Freyja and I met outside the gate to the Lambeth GP Food Coop community garden near Stockwell Station, where patients of GP surgeries can learn gardening techniques and grow vegetables in planters. Eleanor, who had also signed up to the mission, was nowhere to be seen. We assumed after a few minutes of looking around the area that maybe she’d forgotten that she’d signed up to this community mission. After phoning Jonathan at the GP surgery who had arranged this mission, we realised there had been a minor miscommunication in where we were meant to be meeting for the task so Freyja and I popped round to the surgery to meet him and pick up a wheelbarrow and some shovels.

When we got back to the community garden we found Eleanor trapped in a private gated mews as she’d walked in looking for us but found herself trapped as the gates closed behind her! A lot of knocking on doors and phoning around did no good so we opted for a team rescue operation involving a large bin to get enough height to climb over the tall fence.

With Eleanor now with us we set to work transferring soil and compost from heavy bags on one side of the garden to an empty planter on the other side. Within an hour we’d filled the planter, now ready for new plants to be grown, and were ready to call it a day.