Ellen and I met on a grey Saturday morning to head to our mission. Both slightly lacking in energy, it was more of a saunter to Mrs G’s place which we found courtesy of Google Maps!

Arriving at our Google Maps destination, we were slightly confused as we couldn’t see the house number or any gardens. Suddenly a voice called out ‘are you the gardeners?’ It was Mrs G who was popping to the shops as she’d assumed that we wouldn’t come because of the threat of rain! That’s not enough to deter us!

Mrs G had been expecting (hoping for?) some strapping young men to help with the task at hand. She wasn’t sure if the GoodGym girls would have the muscle power! Well, we like a challenge!

Mrs G took us through her flat to the back garden. Her son had helpfully cleared some of the overgrowth and she wanted us to dig up some of the deep roots so that she could replenish the garden. Others had tried and failed, she warned us....

Whilst I cracked on with the roots with a quiet but steely determination, Ellen began clearing some of the leaves and branches already piled up. Little by little, the roots were moving and the garden was clearing.

Out popped Mrs G with a very welcome cup of coffee and some biscuits. We had a lovely chat and Mrs G told us that she used to volunteer at the Huggard Centre for the homeless and had really enjoyed working in the kitchens.

Fuelled by coffee and rich tea biscuits, we went back to the task, chatting about holidays, the GoodGym xmas party and forthcoming group runs. Ellen continued the clearing up, finding a set of car keys in the garden that had been thrown over the fence! In no time at all, the roots were up and ten rubbish bags were full!

‘You’ve done a brilliant job!’ exclaimed Mrs G. ‘I’m so grateful’.

It was time to last our goodbyes. Mrs G insisted that we take a bottle of water to fuel our run back.

It was a fun task and we both left feeling happy that we’d make such a difference to Mrs G’s garden.

Would you like to take part in mission runs to help older people? If so, click here to find out more

Do you know an older person who needs a hand with one off tasks? If you do, click here to make a referral for runners to go and give them a hand