Was it Monday? Was it Tuesday? It didn’t matter, because we all turned up at the right place on the same day for a H&F community mission. Eight of us came along for the ride, joined by the wonderful Michelle from Hounslow and Mike from Richmond, and we welcomed Ella for her first good deed with GoodGym H&F.

We know Flora Gardens quite well, having helped out on several group runs before. Mostly painting. A lot of painting. But something a bit different today, and we were greeted by a very enthusiastic Jeanette. Today’s task was to load up a skip with all the junk that was sitting in the orchard. Jeanette led us round to the school’s orchard, which did have an Apple tree or two in it, but also a huge pile of old plants, grass, bits of tree, wood, scooters, general rubbish and even a giant plastic connect 4 set. She then showed us the skip sitting in the other playground.

This was exciting enough, as despite all the tasks we had done at the school previously, we had entered a new land, and it was exciting to discover a brand new playground that we didn’t even know existed. Lucy tried out one of the scooters aimed for 4 year olds (it did match the GoodGym shirts...) and Jermain Beth-oe did her best footballer impressions with a slightly sad looking rubber ball, curling a shot to J-Amy Carragher and almost losing it on the roof.

Following the distractions, it was time to crack on with the skip loading. Between us, we filled up wheelbarrows, bins and giant sacks with the waste, and made our way to dispose of each load into the big yellow skip. Analiese, Chris and Mike did a wheely good job loading the bins and barrows, whereas Jeanette and Amy were apple-y helping sweep up the fruit that had fallen from the tree. Over by the skip, Michelle decided to take a jump into the dump to squash down the load (unfortunately we did manage to get her out in the end). Ella did a scootiful job making the skip filling nice and even; Beth branched out to carry giant antler-like twigs from garden to skip and Lucy got into a ‘sticky situation’, showing off her spatial awareness skills by getting stuck in the gates with her laden bags. Oh deer.

It wasn’t long before the skip was very full indeed. Chris pointed this out to Jeanette, and there was a moment of panic in case we had to unload, but in true Jeanette style she was nonplussed. She was just tree-mendously pleased to have a little bit of space in the orchard back.

Skip skip HOORAY. There was no room left at the inn, and we finished the task there. Now to wait for the skip to set sail, and return empty and waiting for the next episode of GoodGym H&F at Flora Gardens, hopefully to finish the job. Until then, we skipped off into the sunset, safe in the knowledge another community mission was completed. (Note: no one actually skipped home, we all walked or ran or cycled out of the school yard like relatively normal humans of society). Maybe that’s something to think about... instead of a group run, what about a group skip? Watch this space...