With September on the horizon and the crunch of leaves underfoot, there were some proper back to school vibes at our task last night when we...er, went back to school.

Our job for the night was at Strand on the Green primary school, a place where we go and help out on a regular basis. However, unlike our normal visits, it was only as we got to the bridge near the entrance to the school did we find that the footbridge was closed! Luckily there was lots of local knowledge in the group and we soon opted for a slightly longer deviation.

We arrived to find loads of tools and armed with our set of instructions, we divided up into teams to tackle the various jobs. Emily, Maxime, Harvey, Matt and Jon got busy sanding down the metal trolleys so that they can be painted ready for the new term. It was painstaking work, but it's definitely going to breathe new life into the equipment.

Meanwhile Pippa was weeding and Michelle sweeping up the leaves and debris on the road, just as Eloise and Kymm snipped and pruned the hedge. Gus and Luis had the big guns out with the saw and trimmer, lopping off the tall sections of the overgrown bushes.

It's amazing what a team can achieve together. While everybody was working I was (trying) to work out how much time we would have saved the caretaker who manages the site. With 14 of us working for 45 minutes, that equates to 10.5 working hours - more than a full working day! What an impact.

There was just time to squeeze in a fitness session which featured AMRAP (as many reps as possible) and an abs based challenge based on the Oops Upside Your Head moves! (IFYYK)

This weekend there is a lovely mission to help support WLQP's birthday celebrations - sign up here and don't forget to fill in the form so they know you're coming. Next weeks it is our last visit to help Cultivate finish collecting up the leaves to turn them into mulch. The GG fun never stops!

Whether it the allure of a satisfying cleaning task, the blue skies above or the fact that holiday season in full swing, but last night we had a bumper turn out at GG Hounslow! If that wasn't good news enough, we had the pleasure of welcoming Mark and Caroline along to their first session - great to have you join us!

After a quick warm up it was off to Turnham Green to meet Abundance London, the organisation which created the beautiful mural under Turnham Green bridge that is so loved by local people. Every year since it was unveiled we've been back to give it a good wash. Goodbye graffiti and pigeon poo, hello squeaky clean sparkle!

After a quick safety briefing we grabbed our mops, squeegees and sponges and got to it. Encouraged by passers by we soon got a very efficient system in place, moving like a well oiled machine over the different sections.

After half an hour of hard work, the transformation was complete. It's amazing what a difference it made. I had a message from Abundance this morning saying

"I just wanted to say thank you on behalf of Abundance London for the great work the runners did last night. The Chiswick Timeline mural is now back to its sparkling best."

Job done, we hopped over to the back common for our fitness. Grouping into pairs we did a workout which featured burpees (sorry), reverse planks and walkouts, and with each interval we tried to beat our previous time. Great effort from everybody (even if some of the 'encouragement' from our partners sounded very like trying to put us off...)

Next week we're off to help a local school - hope to see you there!

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...

Today I was back helping Ms V with her beautiful garden. As I was more familiar this time I was able to get going with the tasks that Ms V talked me through. I started by chopping back a bit more of the huge fig tree to be able to access underneath it. Then I dug out a type of weed, the brambles, and the ivy. At the back of the garden was more weeding, as well as taking some of the home made compost and putting it around the bottom of the apple tree to help it grow. Once I had started working on the brambles I started to find more and more, and they were very thorny! Thankfully my gloves were mostly thorn proof. I used the shears to cut the long bits of the grass that I didn't manage to mow last time, and then finished off my cutting off the dead heads of the rose bush. All that was left to do was to deposit all the cuttings into the green bin out the front, and I was off on my way, with a very grateful Ms V thanking me for the help.