As much as some of us dream of a cosy indoor task in the winter, GoodGymers look forward to being in the open during springtime and enjoy the workout and fresh air. Western Road community clean-ups are perfect for muscle training outdoors and today's event was no different. There was a good share of usual digging with mattocks and spades, shovelling and wheelbarrowing woodchips, lifting rubble and chopping roots. Our mission was to prepare the next stretch of soil for the new hedge and planting the trees before days get too warm.

Madhan was first to arrive and started work in a corner of the urban garden where there were exceptional amounts of branches and debris to remove. Next to arrive were Sevan and Kash whose morning running wasn't enough for them. They grabbed mattocks to burn some more energy 🔥 Roughly at the same time Milly showed up, and brought a special guest. It was GoodGym first-timer, Ken a.k.a. Milly's Dad. He came all the way from Cheshire. Despite being a newbie at GoodGym, he was brought a wealth of experience of GoodGym-style work in forests. We soon realised there was one more GoodGymer already at the site but incognito - Jags! Even if recently not visible at GoodGym sessions, Jags had been involved in plenty of community work in Southall. It was great to see him again working with the other GoodGymers ☺️

There was one more person everyone else was waiting for - the first Ealing GoodGymer to reach the legendary status of 500 good deeds! We all looked forward to celebrate Harvey's fantastic achievement today. Finally the King arrived 👑 being humble and trying not to get too much attention. When there was time for a break (and, of course, the famous samosas! 😋), Harvey had no choice but to stop hiding. We had him wear his crown and wielding his GoodGym 500 Rockstar trophy 🤘 in front of all the paparazzi! 📸

After the break for refreshments, we came back to the hard work, followed by hedge planting under the expert guidance from the ranger Paul. Madhan was the one who planted most of the trees 🌱 Who would have thought he would plant so many trees with GoodGym given that he had done for the first time in his life only early this year!

It was a beautiful, sunny day and we thoroughly enjoyed helping the organisers Janpal, Mani and Ashok make the Western Road Urban Garden a bit of a prettier place. We are looking forward to the next task they have for us, hopefully in May!