On a day off work, Kash spent a fantastic Wednesday morning full of activity. After a long swim, she was off to Shepherd's Bush to meet with a familiar face and a familiar garden.

Mr M, whom Kash had visited on multiple occasions, recently had a guest from his home country who helped him trim the grass. Kash knew that for Mr M the grass was never too short, even if the lawn resembled a desert with occasional weeds popping here and there. She convinced the gentleman that the grass was already short (and very dry), and it would make sense to dig out as many weeds as possible rather than mow.

The weather was perfect for a gardening mission, neither too cool nor too hot. Kash enjoyed the birdsong, the announcements from the nearby Circle line station, and a cold drink from Mr M. She removed the alkanet and bindweed from the lawn and paved area, then raked or swept the green waste that fit into two sacks. What a lovely morning it was!

It's been a season of shears, loppers and secateurs in action, particularly at our Tuesday sessions supporting the William Hobbayne charity in Hanwell. Only a week ago, we had cleared a footpath at Half Acre Woods, and now we were back at the Community Gardens to finish off the job we started a month ago - clearing an overgrown area to make room for a new community space.

To reach the Community Gardens, Sevan, Freya, and Harvey ran 3 km from Ealing Broadway. Nishy, Jamie, and Jamie tried to find their way to the task, coming from the canal and getting stuck (thanks, Google Maps!), but were fortunately discovered by Kash and Harvey before they lost hope. Chris, a regular at Hobbayne's sessions, had more luck (or experience) finding the entrance, where Anna, today's task owner, awaited with the tools.

It was the first Ealing group session for Jamie, who was glad he didn't have to work in extreme heat, unlike at his first-ever GoodGym task. GoodGym Ealing not only booked a nice breeze for today but also perfectly dodged the evening rain. We are really good at ensuring top working conditions! Welcome, Jamie - we hope you enjoyed the weather, the task and our company! We're looking forward to seeing you again on another occasion.

The brambles we had removed in June from the overgrown area hadn't started properly growing back yet, so it was an excellent opportunity to clear the other half of the future community space. There was serious hype built up after our previous task in the gardens as we had found a canoe paddle, a tennis ball and a shed hidden in the brambles. This week's findings seemed less exciting.

Kash: "What did you find in the brambles? Anything interesting?"
Freya: "More brambles."

Sevan found particularly long bramble stems that made quite an impression on our newest team members. Little did they know, they'd be pulling equally intimidating blackberry plants themselves if they stuck to us. One of the Jamies already upped his GoodGym game, trying out a new tool: a small slasher to cut through the jungle. He'd love the larger slashers we used for chopping nettles and brambles near Pear Tree Park!

West London brambles are particularly nasty with their oversized, sharp thorns. They were a cause of many ouches today. We all have been bramblestruck! To alleviate the pain from the scratches, Nishy thoughtfully brought us a snack to enjoy at the end of the session: popcorn. Thank you, Nishy! While the real reward was seeing the whole garden space finally cleared of overgrowth, we enjoyed the gift from Anna: freshly harvested radishes from the allotment.

Next week, we are heading towards a different part of the borough. Sign up now to join us for a leaf sweeping and collection task at a school in Acton.

Care4Calais had a big job for GoodGym this afternoon. To prepare around 130 packs of clothing for refugees in one hotel. Some of the residents had been given clothes previously and today, the second big delivery would complete the task.

Boxes of clothes were piled up waiting for the team, who welcomed back Mohamed for his first GoodGym Ealing task since moving back west 👋. The ask was fairly straight forward, to make standard clothing packs in a single size at a time, on a larger scale than normal. Everything was set up like a production line to make the system quick and easy:

1. Open a bag 🛍️
2. Place socks inside 🧦
3. Hand on to the next person 🤜🤛
4. Add men's underwear 🩲
5. Add a hoodie 🧥
6. Hand on to the next person 🤜🤛
7. Add jogging bottoms 👖
8. Add 2 t-shirts 👕👕
9. Done ✅

With much of the clothing being black or navy, the team needed ways to make sure the right clothes ended up in the right bags.

"Are these hoodies or joggers?" - GoodGymer
"Which half naked man is on the pack?"
"The hoodies have topless men on them too, which doesn't make sense" - Tamzin, task owner

The "naked man process" worked up until the team realised that some packs had 2 hoodies and no trousers in them. Cue a rapid search through 40ish packs to identify which ones needed fixing.

Despite the hoodie issues early on, an improved system meant that the job of creating the packs finished early, with a range of small, medium, large and XL bags tightly packed into boxes.

After the rapid and fairly repetitive production line, came the slow, creative piece. Fitting all of those boxes into 2 family cars needed thought, inventiveness and some force. With both cars full to bursting and ready to be delivered to Care4Calais' beneficiaries, it was time to wrap up and wander home in the late afternoon sun.

The legend says that it was at Brent River Park's 50th birthday when Kash from GoodGym and Ben, the leader of Clean Up River Brent, fixed a date for a joint wading event in Pitshanger. When the day came, it became clear that the theme would be the famed balsam bash - the removal of invasive plants with stalks like giant celery and purple flowers of stunning beauty. The gorgeous flowers were particularly troublesome as they were starting to explode, sending hundreds of Himalayan Balsam seeds into the air and water.

The Balsam Bashers group assembled on Sunday morning at Pitshanger Park Bowls Pavilion. Rachel, Lara, Bob, and Martin were busy choosing the right size of waders and listening to Ben's health and safety brief. GoodGymers Sevan, Steph, and Kash were already in the park, after volunteering at junior parkrun and queuing for coffee at the park café. Kymm from GoodGym Hounslow, experienced with balsam bashing, joined them shortly to try on waders for the first time. The pair she got was not the most comfortable to walk in.

Kymm: "Are they supposed to be that harsh on the feet?"
Ben: "Is it some sort of grit? I actually like it, but I'm a masochist."

Comfortable or not, waders were worn by everyone to protect skin from Weil's disease and other nastiness hidden in contaminated water. They also shielded us from brambles, nettles, and even giant hogweed. With long rubber gloves, wading poles, and hi-viz, the team was ready for a serious adventure. We wandered west along the River Brent and found a suitable place to carefully descend from the bank. On a hot day, the water felt nice and cool through the waders.

Guided by the wading poles to avoid the treacherous drops in the river bed, we walked downstream, bashing the balsam on the way, some of us from the water, others occasionally from the bank. We went as far as the footbridge leading to St Benedict's School. Before heading off, we took with us some imposing balsam specimens for a special photoshoot by Martin Sapsed for his project documenting the work of volunteers across different fields. Sadly, we had to remove the best-looking flowers to minimise the risk of balsam seeding on the way. We think we still made quite an impression on the park visitors.

Passer-by: "It looks like a religious festival!"

Our pagan procession returned to the pavilion, where Martin assembled us for a carefully designed Balsam Basher group shot.

Martin: "I'm looking for a look of grim determination."

We gave Martin the most serious stares we could muster, then happily took off the waders as we felt we were starting to boil after having left the cooling water. Some would describe the atmosphere of getting released from waders as whiffy. Ben said it's been a year with the most wading involved so far and promised to give the rubbery equipment a thorough wash before the next session. We're looking forward to another CURB event to do good for biodiversity in Ealing and sweat in fresh waders again!

At Pitshanger Junior parkrun this morning, there were big cheers for one runner who received a grey wristband. What does a grey wristband mean, I hear you ask? It shows that they have run 100 Junior parkruns and to celebrate, they brought everyone a tub of sweets to share 🍬🙌.

There were 5 GoodGymers who were in the park early on a Sunday to help make the event a success. Jacquie, Gaby and Steph were marshaling around the course, making sure that everyone made it round safely. Kash and Sevan were in the funnel area, with Kash taking on her favourite role, barcode scanning and Sevan was timekeeping.

In all, 86 runners completed the course, with many of them dipping their hand into the tub of sugary treats. One of them was hungrier than the others:

"I want 4 sweets" - Runner
"Why do you want 4?" - Barcode Scanner
"Because I like 4" - Runner

Eventually they were negotiated down from 4 packs of sweets to 2, leaving more for the other children and adults to share.

It was a thirsty Saturday afternoon for GoodGymers, with the scorching sun high in the sky. When visitors from Ealing, Sevan and Kash, rang Mr C's doorbell, they were greeted with a level of hospitality they weren't used to.

"Hello. Thank you for coming. Would you like a drink?" - Mr C.
"Yes, sure." - Sevan.
"Gin & tonic?"
"No, thank you."
"Oh, no gin & tonic?"
"No, really, water is enough."

The Ealing GoodGymers didn't want to feel too much like they were on holiday in Kingston ahead of the job to do. And the job was significant. While Mr C had been unwell and unable to walk, his front garden started to resemble a jungle! He was slowly getting better and began to feel more stable on his feet, but he still needed support to cut bushes and a hedge which were potential trip hazards on the way to his front door. The good thing about the garden jungle was that the only predators there were Sevan and Kash. If only they had better tools they'd be far more deadly for the naughty branches!

Sevan, who worked on the front of the hedge, chose a pair of quality secateurs Mr C had never used before - that's how fine they were! Kash, after realising that the loppers she had picked were not as sharp as she'd expected, opted for the other secateurs that Sevan had abandoned. She was clearing everything on the other side of the hedge: bushes, weeds, ivy, sycamore saplings, you name it. Nothing was safe.

"Look, there's a little oak tree here." - Sevan.
"I saw. I'm going to take it out with the fork when I finish bagging those cuttings." - Kash.

Before Kash finished packing the trimmings, Mr C appeared and told the GoodGymers to keep the oak sapling as he wanted to grow it and plant it elsewhere. He had no way of hearing the earlier conversation because of his severe hearing impairment. Has he had a premonition? Good for the oak tree!

Two GoodGymers removed the trip hazards and got the hedge into a better shape. They've also run out of the black bags to pack the rest of the garden waste. Mr C estimated about 30 minutes of remaining work he thought he might ask GoodGym about or handle himself once he recovers. Today's session definitely made a difference and Mr C was thankful for the support he received.

This Saturday we ticked off another HANGOT orchard from our bucket list: Blackberry Corner - probably the furthest and most difficult to water. It's been a hot and dry summer, so the fruit trees were desperate for water if they were to bear fruit this year.

Before heading to Blackberry Corner on the other side of the canal, Steph Ducat filled the 100-litre water tank at Bernd's Shed to be used throughout another hot week.

Blackberry Corner didn't have any facilities for watering, so the volunteers had a proper workout, carrying the buckets and cans from the far away canal. Luckily, a friendly boater offered to throw her hose through the fence, which would make the journey with buckets much shorter. But what a challenge it was to discover where the hose was located! Frank and others from HANGOT had a rummage in the overgrowth along the fence to finally find it.

Apart from watering, our side task was raking the grass Frank had cut using a scythe. We'd then spread then grass on the cut nettles between the fruit trees. According to Frank, the released seeds would promote the grass growth in the following year, hopefully reducing the spread of nettles.

It was the first session for Victoria, who quickly got stuck in, watering the thirsty trees. Welcome Victoria - you have definitely deserved to come back later in the year to try some of the fruits of your labour! The watermelon lollies kindly given to us today by the boater with the hose, were a bonus reward and more than we expected from the session!