Having had a successful morning, clearing a garden and filling a skip, Mat and I were feeling optimistic going into our second mission of the day.

Mr A had expressed some concern about safety in his back yard. Several shrubs had overgrown, and his back wall was covered in ivy. He also had a new gate in need of paint.

Armed with loppers, secateurs and a hoe, we set to, cutting back and removing ivy that had been growing, unchecked and not trimmed, since 1974! It was soon clear that the ivy wanted to stay right where it was, and was so dense that we had to cut through dozens of aerial roots before we could even see the wall.

Needless to say, after an hour and a half, there was still a lot of ivy firmly attached to the wall. On the plus side, Mat managed to paint the front gate.

Mr A was very pleased with our efforts, but we will need to return.