This Saturday two young (ish) Hackney residents gave an older neighbour much easier access to her garden so she could enjoy the sunshine and hang out her laundry

I'm an old hand at missions but I always like to see new people getting involved. Our Hackney Helper Stephen said no to a lie-in and avo on toast and YES to his first mission for an elderly person who needs a helping hand. Nice one, and nice performance in the Hackney Half not so long ago!

Saturday I'm in glove

Today we faced a mini jungle which was barely accessible and not particularly inviting. It's no surprise that our older neighbour can't keep up with the maintenance.

Thorns to the left of us, nettles to the right and random litter everywhere else. I knew we couldn't manage it all today between us, but Rome wasn't built in a day.

• Music on
• Spare pair of gloves for my teammate
• Folding secateurs

Good to go.

After around 75 minutes of chopping, trimming and carefully bagging we'd made huge progress. Also good to catch up with Stephen and the Hackney crew and hearing about GG people doing loads of deeds and tourism. Amazing.

Clearer still

Last jobs were to take all that rubbish to the front as well as a very eclectic mix of stuff to include:

• A football
• Toy kitten
• TV unit
• A sheet of slugs!

Loads of space cleared and two thumbs up from our host. Smiles all round, we went off to enjoy the rest of the sunny weekend.