The team at The Open table were down in volunteers so cheered when I arrived to set up. After changing it up a bit and assembling the space slightly differently I was on my way for another day.

This was our first session helping Martin Way Methodist Church with their garden project and we had a lovely afternoon for it. Our host Abby showed me some pictures of how far it's come, from a neglected wilderness to an attractive community garden area, but there's still plenty to do in terms of digging, planting, pruning and erecting a greenhouse. We rolled up our sleeves to give one of the benches a fresh coat of oil and to cut back the overgrown laurel tree. A warm welcome to new Merton GoodGym member Steve who joined for his initial task – hopefully the first of many.

It had been a couple of weeks since attending to help but I was warmly welcomed to complete the usual routine with some minor changes to the layout and the addition of cheerful daffodils to adorn the tables

Lent a hand at The Open Table to set up then got chopping and.preparing mountains of onions (sliced rainbows was the brief) for a delicious soup.

2 Goodgymers rolled up their sleeves to help clean up after today's Open Table lunch session. We tackled many dishes, sudsing our way through plates and cutlery whilst in between loads, discretely clearing tables.

We hope to support The Open Table from time to time so do join us if you can.

For our second group run, our dedicated band of volunteers descended on Martin Way Methodist Church ready to banish grime and spring clean the kitchen!

We tackled the cupboards and fridges with cloths and a selection of cleaning products, plus some rather funky black plastic gloves that someone brought along.

From sticky shelves to dusty corners we meticulously cleaned, organised and returned the contents to their rightful places. Hopefully the various groups that share the space will have us back and we can work on the island and the crockery.