The second Tuesday of July saw four GoodGymers assembling at Bodyline Fitness in Ealing Broadway for a run to Hanwell, led by Steph Ducat. Today's run leader was joined not only by the regulars: Freya, Harvey and Sevan, but also by a special guest, Bassam Mahfouz. While not everyone might know that Bassam is a keen runner and a volunteer, many residents recognise him as a Member of the London Assembly for Ealing and Hillingdon, currently focusing on matters such as environment and transport. When the five ran through Ealing, every time they stopped, someone said hello to Bassam.

The team arrived at Wharncliffe Viaduct to meet the task owner Dee from the William Hobbayne Charity, who looked after the Half Acre Woods. Kash, who walked to the task, was already there. Dee, concerned about the mosquitos lurking in the woods, offered the GoodGymers an unassuming lotion in spray, reportedly used by the Forest School people to repel insects. We think the mysterious mist has worked as by the end of the task, we've earned only plant-based stings from nettles.

Today's job was the summer classic task - something we had done almost exactly a year ago - cutting back the overgrowth on the path along the viaduct. Harvey and Steph tackled the brambles and nettles encroaching on the entrance to the woods from the Station Approach road, and Bassam, Freya, Sevan and Kash dealt with the growth on the River Brent side. Dee swapped shears for a litter picker and collected cans, bottles and even dog poo bags revealed by the chopping squad.

While we worked to widen the path, passers-by genuinely appreciated what we've done. Walkers, runners, parents with a pushchair, and an exceptionally grateful cyclist enjoyed using the path, no longer worrying about being caught by a rogue bramble. Even without all the thank-yous we heard, we could tell that in just one hour we were making a visible difference in the local community.

Next week, we will be back in Hanwell, again helping the William Hobbayne Charity with cutting back undesirable plants. Don't worry, the brambles and nettles in the woods won't grow back that fast. We will be tackling the area we started clearing last month in the Hobbayne Community Gardens. Join us next week!

On their second visit to Ms A's garden, Sevan and Kash were welcomed by sunshine and tall, wet grass. The latter didn't allow them to use electrical equipment to mow the lawn, as Ms A was worried about their safety. Skipping grass cutting wasn't such a big deal since Ms A had a paved path overgrown with long weeds, encroached by ivy and brambles from the neighbour's garden. That was a perfect place to make a visible difference, reducing trip hazards and Ms A's anxiety about the state of her garden.

The sunny weather did not last long. The storm that had caught Sevan and Kash in Osterley on their previous mission was hard on their heels and caught them in South Ealing. The GoodGymers hid under the stairs during the worst downpour to listen to the thunder in the distance and watch the wall of rain. Those few minutes of hiatus were a good opportunity to finish their coffee and think about a side project: pulling the weeds from under the stairs.

The rainfall did not last long. Soon, Sevan and Kash were back on the path in the drizzle, then in full sun again. The storm has not returned since, and the two finished clearing the paved way leading to another garden at the back. The last challenge was to squeeze all the garden waste into the three green bags, each already about halfway full.

Mrs E and her husband have been beneficiaries of Kash and Sevan's missioning a few times in the past and it was great to see them again for the first time this year. On entering the garden, Sevan commented on how good it looked as most of the flowers were in bloom. Surely there wasn't much work to be done after Steph visited recently? Wrong. There's always more to be done in a garden.

Mrs E pointed to some leaves that had fallen onto the lawn and between the many plant pots. There was also some tidying to do in the front garden, which Kash and Sevan would learn more about later. They each took a rake and worked on one area of the garden to clear the leaves. Not only leaves. Mrs E's apple tree was already dropping some fruit in the garden, so that was collected too with Mrs E and her husbands help.

When Kash and Sevan were almost finishing with leaf clearing, the heavens opened and everyone took cover. There was a 10 minute intermission, so what else could they do but watch some tennis from Wimbledon on TV. While they were inside, Mrs E asked Sevan if he could clear some spiderwebs and if he knew how to prune tomato plants. The first answer was a yes and the second was an "umm, I can look it up". A quick search later, Sevan had educated himself on tomato plants thanks to Gardeners World magazine. The spiderwebs needed a plan too, once Sevan knew where they were and what tools Mrs E had.

When the rain eased off, Kash went to finish clearing leaves and Sevan started sideshooting the tomato plants like a pro. The spiderwebs were on the fence, so how could they be cleared easily?. Mrs E produced an old brush and that seemed like a good idea, so Sevan swept the fence, making a few spiders homeless.

Kash moved on to maintaining the couple's fig tree before tackling the front garden, which had the dreaded monoblock again. At least it wasn't baking hot today and the rain had softened the earth and moss between the stones, so she made great progress by the end of the mission. Mrs E's next mission will likely involve collecting sackfuls of windfall apples in the autumn that're playing hide and seek amongst the pots. Something fun to look forward to!

Goodgymers were back along the canal in Southall - Bankside to meet Sophie from the Canal & River Trust. We were here roughly a month ago, and today we were surprised that the lavender and other plants planted had disappeared. Only 5 were left out of the soil, and we could clearly see that the plants were stolen. We started with a debrief and equipping ourselves with Marine life jackets as volunteering along the canal. We were then ready to sail in a sea of trash : litter pick along the canal, under the bridge and by the military school as very popular area for drinking, smoking and other activities. The goodgymers found a lot of litter from the normal rubbish, loads of cans/bottles(mainly alcohol), some power tools, empty weed sachets, condoms, trousers, laughing gas canisters, a lounge lamp and Aladdin's flying carpet. The team collected roughly 15 bin bags in total. While Kash and Steph Ducat finished litter picking, Maxime and Sevan attempted to replant with Sophie the remaining lavender in the flower bed and hoping that they will be there on our next visit. We then all removed some weed along the canal that was invading the other lavender and plant beds further along the canal. We all enjoyed coffee that Sophie had brought with her before wrapping up the session. We all survived the Corona Triangle and nobody fell in the water.

Mrs B had moved home recently, just across the road according to her, into sheltered accommodation. It was smaller than her last place which had been her family home for many years, so some adjustments were needed. She and her daughter had managed to unpack everything and Mrs B said that when that happened, all of her old belongings had been crammed into every nook and cranny without understanding what she would actually need to keep.

Decluttering experts, Kash and Sevan, were on hand to help. Empty boxes were assigned for donations and black bags for anything to be disposed. The donation box quickly filled up with a phone, Mrs B's second iron and a few other bits and pieces. The rest of the session would be talking to Mrs B about what she would like to keep and what, if anything, could be thrown away.

Mrs B pointed the pair to an area behind an easy chair, saying that lots of things that didn't have a home had been stashed there. Every item was removed and reviewed. There was artwork created by old friends, photos of family some of whom had passed on and mirrors. Each of them had their own story and took Mrs B back to a particular time in her life. All but one were too hard to let go of, so they were neatly stacked back in their temporary place for now.

Mrs B had better success with the real storage that she had. The contents of drawers were reviewed one at a time and a few items were let go of. As a keen cook, cookie cutters were once essential but no more. Other duplicate items and old paperwork were let go of too and one black bag was filled. Steady progress for a first visit and hopefully it provided Mrs B with some food for thought, meaning that next time there will be new items that are ready to go.

GoodGym Ealing's monthly visit to the Feeding Ealing site in Perivale found that even more trees and crops had been planted in the last month. Everything was growing fast and that led to one of the tasks for the GoodGymers today.

Joseph was leading the session for Feeding Ealing and took the volunteers into the polytunnel.

"This is paradise!" - Joseph

All of the raised beds were full of green leaves and produce, with okra, chillies and tomatoes seen to be growing. There was still opportunity in those beds though and the first task was to make onion rings. That is, plant onions all around the edges of each raised bed. Roberta, Gus and Olivia started working on this in the polytunnel with other Feeding Ealing volunteers, pushing the bulbs into the ground.

Outside, Kash, Steph and Sevan would be adding supports from some climbing plants to grow big and strong. To do this, they needed to find some cut branches that were not too short, not too long, not to thin and not too thick. Luckily, they found some that were just right in a pile of previously cut branches. Those branches needed to be pushed into the soil of the raised bed, then tied to 2 trellis wires running the length of the bed, giving the branches support. The trio were joined by Gus and spent the rest of the task stringing the branches up.

"We're pole dancing?" - Kash
"String fellows? 🤭" - Sevan

Roberta and Olivia moved on to the beds outside, continuing to spread their onions all over the site 🧅. Olivia did an amazing job on her first GoodGym session. Welcome Olivia! 👋🎉

Joseph was so happy with the progress that he offered some of the early harvest to the team. They each had a few damsons straight off the tree and were given a crop of stripey courgettes to take home and enjoy 😋.