On a sunsational Sunday morning two OLD hands met in Beckenham to help Rose pull out the nuisance Spanish bluebells and their weedy allies invading her flowerbeds though had to call a rain check on mowing the lawn

It was a glorious morning and allegedly warmer in London than in Barcelona; a great day for Goodgymmers to be out in force doing a variety of races in Regent's Park, Reading, Berlin, Kingston and Paddock Wood. Not wanting to miss out, I (Patrick) put in a half marathon run from N4 to join forces with GoodGym hero Beth in Beckenham.

Rose gave us a warm welcome and had already been out scarifying (new word for us!) the lawn; she is a keen gardener and had lived in this home for 60 years but now finds it hard to maintain the lawn and her garden herself.

Alas, it was too wet to use the lawnmower thanks to the previous night's rain but the sun was out and drying the grass by the minute; we agreed to take a rain check for an hour.

In the meantime, Rose made us coffee, gave us a quick gardening lesson then showed us her flowerbeds and the space invaders!

The Spanish Armada. And Groove Armada

I dug out the armada of Spanish bluebells that had outgrown the native ones while Beth plucked the weedy allies including buttercups that had taken over big patches of Rose's garden.

• We divided.
• We conquered.
• We listened to music.
  

Failure to lawnch

An hour of sun meant the lawn was dry and ready to be mowed but it was not meant to be. Beth and Rose assembled the lawnmower, plugged in the long power cable and looked on expectantly ... but nothing happened. Rose was not too fazed and will arrange for her lawnmower to be fixed and it would be right as rain before long.

Are you two still at college?

It was disappointing not to mow the lawn but Rose was delighted with our help. We had a lovely conversation and the highlight HAD to be when Rose asked us if we were still in college! Very flattering given both of us had left college well over a decade ago!

We left with a smile and set off to mission two for the day.