To assist my list reading today, Ms D had conveniently prepared key items that she wanted this week close to hand, and as I ran down the list she would produce said item (marigold gloves (large), white bin bags...) at the appropriate moment - I think we could've made a great double act on the seaside pier...our timing was immaculate. In even better news, her lottery ticket from last week had even won her...a lucky dip for this Saturday, so more fingers crossed.

Somehow I avoided the worst of the rain on the trip south to Boots before heading north to the friendly aisles, for which I (and Ms D's shopping) were truly grateful.

It's been a little while since we've been back to help Under One Sky get food to those sleeping rough, but it didn't take long to see what an impactful task it is.

Olga, Alice, Veronica and I met in a very dark Hyde Park for a warm up and soon set off for the first stop, a local bakery,to pick up any unsold food. We nipped round the corner to check if their other branch also had some baked goods they could give us but unfortunately there wasn't loads on offer. Still, we had the big stop left to go, so following our live location link we headed in the direction of the moving Under One Sky team to hand over our first lot and pick up bags.

UOS is a volunteer led initiative to use compassion and collaboration to end homelessness and support those living in vulnerable situations. They distribute life-support kits and food following the move from a winter pop up to a 24/7 operation when Covid hit. Since then they've helped countless people living on the street.

We located the team, did the handover and headed over to Pret for our big pick up of the night. After waiting for the shop to close, we were invited to practically clear the shelves, picking up bread,sandwiches, rolls, soup, pudding and more. It was quite the haul, and the UOS team was pleased as they were running really low on food to hand out.

Great job everybody. Next week we're back at the Abbey community centre for more jobs in the garden - hope to see you there!

Today I went to discover a new Junior Parkrun at Paddington Recreation Ground, outside my usual area. I arrived quite early, so I helped the marshals set up the course signs. They told me how lucky they are to have the Parkrun there, as the council manages the park really well. I was pleasantly surprised to find a small running track in the middle of the park, something I wasn’t expecting!

For today’s event, I took on the role of tail walker/runner for the first time.

There were a few challenges during the morning:

• I was expecting to meet a new GoodGym member, Shriya, but unfortunately, she couldn’t make it at the last minute. The Parkrun team quickly found a replacement volunteer, but they mentioned that in the future, if a GoodGym member needs to cancel, they should send an email before the event so the team can plan ahead.

• Two enthusiastic four-year-old runners decided to stop after their second lap instead of completing all three. This caused a bit of confusion when checking the results and made it tricky to confirm that everyone had finished. As the tail runner, I stayed with them, which meant I couldn’t keep track of the rest of the field as closely as usual.

At the end of the morning, the Parkrun team also faced some technical issues submitting the results. I really enjoyed discovering a new Parkrun community and trying out the tail runner role for the first time!

Ms D was in a bit of a fluster this morning when I arrived - her neighbour was apparently up on the roof clearing leaves and her physio hadn't been able to visit due to her dealing with a domestic matter at home...so we needed a few minutes of calming down time before we ran through the list, for which the most most important item was a new box of clothes washing tablets...and anything else I could think of that she might have missed. Fortunately everything she needed was findable in the aisles, and she was delighted that she could finally do some washing when I got back with this week's treasure.

A huge welcome to Natalia who joined for her very first GoodGym session last night - great to have you along Natalia!

We met at our usual spot in Hyde Park for some warm ups before heading off for our task for the evening at a local estate. Along the way we talked about all things tennis and our favourite spots in London, and before we knew it we had arrived at Lillington Gardens.

We located the tools before walking over to the triangle which is slowly but surely being transformed into a growing space for the residents to use. For a central London estate, there was plenty of wildlife around! We had been warned about the wasps nest in the corner of the garden and avoided that, but we weren't expecting the number of frogs (or were they toads?) that made an appearance - it was all hoppening in Westminster las night!

Carefully dodging anything that might have made the garden its home, we pulled up weeds, raked, cleared and chatted our way through the evening and the time flew by. Before we knew it there was just time left for a selfie (I still haven't learned how to take a good one!) and to pack up. The garden was looking much clearer and almost ready for planting - we'll be back soon for the next step!

Next week we're picking up food for the homeless -hope to see you there!

It was such a privilege to be part of the volunteer t-shirt finishers team, greeting the runners after they completing a half marathon.