“You look different!” said Mr G when I arrived for my first visit to him in several weeks. Quickly establishing that a slight increase in facial hair wasn’t the reason, we realised that it was my new red GoodGym jacket that had attracted his attention. I twirled round to display it in full which prompted him to come up with a cheeky misreading of the slogan on the back, much to his amusement.

Humour aside, Mr G remains extremely grateful for his regular GoodGym shopping visit. His set of labels this week contained all his classic items but slightly disappointingly, none of the new products he’s reportedly been tempted with in recent visits. This meant I needed just a quick tour of the familiar supermarket aisles before heading back to drop off the shopping and have another chat.

We had perfect conditions for our return visit to Chiswick House last night, which was good news as we had a huge job to do!

The carriageway into the grounds is lined with beautiful plane trees. Fun fact - did you know London Planes can grow to 35 metres and live for several hundred years? Which means they need a bit of care and attention.

We were met with Chris, Chiswick House's gardener, who explained the job was to cut away the shoots from the trees' trunks. Or epicormic growth, if we're being fancy!

We cleared away the clippings and then got to work giving the trees a good pruning, able assisted by Chiswick House's excellent range of dog visitors.

There were some excellent techniques getting as much as humanely possible into the ton bags, and some very professional lopping on display too. Great work everybody!

Next week we're back to do one of our favourite tasks - washing the Turnham Green mural. Fingers crossed the weather is kind to us...

St Simon's Church in Shepherds Bush was the scene for a new regular Monday GoodGym mission, supporting Hammersmith & Fulham Foodbank.

Honor and Alan were met by the super-friendly volunteer team who guided us through a series of tasks ranging from setting up tables, moving and unpacking delivery crates and creating a seating area with tables and chairs. There were plenty of toiletries and food to be sorted, including lots of tinned vegetables, pulses and classic favourite meals.

A very satisfying "power hour" indeed left the grateful regular volunteer team ready to admit the equally grateful foodbank recipients.

On a warm, yet cloudy Sunday morning, four almost inappropriately lively GoodGymers met at the place of eternal rest for many dead Ealing residents: South Ealing Cemetery. Alan put in his mileage for the day, running from Chiswick with a detour past Hammersmith Bridge, while Steph Ducat did a rather fast 4km run from Pitshanger junior parkrun to reach the community mission on time. Sevan and Kash, on the other hand, needed only a short walk/jog to get to the cemetery. They'd get their morning workout nonetheless!

The volunteering day was led by the trustees from Ealing Parks Foundation, Jane and Paul, who took a very hands-on approach to their work to improve green spaces. Jane offered us a task to help prepare a photography exhibition in one of the chapels, while Paul had something much more physical in mind. His idea of a job for GoodGymers was to build a stumpery.

Sevan: What's a stumpery?
Paul: It's like a bug hotel with artistic features. King Charles has one at Highgrove.

We've been pointed towards a pile of rotting tree stumps and logs by the cemetery wall. We were going to move the timber into a designated location, then assemble in an artistic manner. We'd then fill the gaps between the wood with logs so rotten that they've been falling apart and some woodchip.

After plenty of muscle work, finding giant spiders, two toads, hitting ant nest while digging rotten material, and wheelbarrowing a few loads of fragrant woodchip, our artistic creation was complete. Did it resemble a feature from a royal garden? Or something else?

Sevan: Paul, can I ask you a question. Are we building a bonfire?
Paul: Hopefully, not. The idea is to get the insects in, who'd think: ah, that's a nice housing estate.

We couldn't tell how many bugs we've attracted to the new town so far. We rehomed a few hundred ants and some slugs that were already residing in the building blocks. Two toads became the residents too, with the hope that they would multiply - but we weren't sure they were of the opposite sex to each other.

Building the stumpery took us way more than half of a session - although Alan and Sevan were hijacked to do a side quest: moving a heavy cherry-picker cage between the chapels. We'd then realise there were two more sites to assemble our artistic expressions. Paul started deciphering the instructions from his contact in the council about where to find the next stumpery location.

Paul: Fifth U from the chapel, second grave towards Occupation Lane.
Kash (whispers): What is a U?
Sevan: I think they meant a yew tree.

Fortunately, it didn't take us long to find the next stumpery site. According to the reference photo, there should have been a wooden tripod to mark the location, but that structure had most likely collapsed. Once we started carrying and wheelbarrowing even heavier logs than before, there was no return. Enriched by the previous creative experience, we've built the second stumpery in only 30 minutes and called it a day, as it was already noon. Whether our art installations were worthy of the King, we couldn't tell, but surely they were worthy to be called insect penthouses.