After last weekend's two-day community clean-up in Southall, GoodGym Ealing was back to... Southall! This time we explored a new location, Wolf Fields. There was a nice, small park with the same name nearby but our hands were needed just next door, at a former allotment, now proudly called Wolf Fields Urban Nature Reserve. To make sure the site deserves its name, we had to get to work and do some GoodGym magic.

Litterpicking

As we had been invited to the event by Cathy from LAGER Can, we were sure that we could count for a good litter hunt. The site did not disappoint. Harvey, who always goes big on whatever he signs up to, was retrieving impressive findings from the bushes. Not the usual tissues, bottles, or cigarette butts, oh no. We had basketball boards, a dog cage, a broken Segway, shisha pipes, an animal skull, a weird contraption with a handle, chairs, satellite dish... you got the gist!

Wheelbarrowing

Sevan and Kash have been selected to operate two wheelbarrows to transport all the bulky items and the blue waste bags outside the site. It was the muscle work that was ideal for GoodGymers! Other volunteers seemed very pleased that we could help with that job.

Fly-tipping

Now comes the interesting part. Where did we dispose of all that waste? Next to a nearby bus stop! In the beginning, we felt slightly uncomfortable dropping the rubbish in a public space under the funny looks given to us by TfL passengers waiting for their bus. It felt like we were doing the opposite of what we usually do with litter on the streets. The members of LAGER Can seemed very proud of the growing pile of waste and ensured us that Greener Ealing would take care of that. Well, Greener Ealing should definitely bring a bigger van for that collection!

Planting

It was not the planting you may think of. Part of Wolf Fields is designed to become a place where the community can grow food but despite there being already vegetable patches, we had nothing to do with them. It was the bus stop where Sevan planted the plastic palm tree that Harvey had found during his rubbish hunt. It was the only tree we don't want to see again when we come back to the planting spot.

Worshipping

At some point, the manager of Wolf Fields, Andrew, told us it was the time for refreshments. Tea, biscuits, seeded snack bars? Oh yes! We were lured back to the central point of the location only to discover there was a surprise waiting for us. Before hitting the table with snacks and hot beverages, there was a prayer and song to be performed by everyone on the site. It was the idea of volunteers from an organisation called Outside Church. While active participation was not mandatory, silence and respect for the ceremony were encouraged, so we did our best to behave ourselves.

Snacking

After witnessing the prayer, Sevan and Kash dropped one more wheelbarrow of rubbish each to keep moving, then accepted the invite to take a break and have some refreshments. There was green and black tea, apples, crisps, biscuits and nakd bars served. It was nice to see some familiar faces of volunteers we had met last week at the Western Road clean-up as well as making new connections while chatting.

It was still bright outside when we wrapped up and ran back to our homes in the East of the borough. We cannot wait to see the next step of Wolf Fields transformation into a green space everyone can enjoy.