The stars aligned last night at GoodGym Hounslow, when a water based task coincided with one of the hottest days of the year!

Our job for the evening was to wash the much-loved mural at Turnham Green Station.This piece of art work depicting the changing map of Hounslow from the 1500s to the present day was created by a Chiswick charity, Abundance. It brightens up the bridge and is a famous landmark in the area. But it has got pretty grimy thanks to passing traffic and pesky pigeons.

So after a short run when we were joined by some lovely faces we hadn't seen in a little while (great to have you back!), we headed to meet Katy from the charity, who was waiting for us with sponges, buckets and a hose. Some of us took a more, shall we say, 'circuitous' route.In my defence, when you're running in the sunshine with pals it's easy to get distracted!

We all grabbed our implement of choice and started sponging, wiping and buffing. While Gus took care of the high bits, Kash, Paul and Steph developed a very effective bucket washdown technique which left us (mostly) dry. We worked methodically, scrubbers out front, bucketers next, squeegeers following and buffers bringing up the rear. That way there was no danger of dirty water running down and ruining our good work. We got plenty of love from passers by, and lit by the late sun, transformed the mural from smeared to shiny in 45 minutes. There is no better way to spend an evening.

Taking advantage of the lovely temperature we headed over to Turnham back common for our fitness element. Last night it was dynamic floor based exercises. The frog swipes might have proved a little challenging, but everybody had their own version which I'm sure was just as effective. We then moved on to various other drills including plank dips, roll downs, glute bridges and finished off with a hectic round of duck duck goose. Variety is the spice of life after all!

Next week I'm away so instead of a group run we'll be having a community mission on Wednesday evening led by Tish. The task is to help out at the allotments supporting a project between the growers there and Hounslow foodbox. You can easily meet for an informal run together at the Town Hall at 6:30 or directly at the task at 6:45.

After a short hiatus over the dark winter evenings, we were back for our first visit to Chiswick House and Gardens to lend a hand last night.

This amazing local space is run as a charity and free for people to enjoy, but the team have a lot of work to keep it as safe and welcoming as possible. So, after a warm up, we ran the short distance tot he estate garden and met Chris, the lead gardener, who had a very exciting job for us to do.

As we pushed our barrows over to the site in question, we got to know Vivien, who had joined for her first session - welcome to the group, great to meet you! We arrived to find several logs and a big pile of leaves and branches. The task for the evening was to build a hibernacula - in other words, a safe habitat for amphibians, hedgehogs and other creatures which increases biodiversity.

The first step was to dig a big old hole - or as it controversially became known, a shallow grave! Then we lowered the trunk into the pit, and started loading it up with smaller branches. meanwhile posts were being hammered in a circle around the hole, before weaving the leaves and twigs round them. have a look at some very impressive before and after pics!

After all that work we created one successful hibernacula and still had time to knock out a intense tabata section. Sorry about my notes disappearing half way through! Frogs, power lunges, shuttle runs, and half burpees were all executed with great form, well done everybody.

Next week we're back to a local church to help with a tidy up outside, hope to see you there! Don't forget we also have our weekly visit to help out at Hounslow community foodbox, and an upcoming green area tidy up - there's plenty to get involved in!

All the very best of luck to Steph who is running the marathon on Sunday, and to all those supporting on the day.