On a warm evening, we made our way on foot and by bike to lend a hand in caring for the historic cedar trees at Chiswick House and Gardens.

With the lawns showing the strain of recent summer heatwaves, our task was to refresh the bases of the trees with a protective layer of woodchip.

We got into an easy rhythm of spreading and chatting and levelled two piles around the large cedar.

Just in time, Lucy arrived to lend a hand and orchestrate the all-important group photo at the end.

With the final barrow emptied it was time to head to the pub to raise a glass on the eve of Remy's birthday, and tuck into another much heralded birthday cake made by Eloise. So good Emily hot footed it across London to try some.

Happy Birthday Remy!

Last night we were back at Cultivate London, a local horticultural charity, for round two of an unbe-leaf-ably big task. One that has a big impact though! Cultivate have been collecting all the leaves that fall into the playground at a local school and bagging them up so they turn into mulch. They then sell the nutrient rich mulch to local people and the profit goes back into the charity. Neat, right?

They needed a hand getting all the good mulch bagged up - enter GoodGym! So after a warm up where we cheered Eloise for an epic triathlon at the weekend, we set off on our run.

We arrived to find Romina waiting for us with tools and bags, and got to work. Despite it being just leaves, the filled bags turned out to be surprisingly heavy so it was quite the workout. Michelle, Steph, Eloise and Luis formed a great team to lift and squash, taking inspiration from the noble art of grape crushing. Unfortunately they did not produce any wine this time.

After 40 minutes of solid work we had made an enormous dent in the pile - I'd say one more session should do it! We were rewarded with a tree groaning with plums, and spent a happy few minutes enjoying the delicious fruit before heading back for fitness (just as fun?).

The workout last night focused on lower body, core and arms, and all muscle groups got a good challenge. Next week we're back at Chiswick House for another session in the beautiful grounds. Until then, happy GGing!

School holidays had hit Acton Junior parkrun attendance today as volunteer and runner numbers were down. The children were either on holiday or still in bed. An emergency call to action had gone out for volunteers and the rota had filled with West 4 Harriers and GoodGymers (sometimes both), including Maria who came to her first GoodGym task and used her past experience of working with children to make a positive impact on the runners. Welcome Maria! 🥳👏

With the barebones set of volunteers, all the essential roles were covered. Michelle, Kash and Joanna were marshalling, with Maria and Sevan on finish tokens and barcode scanning respectively. Jon came in disguise, funnel managing in his West 4 Harriers kit and Steph had the sometimes entertaining, sometimes agonising task of tailwalking.

Of the 40 finishers today, as is often the case, the last one needed some motivation to get to cross the line. Their "motivator" parent tried different techniques until their last resort, to say no sweets and that they would fart in the refusenik child's bed🤢. That last threat scared the little girl and she broke into a run all the way to the finish with Steph close behind.

Whether it the allure of a satisfying cleaning task, the blue skies above or the fact that holiday season in full swing, but last night we had a bumper turn out at GG Hounslow! If that wasn't good news enough, we had the pleasure of welcoming Mark and Caroline along to their first session - great to have you join us!

After a quick warm up it was off to Turnham Green to meet Abundance London, the organisation which created the beautiful mural under Turnham Green bridge that is so loved by local people. Every year since it was unveiled we've been back to give it a good wash. Goodbye graffiti and pigeon poo, hello squeaky clean sparkle!

After a quick safety briefing we grabbed our mops, squeegees and sponges and got to it. Encouraged by passers by we soon got a very efficient system in place, moving like a well oiled machine over the different sections.

After half an hour of hard work, the transformation was complete. It's amazing what a difference it made. I had a message from Abundance this morning saying

"I just wanted to say thank you on behalf of Abundance London for the great work the runners did last night. The Chiswick Timeline mural is now back to its sparkling best."

Job done, we hopped over to the back common for our fitness. Grouping into pairs we did a workout which featured burpees (sorry), reverse planks and walkouts, and with each interval we tried to beat our previous time. Great effort from everybody (even if some of the 'encouragement' from our partners sounded very like trying to put us off...)

Next week we're off to help a local school - hope to see you there!

Tonight we had people arriving by walking, cycling, and running, with Chris and Michelle leading us on the task. We were at one of our regular spots, Strand on the Green school, however tonight was a special occasion because it was Kymm's 50th good deed! Well done Kymm, you've made a huge difference to the local community in Hounslow and beyond, keep up the good work! Our mission was to cut back the overgrown bushes around the side of the school that were starting to obstruct the pavement, and give them a serious haircut. At first we were a bit reluctant because of their beautiful purple flowers, but then our hacking instincts took over and we attacked them with our usual vigour. We split the jobs of hacking and bagging up the offcuts and were done in good time. All in all a nice straightforward task successfully done!