The pouring rain stopped just in time for the start of October’s trip to the Richmond Furniture Scheme, as 5 Goodgymers gathered for a morning of doing good.

We had made good progress in September on clearing the ivy and overgrown branches behind the main building, but Adam, Chris and JP still had plenty more to do and set to work with loppers and saws, removing branches and taking them on the trolley to the compost site. It was gratifying to see the light coming through the windows of the building as we made progress.

Meanwhile, Laura and Martha took on the other part of the mission, which was to start dismantling old sofas which could not be sold. This was a challenging task given the lack of suitable tools but one very tough old sofa was very effectively pulled apart and the useful materials salvaged.

It was a lot of hard work all round and we were very satisfied with our efforts as we headed off for the rest of our weekends.