Team GoodGym was tasked by the Ealing Rangers with another impactful mission: a burr hunt in Elthorne Park! The bane of dog owners, the mighty burdock, has returned in numbers to the beloved Hanwell green space to terrorise the walkers and latch onto fur, hair, or clothes of everyone passing by.

Runners, walkers, and cyclists from Ealing and Hammersmith came together to defeat the invader spreading along the main paths. However, first, they had to defeat the tool storage security system to obtain the necessary loppers and bags for the job. While Freya, Steph, and Sevan embarked on the burr hunt, Kash was figuring out how to arm the security system again, only to discover that the unexpected arrival, Divya, needed a pair of loppers and a safe space to store his bike.

While removing burdock encroaching on the park pathways, the GoodGym crew heard a few thank-yous from HANGOT volunteers and dog walkers. Maybe their good work has even inspired one of the passers-by to become a GoodGymer? Time will tell!

If you missed the HANGOT cameo today, join us this Saturday for the full HANGOT orchard experience, followed by GoodGym Ealing 9th birthday!

Next Tuesday's group run will be to Acton to do some seeding, watering and tidying up at the Wildflower Trail. Sign up now!

One year ago, Mr R was having problems with his phone line and internet connection. He suspected that the Alkanet was affecting his internet, so called GoodGym to clear the weeds from his garden and remove the interference. (Actually, he was going to call his internet provider to lay a new cable in his garden).

Now, Kash and Sevan were back because so was the Alkanet. Mr R told them that the connection was still spotty and even his wireless doorbell was on the blink, constantly buzzing and distracting him to the point where he needed to turn it off at the socket. A second attempt to defeat the Alkanet was needed and was on the cards for today.

Kash and Sevan hadn't had to deal with electronic interference before. They chose their tools from Mr R's ample supply and surveyed the scene. The Alkanet was controlling most of the garden, with its long roots piercing deep into the ground. Their underground chatter caused chaos with the phone line, so they needed to be dug out.

Sevan grabbed a spade and went straight for the offenders nearest the house, moving outward to the road over the course of the task. Kash targeted the other weeds in the garden starting with a trowel, then got serious, using a pick axe to cause chaos in the earth, making the ground shake.

With the worst offenders extracted, Mr R hoped that he was free of the Alkanet's woes for another year. He could now send secret messages to his global network of rose aficionados without incurring the Alkanet's wrath.

Sevan and Kash walked from their morning session at the Grand Union Canal to a familiar sheltered housing building in Southall to meet an unfamiliar beneficiary. Mr D had recently moved into the new flat in the estate, and shortly after, had suffered a fall, which rendered him unable to move freely without pain. A fleet of boxes with Mr D’s belongings, haphazardly packed by a moving company, was looming in the living room, with no one around to deal with it. Here is where GoodGymers came to the rescue.

Mr D had been clear that what mattered to him the most was uncovering an aerial cable and a TV remote from that mountain of cardboard boxes. Whatever Sevan and Kash could unpack and organise on the way to those two Holy Grails would be great too.

Kash started with unpacking what was in front of her - an open box with clothes. She helped Mr D put some outfits on the hangers and into the wardrobe, and others, flatpacked, into the drawers. She successfully convinced Mr D to say goodbye to two pieces of clothing in a state beyond repair. Sevan tried to persuade the gentleman to part with his old CRT monitor, but with no avail - Mr D believed he’d use the screen again once he set up his (currently broken) PC. Sevan then attended to other boxes where he found...

Books.

He then peeked into other cartons, finding food, kitchen appliances, documents, and...

Books.

As per Mr D’s request, he put the books aside, near an empty bookshelf. They needed to be carefully sorted thematically by their owner. Having scoured through the top layer of boxes and discovering more folders with documents, Sevan unavoidably came across more...

Books.

The pile by the bookshelf grew, so Kash suggested she could arrange the books temporarily on the shelving so that she could collapse the cartons. Mr D then would sort through the books once he’d gotten better. When Kash inadvertently mixed the Napoleonic Wars with the history of SAS, Sevan was bringing order to the kitchen cupboard by separating the 2024 meatballs from the 2026 tinned carrots. Such jarringly different approaches to history!

Sevan and Kash learned that Mr D’s passion for books and documents was linked to his work as a researcher. The amount of materials on history subjects, memorabilia, model kits, and old military surplus goods clearly positioned Mr D as a fervent history buff. It should not have come as a surprise that when Kash came across a box labelled ”four-pan set”, the carton contained...

Books.

To be fair, Sevan actually had found a four-pan set in its original packaging. No one managed to discover the TV remote control or the aerial cable, though. Mr D was very grateful for freeing the space in his living room, nonetheless. The gentleman was not able to pinpoint where the bins with general waste and recycling were, so Sevan and Kash had to leave the rubbish and cardboard boxes for the carer to take out.

Seven Samourai's appeared early Sunday morning at Lock 91 to apprehend ruthless prickly gang terrorising other inhabitants along the canal in and around the flower beds. Equipped with their favorite weapons : not Katana swords but loppers, shears, hoes, litter pickers and shear willingness. After 90 minutes, the combat had a clear winner : Goodgym plus Canal & River Trust volunteers as they cleared the Garden at Lock 91. Brambles and other unwanted gangsters disappeared in either bin bags or on the pile of wasted greenery. The Seven Samurai's disappeared as quickly as they appeared in the morning to tackle other missions.