Lunch service of the ESK was red as 5 Goodgymers volunteering from 1pm to help serve guests. Freya went from the tea station to serving, Iram was on parcel duties and also then helped in the kitchen with the pot wash,both Jamie and Jamiewere serving food and Steph Ducat was in his usual spot ...the kitchen finishing the prep and serving food. On the menu today was lovely Moussaka : lamb or veggetable served with a side salad. Then strawberries with greek yoghurt, a little sprinkle of sugar and some honey.

Busy shift and all the food went to hungry guests who enjoyed the meals. Takeaway service was also a success at the end of the food serving period.

There was a wave of red t shirts in the serving/kitchen area as 2 more voluteeers arrived at 3pm to help cleaning. 7 Goodgymers in total on the day.

The first day of August brought a pretty solid team to Horsenden Farm, including a wave of new joiners: Rene, Laxmi, and Mairaj. Welcome to GoodGym Ealing - we hope you enjoyed your first task!

Worked on tasks, got along really well, supportive people all around, will attend more sessions. Very helpful and friendly team. - summarised Mairaj in his report

Elsa equipped us with wheelbarrows, shears, loppers, rakes, and even a slasher (which Steph Ducat quickly booked), then led us up Horsenden Hill to a place called Wells Meadows. The meadow was recently scythed, but it has not been raked yet. There was also a corner covered by a huge patch of brambles that, despite bearing delicious, ripe blackberries at that time of the year, were still considered undesirable plants. Our job was to clear the area so that Friends of Horsenden Hill could create a wildflower meadow.

Jamie’s and Gus’s cunning plan included cutting and eating their way to the most juicy blackberries. They found plenty of allies in their war against brambles: Ramona, Sevan, Steph, and, later on, Mairaj. Raking - which turned out to be more of a cardio workout than many may have expected - was handled mostly by Rene and Kash. Laxmi became a jack of all trades, raking, harvesting blackberries, and chopping brambles.

The session at Horsenden couldn’t be considered complete without bringing to life the slogan animals 🐮 + pizza 🍕 + craft beer 🍺. Even though we must admit that animals were hiding today, the GoodGymers didn’t have trouble finding the beer stall and the pizza oven.

What have the new GoodGymers learned today?

• GoodGymers can get quite competitive about the size of the brambles they pulled.
• Brambles produce blackberries.
• Brambles have thorns.
• Thorns scratch.
• Thick gloves protect you from thorns.
• Long trousers and sleeves also protect you from thorns (forget this one - even veteran GoodGymers never seem to learn that fact!).
• If you arrive late for the task, ask for the person with red hair.

We are back at Horsenden Farm next month, hoping for more animals, more new faces, and fewer scratches! Sign up now!

It's been a season of shears, loppers and secateurs in action, particularly at our Tuesday sessions supporting the William Hobbayne charity in Hanwell. Only a week ago, we had cleared a footpath at Half Acre Woods, and now we were back at the Community Gardens to finish off the job we started a month ago - clearing an overgrown area to make room for a new community space.

To reach the Community Gardens, Sevan, Freya, and Harvey ran 3 km from Ealing Broadway. Nishy, Jamie, and Jamie tried to find their way to the task, coming from the canal and getting stuck (thanks, Google Maps!), but were fortunately discovered by Kash and Harvey before they lost hope. Chris, a regular at Hobbayne's sessions, had more luck (or experience) finding the entrance, where Anna, today's task owner, awaited with the tools.

It was the first Ealing group session for Jamie, who was glad he didn't have to work in extreme heat, unlike at his first-ever GoodGym task. GoodGym Ealing not only booked a nice breeze for today but also perfectly dodged the evening rain. We are really good at ensuring top working conditions! Welcome, Jamie - we hope you enjoyed the weather, the task and our company! We're looking forward to seeing you again on another occasion.

The brambles we had removed in June from the overgrown area hadn't started properly growing back yet, so it was an excellent opportunity to clear the other half of the future community space. There was serious hype built up after our previous task in the gardens as we had found a canoe paddle, a tennis ball and a shed hidden in the brambles. This week's findings seemed less exciting.

Kash: "What did you find in the brambles? Anything interesting?"
Freya: "More brambles."

Sevan found particularly long bramble stems that made quite an impression on our newest team members. Little did they know, they'd be pulling equally intimidating blackberry plants themselves if they stuck to us. One of the Jamies already upped his GoodGym game, trying out a new tool: a small slasher to cut through the jungle. He'd love the larger slashers we used for chopping nettles and brambles near Pear Tree Park!

West London brambles are particularly nasty with their oversized, sharp thorns. They were a cause of many ouches today. We all have been bramblestruck! To alleviate the pain from the scratches, Nishy thoughtfully brought us a snack to enjoy at the end of the session: popcorn. Thank you, Nishy! While the real reward was seeing the whole garden space finally cleared of overgrowth, we enjoyed the gift from Anna: freshly harvested radishes from the allotment.

Next week, we are heading towards a different part of the borough. Sign up now to join us for a leaf sweeping and collection task at a school in Acton.