It wasn’t a long time ago since Ealing GoodGymers engaged in intense gardening in the sepulchral surroundings of South Ealing. Only two days after building stumperies at South Ealing Cemetery, the gang was back in the neighbourhood, this time at St Mary’s churchyard, where the task owner Cliff took on a huge task of getting the garden and the graveyard in shape ahead of the arrival of the new vicar.

It was the fourth session with Cliff of the year, after three Thursday evening tasks this summer. Sevan and Harvey set off from Bodyline for a picturesque run through Walpole Park and alongside Lammas Park. Steph Ducat and Kash left Ealing Broadway as the walking group. For Steph, it was a weighted walk as he was carrying a heavy switch in his rucksack. That was quite literally taking the work home! Ash and Sajeel met at the task - the latter visiting the church for the third time.

After finishing off bits and bobs at the crescent surrounding the church - the location of the previous task at St Mary’s, the team moved to the back of the graveyard to clear the monuments of bindweed, brambles, nettles, alkanet, and holly.

Between graves, we found diamonds, marbles, and other treasures (such as glass milk bottles from the previous century). We wouldn’t dare to steal from the dead and bring their anger towards all the GoodGym Ealing, so we left the precious goods where we found them - or rather, put them in the bin.

Harvey shared with us an interesting story about a tour that his Tube stations running group had received at the London Necropolis Railway station. We learned about a cemetery in Surrey, developed in the 19th century in response to the growing population of London and the overcrowded condition of existing cemeteries. The London Necropolis Railway was built to transport corpses away from the city, all the way to Surrey.

After less than an hour of serious weeding, Cliff was happy to say we got the back of the church under control now, ready for the vicar’s arrival.

Next week, we are heading West to help the ranger clear burdock in Elthorne Park - sign up now!

It was our fifth session for Greenford Park Residents Association Community Hall and the fourth one that included transporting bikes. Will those bicycles eventually go away?

We started the journey of transforming the hall's backyard in December last year. Back then, we could not even take a good "before" photo of the space as dozens of bicycles blocked us from entering the area.

It was incredible to see the final step of clearing the bike graveyard today and completing the painting (at least the first coat!) of the second wooden bench that had been buried under the heaps of bikes.

The bicycles belonged to London Bike Hub, a great initiative aiming to restore as many bicycles as possible for the community. They used to store the pre-loved rides and bike parts at the back of GPRA Hall. Now was the time for the association to reclaim the space and start using it for tea parties and outdoor events. Ash, Christos, Sevan, Steph and Kash were there to make that happen. Under the watchful eye of task owner John, they followed his vision of a bike-free space with two renovated orange benches ready to welcome visitors.

After 90 minutes of dismantling two large bike racks, using creative ways to get the wheeled and wheel-less cycles up the hill to their new home, sweeping paving slabs and painting a bench with old, orange-tinted wood protector, the promised land of tea parties has emerged. It was astonishing to see such a clear, spacious yard, especially in comparison to what we had first encountered in December!

We cannot wait to hear from John again about the community activities planned in the garden... or another job to fix the paving slabs - we are not too fussy!