Tuesday 5th August 2025
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Report written by Gosia Rybacka
I visited Camden area today to help out with the weeding 🌱 in Mr N's backyard. I arrived around 6 pm and was welcomed by him at the door 🚪. He was very kind and welcoming but he clearly struggled to move and also couldn't hear that well what I was saying. Well a kind smile always gives a clear message even if you can't hear it 🙂 and I relied on that.
He showed me the backyard which was clearly neglected, there were weeds but also a lot of styrofoam flying around, foxes 🦊 poo, waste bags and a general rubbish 🚮.
Mr N said that his neighbour 👨🌾 helped him with the weeds in the past but now he is away traveling. He also said that it's probably more than a year since the last tidy up and I could totally believe that 😆.
I started with the weeds that were taking a lot of garden space, but - luckily - most of them were quite easy to take out (nice and clean, together with the roots 👌).
Then - Mr N grabbed a shovel and started to gather a styrofoam from the ground so I helped out with that. The wind 🌬 was quite strong and a bit cheeky 🐒 as whenever we tried to gather the styrofoam in one place it kept sending it back from where it came from 😈. We did progress though and by the end there was much less of it and much safer to walk.
We have collected around five bags of weeds and a couple with the styrofoam. Mr N was thankful, said it's looking much clearer now and asked if we will come back to do the front garden. I didn't take the bags out as he said his daughter will call services to collect them.
Wed 6th Aug 2025 at 7:58am
Dear Gosia, many thanks for all your hard work with Mr N's garden, it's much appreciated. Kind regards, Rob Butler (Age UK - who requested the task for Mr N) .
Camden
The American International Church's cold weather shelter helps 16 Londoners each and every week - you'll be making sure things are ready and inviting for the evening's guests :)
