On a Sunday morning, when many people would rather choose a lie-in, Gaby, Simon and Steph showed up in front of The Berry Cafe in Pitshanger Park to join Kash for a whole body fitness session. The workout lasted only 15 minutes, but filled the GoodGymers with energy better than a coffee ahead of the junior parkrun volunteering session - and that's exactly what marshals cheering kids on their runs need!

Seven exercises, including high knees, press-ups, jump squats (or just squats), tricep dips, back lunges, plank shoulder taps and plank leg raises hit different muscle groups and made hearts beat a bit faster. The best part? Every exercise had a basic and a more challenging version, so everyone could choose a progression that worked for their experience and current fitness level!

When the workout finished, the GoodGymers were rewarded with a ray of sunshine on their faces - probably the only one that got through the clouds this weekend! If you missed the sun and the workout, nothing is lost. There will be more fitness sessions ahead of tasks coming soon in November!

GoodGym Ealing never know what to expect on their regular trips to Care4Calais, from school uniform picking to wheelchair cleaning to stock shortages. There's always something different. Today, some deliveries hadn't arrived, so the team, directed by task owner Tamzin, did what they could to keep the shelves stocked and fulfil the requests of those in need.

First up, boxes of clothes needed to be shuffled around to make space, with some heading for storage to be replaced by others that were needed now. Once complete, two different tasks led to Kash and Freya heading into the stock room while Steph and Sevan worked next door.

Some items were running low due to the non-deliveries, so Freya and Kash worked to prepare bags of requests that could be completed. There were more people asking for winter coats as the weather turned and there were requests for abayas and hijabs too. By the end of the session, Freya had mastered Tamzin's the storage system... which may have changed by the next time we visit in 6 days.

In the other room, Steph and Sevan were busy sorting new donations, with bags and bags waiting for their attention. There were some much needed winter jackets, a big batch of school clothes and a selection of hats (some of them useful for clients, some of them not). There were women's clothes too, many with unusual sizing. Some labels would claim they were small and then looked enormous on Steph and Sevan.

The team powered though a good set of tasks, leaving Tamzin's To Do list a bit lighter. No doubt it'll fill up again before we return next weekend.

A fake bird of prey glided across the grey sky, restrained by a string tying it to the roof of Featherstone High School. If it had eyes, it would watch two GoodGymers hiding from the rain under the sheltered area. Steph and Kash ran nearly 8km from their previous task in Hanger Hill and tried to get their t-shirts a little bit drier before putting on the rain jackets.

In front of the closed gate to the school garden, where their task awaited, stood one bag of woodchip. Only one! Alex, the task owner, was desperate to refresh the look of the path that the GoodGymers had helped lay in the summer. Over a few months and many classes held in the garden, the path wore out a bit and the bald patches needed covering. The stakes were higher than usual as the following day the garden was supposed to host its first celebration! And not only a celebration of the Learnscape project, but a Diwali-themed event.

For the whole past week, the kids have been drawing and colouring pictures for the party! - Alex

When the cavalry arrived, Alex opened the garden gate and did speed-weeding to get rid of the biggest grass patches from the path. Gurpal fixed a spare shovel from a nearby community allotment, and Andrew started tidying the path edges. Steph and Kash dropped three wheelbarrows of chips in the middle of the path - supposedly, the furthest point where the honourable guests, including the Mayor of Ealing, would go. When the GoodGymers filled the fourth wheelbarrow, their shovels and rakes hit the bottom of the half-tonne bag. Uh oh! The bag was now easy to drag by one person, which meant there was hardly any woodchip left. With some tactical raking, the volunteers blended the new woodchip with the old one and concluded it was the best they could do with the amount of donated material.

The next priority was the tidy-up.

- Are we going to rake the leaves? - Andrew.
- No. It's supposed to be a winter garden. It's not for the opening of a new Asda. - Alex.

Eventually, the team raked some of the leaves near the entrance, but the main clearing task was to move the smaller stacks of sticks and weeds onto the big compost pile. The cleared space would be used to extend the area where the children had seeded the wildflowers. Before Steph and Kash removed all signs of the old green waste heaps, Alex salvaged a few bamboo sticks to help the sunflowers stand up straight in front of the Mayor the following day. Gurpal did the hard work digging at the back of the garden, and Andrew completed a round of litterpicking.

We are now hoping that, with our extra help, everyone will have a great time at the Monday celebration!

Early Sunday morning and it was another big turn up from both the children but also the volunteers. Kash, Gabriela and Steph Ducat arrived after a small fitness session in the park to join both Sevan and Jacquie. As there was a lot of volunteers some roles were doubled up so we had double marshalling to keep the children out of trouble around the course. Gabriela and Kash were at marshal point 8 and were giving high 5's. Steph Ducat was also doubling up as tail walker : yes 2 tails walkers today! Sevan had the task of giving out the tokens, but realised that token number 67 was not in the batch. Will token 67 make it's way back to the next park run?In the meantime it was high security and no messing around at the funnel with Jacquie and 3 other volunteers. Another successful junior park run with 105 children getting over the finish line.

GoodGym Ealing made their first visit to Grange School, where a brood of ducks had a dream to turn their long dry pond bed into a beautiful wetland centre.

"We pay to send our ducklings to a wetland centre in Barnes."
"Why not create a wetland centre at the school?" - Nova, task owner

Standing in front of the deep pit that would become a pond, the GoodGymers and Nova took a gander at it to plan out the session. The hole was bigger than needed, so first up was to waddle in and clear any debris from the bottom then split the space. Vegetation, soil and rubbish were dug out and separated, with a surprising number of tennis balls found as ducks don't play tennis 🤷.

It was Zuzanna's first task with GoodGym and she took to it like a duck to water 🦆🥳👏. She found huge interest in a number of unexpected invertebrates hiding in the pit that the school of ducks hadn't eaten yet, including centipedes, worms and furry caterpillars 🐛.

Once the clearing of the pit was completed, a large new flock arrived, complete with their ducklings who attended the school. They preened the soil surrounding the future pond to remove weeds and grasses that weren't wanted. The GoodGym team moved on to organising pots and a stack of tyres, then raked and bagged leaves, with frequent flights to the far away compost heap to make drop offs.

A new liner was laid for the now smaller pond and the team dove into the empty space next to it to fill it with soil. The old soil that had been dug out went back in as well as fresh bags. Then, to round out the task, everyone jumped on the newly laid soil to bed it in.

The space was transformed in 2 hours and it was great to have so many drakes and ducks come along to make it happen. There is plenty more to do in future sessions, like completing the soil infill and then getting water into the pond liner, so keep an eye out for new listings.

This October, our usual third Saturday of the month, dedicated to Western Road Urban Garden, turned into a celebration of the end of the growing season. With the harvest already collected, all that was left was a tidy-up and throwing a party afterwards!

The atmosphere in Southall was buzzing with the upcoming Diwali festivities. It was a fantastic time to join GoodGym and Southall Community Alliance at a very special community day. Deepak decided to do exactly that. Welcome to the team, Deepak!

With eight GoodGymers to help the urban garden this Saturday, Janpal and Paul scrambled to provide them with a variety of light and heavier tasks. Steph Ducat, Ash, Afshin, Kash and Sevan, together with a good friend from previous WRUG sessions, Andre, and a new volunteer, Sangheeta, chose a tricky task of moving timber stacked alongside the polytunnel. The planks were not only heavy and long, but also packed with nails. Everyone was extra careful, resisting any temptation to show off, which resulted in a new stack of timber in a more appropriate spot and zero mishaps on the way! Sevan then joined Iram, A.B. and Deepak in meticulous weeding around the fruit trees in the orchard and wheelbarrowing the surprisingly large amounts of green waste to the compost heap.

It was not yet noon when our team and the new arrivals at WRUG slowly started gravitating towards the polytunnel to uncover its hidden treasures. This time, we don't mean okra, chillies or gourd, but a feast prepared by Janpal: samosas, chicken biryani, Indian sweets, hot and cold drinks and an abundance of fruit! The mid-session break was a great opportunity to chat with the familiar and the new faces and sample the flavours that are best found in Southall.

It might have been tempting to call it a day after such a pleasant interval - but not for the GoodGymers! The timber carriers team logged a new log-moving achievement in their portfolio. They migrated another pile of wood into the space created after removing the planks to build a timber wall with a double function: a border with neighbouring property and an enormous bug hotel.

That's not a hotel. It's a resort!"

When the main objectives, weeding the orchard and moving the wood, were done, the GoodGymers proactively asked about a bonus task - and Janpal responded! The recently cleared hedging and the bases of the orchard trees needed a thick layer of woodchip. With forks, wheelbarrows, buckets, and, of course, great teamwork, we completed that activity in no time. That was finally the time to call it a day (and the end of the season) - unless you were one of the GoodGymers with yet another session in store on Saturday!