It was another unseasonably warm Saturday morning which saw 5 GGers make their way to Hampton Hill Junior School to continue the series of tasks we have carried out for them over the past months.

After a couple of recent community missions focusing on the school gates we were back on benches. Previously we had painted the picnic benches in the playground, and this time we were set to work on the circular bench at the front.

Before getting going with the painting, we went round with brushes to remove the leaves, bird mess and other debris. Then we decanted the paint into tubs and got going, starting at each end of the bench and meeting in the middle.

We made short work of the task and decided to do a section of the back of the bench to improve the view from the playground.

After a group shot in the pirate ship we headed to the high street to enjoy coffees and snacks in the warm October sunshine!

A bright sunny Saturday morning welcomed 6 GoodGymers to the start of a long weekend at Hampton Hill Junior School. We had been there last month ready for the task but it was rained off, so it was nice to see the weather put in the effort this time.

The task was to paint the school gates, which we had scraped down on a previous visit to rid them of flaking paint and rust. We quickly decided to tackle one of the two sets of gates to see how we got on rather than attempting the two sets in tandem, and we realised this was the right approach as painting all the sides of the railings was a painstaking task.

We had 3 GGers on each side of the gates we were soon making a difference, managing to keep the paint mainly on the gate rather than on ourselves (though on feeling uncomfortable sitting cross-legged for the lower section Chris soon realised he had sat on one of the paint tin lids) and chatting about plans for the long weekend, Suze’s Ride London race tomorrow and (odd non-sequiturs in) favourite TV shows.

At the end of our allotted time we stood back to admire our handiwork and were very pleased with the results. We’re looking forward to a follow up mission soon for the second gate!

This Saturday morning task took us back to Hampton Hill junior school. A few months ago we gave the benches in the playground a fresh coat of paint and this time turned our attentions to the gates to both the main entrance and nearby car park. There was seven of us including Katie in her first GoodGym task, welcome!

Although we didn't get around to painting the gates, we spent a good amount of time preparing them with wire wool brushes, sandpaper and scrapers to get the old paint off.

Look forward to returning soon to finish the job!

Returning to Hampton Hill Junior School, the rain didn't dampen our spirits. Rosie, Suze, and Hiral joined JP, Sam and Chris - and were straight back to school. This task was not for the paint hearted as we started to coat some slightly damp benches with a second coat of paint.

Admiring our handy work from our first visit about a month ago, we cracked on with the job. Special commendation for Rosie, who like a dog with a bone would not leave her first bench until every little piece was gleaming! Well done Rosie. Love your dedication.

It was Back 2 Skool for five cheery GoodGymers on Saturday morning, as we met at Hampton Hill Junior School to respond to the headmaster’s call for help painting the picnic benches in the playground, which we’re looking a little worn out and for which there was no budget for replacements.

It was a bright morning as we met with Annie, the staff member on site, who showed us to our task. The benches were on the far side of the playground under a canopy, with paint and brushes ready to go.

We soon realised that there were far too many benches (twelve!) for us to paint them fully, so we decided to concentrate on the tops and seats which were most worn and where the impact of our work would be most seen.

Like good parliamentarians we started on the front benches and worked our way to the back, even if some of us felt more attention should be paid to the back benches nowadays ;-) The paint was a little on the thin side but there wasn’t enough time to do a second coat, so we informed Annie we would be very happy to come back for a follow up session.

Before we went we did have time to give a little TLC to a planter with seats, which was looking very tatty before we gave it a splash of paint. It was left looking fittingly grand in its spot by the art block.

We gathered in the sunshine for a group photo before Sam and JP left the benches for the pitch (heading up to north London to see the Arsenal Women dispatch their local rivals Spurs and salute some of our Euro-winning Lionesses) while the rest of the gang headed off to various Saturday pursuits which don’t lend themselves as easily to more bench-related puns.