The last group run of August 2025 took GoodGym runners Sevan, Harvey, Freya and Steph Ducat to South Acton in a pursuit of perfection in the art of leaf mulch making. At Berrymede School, they met Kash and Chris, and, of course, Romina from Cultivate London, who would guide them in preparing the finest 2024 leaf compost, continuing their work started in July.

Last year's leaves were well-marinated: dark, moist and rich - easy to tell apart from golden, crispy 2025 leaves that already started falling onto the schoolyard. We had to do our best to finish the 2024 batch before it got contaminated by this season's additions. Chris, Freya, Sevan and Kash positioned themselves at the leaves deposit to dig out the damp organic gold. The lowest layers already had some growth in them. The GoodGymers found peculiar white sprouts and even apples: one edible (presumably, as no one actually tried it), and another - an Apple device! Cultivate London charity could grow rich by growing more iPhones rather than selling leaf mulch to raise funds!

Harvey, in breaks from shovelling leaves, was driving the trolley with half-full tonne bags to Bay 2024, where Steph was performing leaf stomping: an ancient tradition of treading the mulch by feet to release the juices and initiate fermentation. As the time went on, the half-full bags in the bay, topped up with Harvey's deliveries and compressed by Steph, grew fatter and denser. Romina was delighted to see what outstanding results a small team could achieve and gave the GoodGymers a round of high-fives.

Next week, our Tuesday session will take place near Ealing Broadway. We will be pruning and watering at the much-loved Lammas Orchard. Sign up now to join us!

What a day it was for the UFO Steelband, who tirelessly rocked the crowds at the Notting Hill Carnival for the whole Sunday! At the end of the long and loud day, the band members had one more job to do: break down their carnival truck and pack up the pans. It can be quite an ordeal after hours and hours of partying, so UFO had reached out to GoodGymers for support. Steph and Kash responded to the call to action and showed up at the storage unit ahead of the estimated time of the truck's arrival. A few band members who had already made it to the disassembly point said that the truck was just behind them. And shortly after - here it was: the UFO carnival vehicle!

Kash hopped onto the truck’s platform to pass down the heavy pans together with the band leader, Jason. And guess who had to catch all of them: Steph! He was scrambling between one descending steelpan and another and hadn’t dropped any of them. That was quite an intense workout! Kash was then trusted with one of two pairs of scissors to snip dozens of cable ties and free the decorative side panels.

After Steph and Kash helped load the steelpans into a van that would transport the equipment to the panyard, they were called to help with creating a giant sushi roll! The huge canvas covering the top of the truck was just being pulled down, and the GoodGymers, together with a big group of band members, ran to catch it. Just before the climax of that operation, it turned out that one cable tie still held the canvas. What a suspense! Ladders were back up, and shortly after, the huge piece of fabric landed in the car park. After the team bedsheet-folding exercise, the time has come for the sushi roll. Kash could certainly tell you how long it took to eventually roll it, and Steph how heavy it was in the end.

Following a slightly awkward moment when Steph and Kash found themselves idly holding ladders they had been asked to bring from the storage, there was time for the band leader’s grand speech. Jason was spectacularly elevated on the van’s lift and delivered an inspiring speech, not forgetting to give a shout-out to our small but mighty GoodGym crew!

As a true cat worshipper, I have gone on a pilgrimage to White City to visit again three furry deities who lived in a cat temple with high priest Mr E and his elderly father, Mr W. The holy presence of cats blessed Mr E’s and Mr W’s household with a total absence of otherwise ubiquitous rats. The three felines Mr E had adopted, despite their godliness, were not able to keep their temple’s backyard tidy and weed-free. That was the job of cat devotees like me.

Mr E was, as always, very hospitable and generous. He made me Middle Eastern-style coffee and brought fresh fruit, nuts, and biscuits to the garden as offerings to the cats’ dutiful servant. As we sipped a little cup each, Mr E told me about his felines’ (that had been all outdoor cats) strong preference to use the litterbox at home, although they must have had plenty of opportunities to go elsewhere to do their less divine business. When I attended to the garden later, I wasn’t so sure about his claim as I discovered that I needed to be rather careful about where I put my hands.

To literally get into the weeds, I decided to move some things around - well, more than some - which Mr E welcomed as a fantastic bonus. After becoming Mr W’s carer, he’d been overwhelmed with caring responsibilities and rearranging the house. He hadn’t got either the time or energy to look after the garden anymore, not to mention decluttering the items that were no longer needed and had ended up in the garden. He was delighted to see that I had bagged the clutter and moved it into one corner, which made the centre of the backyard look open and tidy.

Having 15 (or a bit more) minutes to spare before heading to my last session of the day, I spent the extra time in Mr W’s garden as his son had such a friendly attitude - full of appreciation for the help his dad received. It’s been a pleasure to help them today!

A wall of boxes still lines Mr D's living room, as they had the first time that Kash and Sevan had visited. Apparently someone else had been in the meanwhile and there was evidence of some movement of the boxes. Mr D himself had been in and out of hospital again. He wasn't feeling his best today and hadn't been able to move forward with organising his belongings.

With Mr D out of action, Kash and Sevan continued with what they'd done last time, to get books, folders and other items out of the cardboard boxes and into sight. The main goal was still to find Mr D's TV remote and aerial cable, but who knew if the removal company had even packed it? 🤷 The boxes had all been packed haphazardly, so the books and files were jumbled together. The plan was to make as much as possible visible to Mr D to identify and organise in his own time.

The pair spent the mission filling a new, empty bookcase with all sorts of books and maps. An almost endless amount of books and maps, actually. Every box contained some kind of paperwork. World War 2 was Mr D's speciality, so book topics covered war intelligence, maps and the SAS. In fact, there were a lot of books on the SAS, emblazoned with "Who dares wins".

Despite all of the intelligence (books) available, between them, there wasn't enough intelligence to find the TV remote. They did manage to empty a number of moving boxes and found a way to dispose of them in Mr D's sheltered housing block, which was a big GoodGym decluttering win.

On a Sunday morning, Sevan ran, and Kash walked to Hanwell to start the sunny day with a gardening mission. They met in Drayton Green and made their way together to Mrs A's house, where the beneficiary's daughter guided them right to the back garden.

There was a large stack of old cuttings looming in the corner, a jolly curtain of ivy hanging from the fence, and bunches of small weeds growing here and there on the gravel - yet no tools!

Mrs A's daughter scrambled to purchase more garden waste bags, as Kash estimated the sacks available wouldn't take the existing green waste pile in.

Sevan, who specialised in detailed work, got into weeding the gravel, then removing ivy with his hands, a small kitchen knife, and a small pair of scissors. Even without secateurs, he's been deadly! Kash was rummaging through the dried waste stack, snapping sticks, getting scratched by long bramble vines, and finding bunches of grass someone had vigorously pulled out with soil.

Thirteen bags later, the GoodGymers ran out of time. Such an unlucky number to finish a mission with! Hopefully, the GoodGym daredevils who will visit Mrs A next can bring enough luck to finish off tidying the heap of dry cuttings.