The 2024 GoodGym edition of the cheer station at the Ealing Half Marathon occupied the same bus stop in front of the council building as last year's event, with the usual speaker with motivational music and the obligatory 30-minute break to grab a coffee between the waves of the runners.

Two major enhancements to the station were: Sevan's cable tie construction to hold the GoodGym flag in place and Bagel the Dog, brought by Milly looking after Liv's pup. The crowd loved Bagel, but Bagel had to take breaks from the crowd so as not to get too agitated. The rest of the cheer crew: Ijo, Jags, Penny and Kash were more than allowed to get hyper - they clapped tirelessly at the sight of any runner (not only GoodGymers) till their palms got numb and the tarmac of Uxbridge Road in front of them started to resemble a flowing stream of lava. What an intense cheering it was.

Among the cheered friends were GoodGymers: Alan, Annabel, Beth, Dave, Caz, Chris, Florian, Harvey, Liv, Michelle, Mike, Raj and Steph. An equally tenacious applause was earned by seafood and street food: a bunch of running lobsters and a hotdog suspiciously resembling a familiar run director. After the race, it was time for the unwavering runners to give their legs some rest and for the relentless supporters to relax their palms.

We love the curry houses and chai shops of Southall, but today Jags wanted to show us there's more variety coming into town! As a thank you for the work his fellow GoodGymers put into his local community projects, he invited us for an Italian-style coffee (not chai 😮) in the new development at Parkside Yards.

We set off for a nice, 40-minute walk along the canal, starting at Western Road Urban Garden, where we had been taking part in the April community day. We strolled along the towpath, marvelling at the narrow boats and a community of small wooden houses hidden on the other side of the canal. We even caught a glimpse of Minet Country Park.

Those of us who wore base layers, regretted their wardrobe choice as the day was warmer than we expected. It should not be a surprise that iced coffee was the main drink choice at today's sunny social!

Even in the absence of Janpal from Southall Community Alliance, the April community day at Western Road Urban Garden still went ahead. When our team arrived, we discovered that Paul from Ealing Allotments Partnership had brought the samosas, which made him immediately recognisable as our leader, so we enquired about jobs for the day.

One of the first GoodGymers to show up was Freya, who cycled for her first task with us and was no stranger to working at community allotments thanks to her link with Artification's project in North Acton!

Welcome to the GoodGym family, Freya!

Christos, who ran to Southall along the canal, and Milly, who walked to the task, joined Paul, Katy, Andre and Adel in moving a pile of wood to make space for a new pond. They later switched to a carpentry job with Mani, who came with his toolbox and a saw, hoping to cut the frames for the long-anticipated doors to the Western Road polytunnel. Sevan and Kash, after a picturesque run from Northfields, along with Jags, who had plenty of energy after the parkrun, joined Freya at hay bales. All the hay had to be removed before the next week's council work to make a driveway to the allotment. No more muddy shoes at the next Western Road community day?

Following everyone's favourite samosa break, the GoodGym crew grabbed mattocks and spades to start digging the future pond. The plan was to make it 1.5 m deep. In the meantime, Mani was checking out how the newly cut wooden planks fit as the polytunnel door frame. He went inside and outside Southall's largest polyethene palace.

"Anyone wants to use the sauna?", he asked.

"Soon, we will have a jacuzzi here too!" replied the pond diggers.

Despite not being a massive group, all the volunteers made fantastic progress in transforming Western Road into a prime spa resort! After the task, the GoodGymers, led by Jags, went for a walk to treat themselves to lovely views along the canal and well-deserved coffee.

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!