On a cloudy, yet no longer rainy Tuesday evening, Sevan took Ealing GoodGymers for a run through Walpole Park to Lammas Enclosure. Surprisingly, we went past the Transition Orchard, not stopping there this time, then past the tennis courts. Did our run leader miss the task location? Today we met Trevor from Ealing Transition at a new woodchip pile. He challenged us to fill our wheelbarrows first before he would take us to the area in need of GoodGym hands.

"You are filling these wheelbarrows six times faster than I would!" - Trevor.

Trevor showed us a patch of tiny trees planted last year. During the late spring, the snips were having a tough time, bullied by the brambles that grew much quicker. Trevor had already started rescuing the saplings to prevent the bullies from completely taking over, and we could see piles of thorny cuttings around. Our job was to free all the remaining tiny trees and cover the ground with woodchip to suppress further growth of weeds.

At first, the whole team focused on taking down the brambles, with A.B. and Freya at the forefront. Gradually, the chopping team started losing its members to the woodchipping job: first Steph Ducat, then Harvey, and finally Kash. Sevan stayed in the small forest area to rake and coordinate the woodchip operations.

As the cuttings heap grew, the woodchip pile shrunk, eventually running out completely. Just 45 minutes of GoodGymming transformed a sad, overgrown thicket into a little forest of happy saplings, thriving surrounded by a thick layer of mulch.

"On behalf of the trees - thank you!" - Trevor.

We are keeping our fingers crossed for the trees that had been now set for a fresh start in their long life - but we will be back to check in on them later in the summer and fight back the thorny bullies if needed!

Next week we have a totally different type of task: we'll be teaming up with Ealing Repair Café again to reduce fabric waste and create goods for the community! Sign up now. It's an indoor task, so the weather is not an excuse 😉

When a bell at the Hanwell School of Boxing rang at 7:15 pm, it announced the start of GoodGym Ealing's match against dry leaves, weeds, a pile of decomposing trimmings, and very much alive ivy. There was a plentitude of opponents to fight against, but we came with a strong team: 8 people warmed up by 3 km run or walk to the session!

The task owner, Linda, let us into the club's building to peek at the ongoing boxing class with young people sparing in the ring or practising their boxing drills. But our battle was outdoors - which we appreciated as the late spring weather was fantastic.

Our job was to tidy up the space outside the boxing school, and the task looked like a big one! Would there be another round - or could we win by knockout? No time to overthink when you are already in the ring! We went straight into action.

A.B. and Madhan swept the old leaves from the vast patch of tarmac leading to the school entrance. Chris, Harvey and Sevan freed the trees from the embrace of the ivy. Freya pulled all the weeds from the gravel area, then helped Steph Ducat, who was shovelling the pile of old cuttings. Kash took a lot of photos - and also loaded the waste into a wheelbarrow and dumped it onto a dead hedge, as Linda had lost hope that the green waste would get collected.

The result? We won with the mess by knockout! Surely, the ivy will grow back and new leaves will fall in the autumn - but we left Hanwell School of Boxing transformed and looking welcoming. We, in turn, felt welcome seeing the friendly smiles of young boxers, leaving after finishing their training session. Our match was over too, so we set off for the journey back towards Ealing Broadway.

Next week, we'll stick closer to the starting location at Bodyline, and will walk or run to the Lammas Enclosure to free saplings from the rule of nasty brambles - sign up now!

Sevan and Kash joined A.B., who had been on duty in the Soup Kitchen since 4 pm. A.B. and Sevan started the 6 pm shift by labelling the donated clothes with size markers. After putting a label on one item, Sevan, by order of the Boss Lady Emma, went on the front line to distribute takeaway meals: spaghetti bolognese with lentils or tomato & herbs pasta. After 25 minutes of a big rush, the queue for food dispersed, and the remaining clients showed up less frequently.

The clothes tables, where Kash was assigned, had a pretty steady stream of clients coming in. A.B. later joined that section and made sure the table was well-stocked, the customers informed what was available and the outfits neatly folded. Closer to 7:30 pm the GoodGymers at the clothes duty began separating the impractical (too summery, fancy, scanty) items from the practical ones, and putting the impractical sort into a bag going to be donated to a charity shop as those clothes were not suitable for the rough sleepers in the winter.

The shift finished on time, with quite a few bananas left without any takers. Hopefully, Emma or other volunteers have a banana bread recipe so the fruits will not get abandoned!

Todays Mission brought GoodGymers to the drop-in session at the spooky Northfields Allotments, for final preparations and set up for the Halloween family event being held later in the day!

The day started bright and early with four GoodGymers on hand, Clare leading the charge for all the arrangements of the Halloween event, and with Kash, Sevan and Christos on litter picking duty along Radbourne Walk. Walking along the eerie entrance route of the event, the team picked up and disposed of bottles, wrappers and cans… and dug holes… clearing the path for visitors’ safety!

As the team made it halfway down the litter picking route, we welcomed some much-needed extra hands by Steph, Chris, Tish and later by A.B - now enough GoodGymers to divide and conquer the ghostly tasks at the Northfield Allotments, and spookify the Radbourne Way entrance route.

With Kash, Sevan and Steph continuing to make safe and clear out all the litter from their path, Christos, Chris and Tish were on hand with members from the Allotment community putting up decorated ropes and banners across the entrance route, swiftly carrying, connecting up the carabiners, and testing the batteries for the lights. But wait… this rope doesn’t fit across the walk… Some improvisation needed to rearrange the decorations and some creative problem solving with nearby trees to get all of the banners attached.

Lights checked and ready for the show!

What’s next on our list of tasks? Time to set up the tables and chairs in the main area of the event, with GoodGymers bringing out the Halloween-decorated table tops, attaching the legs and giving everything a spring clean before visitors arrive. Plastic chairs were carried out, as though appearing like ghosts from nowhere by Kash and the remaining group set to cleaning and wiping these down. Listening to the Halloween tunes played by A.B. helped to make quick work in setting up the chairs.

Some final odds and ends completed, and the Allotment was looking more ghoulish and terrifying! A parting comment by Clare for the completed tasks – “You really saved us today!”

Looking forward to seeing the incredible event!