A role I had not planned

Text A: an original contemporary practice extract.

I went with my niece to a community garden where she was helping to label the new beds. I had brought my camera, expecting to take a few photographs. When the gardener discovered I had worked with maps, she asked me to help decide where the labels should go so that visitors could find each bed. I drew a rough plan on the back of my envelope.

My niece had already learnt the names of the plants and corrected two of my guesses. Then she noticed that one path on my plan ended at a locked gate. We walked round the garden together and found a better route. By the time I took a photograph, I was holding the plan while she checked the labels. I had come away with fewer pictures than I expected, but the garden's new visitors would find their way around more easily.

Text B: an original contemporary practice extract.

At the village hall, I meant to sit at the back while my younger brother rehearsed a short scene with the youth theatre group. A chair was missing from the set, and the director asked whether anyone could lend a hand. I found a wooden one in the store cupboard and carried it onstage.

The group tried the scene, but the chair scraped loudly whenever it moved. My brother suggested putting felt pads under its legs. He knew the scene well enough to show me exactly when the sound interrupted a line, so we tested the chair between rehearsals. The director kept it in the set. I had not learnt the scene, but I left knowing that a small practical job had helped the performance work better.

What similarities are there between the writers' experiences of taking part in these activities? Use evidence from both texts to support your answer.