Volunteers: Roy & Sherman Mission Objective: Clear accumulated garden waste and paint the tree stump to prevent regrowth.

Wow, what a surprise we had today! We headed over to Ms K’s for our fourth visit, expecting a straightforward job of clearing up some accumulated garden waste. Since it had only been a few summer months since our last visit, we thought we knew what to expect. Nature, however, had other plans.

Round 2 Against the Regrowth

When we arrived, we were shocked to find that the tree stump had staged a massive comeback, growing back about 70% of its branches and leaves! It looked less like a stump and more like a brand-new bush. We immediately rolled up our sleeves and got to work hacking away at the new growth. We managed to clear a massive pile of leaves and branches. Some of the branches wrapping around the edge of the trunk were so incredibly sturdy that they refused to budge, but we cut back as much as physically possible.

Bagged, Tagged, and Painted

The sheer volume of green waste was too much for the garden's brown bin to handle, so we neatly packed the remaining garden waste into five large black rubbish bags and left them safely by the bins. To make sure we don't have to fight the same jungle on visit number five, Roy came up with a brilliant plan: painting the cut ends of the branches to seal them and discourage them from overgrowing again. Once the stems were done, we gave the entire top and sides of the trunk a thorough coat of white paint as requested by Mrs K.

A Messy, Successful Finish!

We definitely didn't manage to keep our hands clean—by the end of the mission, we had nearly as much white paint on our fingers as the tree trunk did! But the job is officially done, the area is clear, and Ms K's garden is looking better once again.

With a solar eclipse due later this evening, today's mission was all about bringing a bit more light into Mr A's day.

A dense wall of brambles had blocked access to his garage and rear garden, so I spent the session cutting them back and clearing a path. By the end, the garden was accessible again and a major source of stress had been removed.

I had a great time volunteering at the GoodGym beach clean-up on the Sunday of Brighton Pride!

On a sunny Sunday morning, numerous volunteers gathered at the Kings Road Arches to collect the rubbish left behind after the previous day's Pride celebrations, along with what appeared to be the remains of several beach barbecues.

We filled plenty of bags with plastic items, bottle lids, broken glass and even a tent peg. However, the prize for the most unexpected find has to go to a pair of sunglasses!

Afterwards, many of us headed to Pride in the Park to enjoy performances from Paris Hilton, Mel C and the wonderful Diana Ross, safe in the knowledge that we'd done our bit to help keep Brighton's beautiful beach cleaner and ready for everyone to enjoy.