After finishing a parkrun 🏃‍♂️ and a long-distance walk 🚶, I decided to join the Gunnersbury Community Celebration. The most difficult task at first was trying to find Stephen, an old GoodGym member I had never met before. (He even joked that he had forgotten his GoodGym t-shirt on the day 😅.

Luckily, I came across some friendly volunteers who guided me and suggested I help Claire run and tidy up the children’s games area It turned out to be really fun!

I also had the honour of meeting Max, another GoodGymer 💪 who came along to support the day. Together, we looked after the children’s section until Stephen arrived and kindly showed us around. He even mentioned that Colin Firth’s son would be performing music later on, though unfortunately, we didn’t get the chance to see him.

We stayed longer than planned , as Claire needed help putting away all the materials used for the games into storage . Although it was hard work , it was also rewarding — and overall, the day was a great experience

It was our first visit back at Gunnersbury park for 2025, and we had a big challenge in store. In the chilly weather we've been having, a big physical task was just what we needed!

With GGers coming from all over the borough and beyond, we met at a location in the depths of the park to find a massive pile of wood chips waiting for us. Before we could get started we were given a very thorough risk assessment by Jacob, one of the lead gardeners, and were even treated to a rather stylish high vis to wear.

Dividing into groups, we grabbed barrows and spades and got stuck in. As usual, we chatted while we worked, which made the time fly by. Conversations were as varied as ever, from parkrun to training plans and even some rather interesting Guinness world record attempts...

It's amazing to see what can be done when so many people work together, and we had a very efficient spade/barrow system in place. Before long the piles had been decimated and we had several crisp new paths to show for our efforts.

Hard work done, all that was left were the celebrations! Timed to perfection, just before Gus leaves us for a month for glamourous Milan, he achieved his 50 good deed milestone - congratulations! He's gone through several pairs of gardening gloves, managed to do a month of daily 5kms, has forged a brand new cycling habit and has done so much good over those 50 sessions. To mark the occasion Emily made the lemon drizzle to end all lemon drizzles!

If you're looking for some more GoodGym fun this weekend then why not head down to Chiswick eyot to help with cutting and weaving - it's a very fun task if you don't mind a bit of mud!

Also keep an eye on the January challenge - we're doing well but there's still a way to go! What better incentive to book yourself into your next GG session....

On a very chilly January morning, five GGers met at a much loved community space to make it more welcoming and safer for local people.

With the temperature dipping below zero, the grass was crunchy underfoot and the leaves were coated in a layer of frost. The only thing spoiling the wintry beauty was the litter strewn near benches, under trees and, frustratingly, around bins. So, grabbing our litter pickers, we wasted no time collecting bottles, discarded vapes, crisp packets and much more. As we worked conversation ranged from our tactics for keeping warm, local history and the importance of preserving it, the tastiest spots in the area for lunch and even the best vantage point to watch the boat race!

After 45 minutes we had two bulging bags of rubbish to show for our efforts so we called it a morning. Great work everybody!