Richmond Green and across the bridge into East Twickenham to visit St Christopher's Fellowship. We know the garden very well and there is always a lot to do to tidy things up but even more so after all that rain followed by sun, the garden had grown a lot since our last visit!

We welcomed Debs from Richmond Council who got stuck in with Liz, Adam and Suze working to clear the vegetable patches of some very abundant weeds! Debs went to town on a stubborn Pyracantha but that one may require a second chapter!

JP and Chris did a lovely job hedge trimming while Jenna, Lucy, Nina and Monika cleared up the lovely drive at the front of the building.

A busy and energetic evening for all with the compost heap swelling by the end!

A big shout-out to Monika who completed a mega 50km hiking challenge yesterday and to Lucy who is running the London Marathon this weekend and Adam who is walking the virtual version. ⚡

On Saturday afternoon, four GoodGymmers went to help out at the Hope Church in Hounslow. We had been asked to help clear the garden, a lovely outdoor area that was in need of some TLC, following the winter.

The spring sunshine was beaming down on us as we met Claire the Vicar, who set us up for the afternoon. Firstly, we moved the basketball net so we could get to the raised beds, as we had been asked to help clear the overgrown weeds that were creeping up around the planters. Gloves on, Augustin, Harrison, Lucy and Michelle filled wheelbarrows with weeds and moved them to an ever-growing compost area.

Once we had tackled the raised beds, there was another section of the garden overgrown with nettles and sticky weed and thistles. These were no match for us, as we got acquainted with the choppers and rakes and cleared as much as we could in the time we had. We chatted about football and marathons, and a bit like poor Leicester City will be this season, the weeds were soon relegated to the compost heap.

Claire had hoped we could go a great job, and we showed mettle with those nettles, and the difference was clear to see. She was very impressed and thanked us for our hard work, before we went our separate ways back to enjoy the rest of the day.