As I ran through the very familiar list, Mr T stopped me and said "Mushrooms"...I wasn't too sure what to make of this interjection, but he then explained he had great plans to make an omelette that evening, and the additional ingredient would make a difference - with this late addition to the list it was off to the usual haunts, which seemed quiet for a Friday afternoon - the threat of rain was keeping people indoors perhaps...

Ms J's flat was on the 19th floor, so was glad the lift was working - pretty sure this is the highest I've gone for a shopping mission, although sadly I didn't get to enjoy the view. She asked if I'd mind going to the Lidl near Clapham Junction which was fine - she'd marked most of the items on her list by weight, which made choosing the right products so much easier, and was glad I'd bought my backpack for the heavy lifting. I was soon back with full bag in hand with all that she'd requested - Ms J was very grateful for the assistance.

Mrs S had clearly done her (Waitrose based) research this week in readiness for my visit, as it was clear she was on the hunt for the 2 for 1's or multi buy discounts on many of her items - the irony of her asking if two boxes of Scotts Porage Oats (the one with the sturdy looking shot putting scotsman on the box) would be too heavy to carry was not lost on me...

Once Brenda and I had discovered that the arms of Mr A's large-ish sofa folded down flat, the task of manoeuvring it out of his living room and front door became a little easier...albeit we still needed to negotiate 4 flights of stairs for it to reach ground level - thankfully Gravity had also joined us as the third member for this task, and so with a bit of caution as everything was quite narrow, we slowly allowed the sofa to make its way down each flight with a human brake at one end, and we soon had it out of the front door and parked behind the communal bins as requested.

After a day of fairly atrocious weather, the skies finally took pity on us and cleared just in time for our Tuesday evening mission to the Lighthouse & Gardens, hidden away behind the fences near Stratford International. If you’ve walked past without realising what’s there — trust us, it’s a brilliant little community space.

It was great to welcome Fuad and Eugene back after a few busy weeks at work, and the team set off on a scenic jog through the Olympic Park towards the gardens. A tube strike delay meant our host Sharon was running a little behind schedule, but GoodGymmers are nothing if not adaptable, so we filled the gap with an impromptu football skills session that definitely featured more enthusiasm than technical ability (speaking for myself at least).

Once Sharon had arrived and given us some directions, we got on with dismantling some rotten wooden planters that had seen better days. This turned out to be a satisfyingly varied task: digging out the soil, then deciding which demolition technique to deploy. Some sections responded nicely to careful unscrewing, while others required the much more cathartic “smash it apart and hope for the best” approach.

By the end of the evening we’d cleared quite a few planters, making a real difference for the small number of regular volunteers here, who wouldn’t have been able to tackle such a structural job themselves. It’s always rewarding knowing that our evening’s effort can make life easier for the volunteers who dedicate so much time to maintaining this valuable community space.

A lovely evening, a hidden oasis, and just enough dry weather to get the job done — we’ll hopefully be back in a couple of months to help again!

Check out all our upcoming sessions — including a bonus Saturday morning mission at Little Ilford Community Garden this weekend!