Three Ealing GoodGymers: Harvey, Sevan and Kash, and a guest from Hounslow, Maxime, met Romina from Cultivate London at the back of Berrymede School. For the Ealing crew, it was a nostalgic visit, evoking memories of the earthy, woody scent of wet leaves that had been so frequently and diligently collected in previous years by GoodGymers. But something was off. It was bright and warm - unlike all the previous occasions when our team was involved in harvesting that crumbly, nutrient-rich gold from under the trees on damp and dark winter Tuesday nights.

Romina showed us three bays with leaves turning into compost, which the Cultivate charity would sell to maintain their operations. Like wine aging in oak barrels, the chemistry was turning the autumn leaves from past years into something greater. Bay 2022 contained Cultivate's finest blend by date: from leaves collected over a record of four GoodGym Ealing sessions in one season (and probably some Hounslow tasks too!). That batch was now on sale. Bay 2023 had leaves mellowing gracefully, but not mature enough yet to hit the shelves. Bay 2024 was empty. We missed the harvest last winter, and the 2024 leaves, swept under a tree, were patiently waiting for GoodGym attention. That was our task for the evening - catching up with the 2024 leaf collection.

The start felt slow. First, we had to move out of the way a layer of low-quality tree waste containing undesirable sticks to get to the real, mulchy stuff. Secondly, we brought tools we were not sure whether were the best choice. Thirdly, we had to figure out a system. We tried buckets, shovels and forks to fill large bags with leaves in an efficient way. Then we moved the bags on a trolley and hauled them into Bay 2024. We left Romina with 2.5 bags full of leaves and Maxime with the secret recipe on how to collect the leaves best. We were sure that he would bring that knowledge to next day's Hounslow session at the same location.

Sevan and Kash make their way to the Westbourne Park area after an earlier rather successful mission in East Acton. They arrive at Mrs A, who needs help with assembling a new wardrobe.

Does the name of the wardrobe, Tallboy, sound intimidating?

A little bit. It's large, has drawers to assemble, and comes with hundreds of fixings. But it cannot be that bad, can it? "Flat Pack for Easy Home Assembly", the website says. And the estimated completion time is 90 minutes for two people.

Where are the tools?

There are no tools. Luckily, Sevan brings with him a single screwdriver. There is no hammer required for the job, though. Uh-oh.

Wait, has someone opened the box already?

Mrs A solves the mystery for Sevan and Kash. It involves her referrer, Ms E.

"E. opened the box and decided it was a bit too much for her" - Mrs A.

Here's where the GoodGymers come in.

Where are the parts?

Some can be found in the box, some next to a cupboard and others - surprise, surprise - hidden behind a window curtain! Well done, Sevan, for looking behind it! Phew.

What are those parts?

Good question. Five or so elements are labelled. The rest is unidentified. Sevan and Kash give their best guess, and Kash writes the numbers on the unknown pieces.

Are there instructions?

Luckily, yes! The print is small and the light in the room is dim. Kash cannot see the shape of the fixings in the instructions and condemns herself for not taking the glasses with her.

Is there enough space for assembly?

Yes - the parts awaiting their turn can be stored in the corridor - until Mrs A needs to go to the other room!

How long does step 1 take to complete?

No one recalls. Documenting the process would be like writing "War and Peace". After inserting 66 pegs into 66 holes in various wooden pieces and forcefully twisting 20 plastic elements labelled "P" into another 20 holes (which would have been much quicker with a hammer), the GoodGymers find out that step 1 also requires putting in several screws. With one screwdriver and two people. That's step 1 done. Hurray!

Was the wardrobe built in 90 minutes?

After two hours of searching for tools, wardrobe parts, and guessing which fixings are in compartments with multiple labels, Sevan asks Kash the difficult question.

"Do you want to stay till 7 pm to complete it?"

The mission started at 2:30 pm. The GoodGymers cannot work in parallel with Sevan's single screwdriver. Building the four drawers alone may take a while. There is no hammer to complete the job. The duo decides to pause the job before the wardrobe becomes three-dimensional without providing much use.

How does it feel to be defeated by the Tallboy?

Pretty ok. The rain is gone, the sun is out. Progress has been made. There must be better GoodGym fighters out there to take on the Tallboy!

Sevan and Kash walked from Acton Central (after junior parkrun and coffee with other GoodGymers) to East Acton for a return visit to Mr S, whose garden was under attack by a joint forces of brambles and bindweed. The vines posed a serious trip hazard to the older gentleman, who had recently suffered a fall and an injury to his head. He felt better when two Ealing GoodGymers visited, but was still unstable on his feet, and couldn't tend to his garden in full capacity.

Sevan pulled the pesky bindweed and cut the brambles while Kash strimmed the wet grass and baby blackberries, then raked them together with last year's fallen leaves. The duo spotted a rogue sycamore tree (which they had probably come across during their previous visit a long time ago). Sevan cut it back as much as possible with a pair of secateurs.

The mission finished with filling the tenth black bag with garden waste and moving the sacks to the front of the house. Mr S, who had initially thought that GoodGymers were coming today "just to look at the garden", was delighted to see how much was achieved in 90 minutes.

Enthusiasm for taking part in Acton Junior parkrun was a bit low this week as the runners could see that it wasn't summer anymore by looking out of their windows. The rain held off for the parkrun, it was just miserable before and after, making the achievement of the 37 finishers all the more impressive.

Divya almost missed out on completing his 250th good deed - which he only mentioned after the run - with the Run Director searching around for her missing funnel manager. He did make it on time though to keep children in order and heading straight through the funnel to collect their finish tokens from Joanna. Ahead of the start, most GoodGymers were more concerned with a smaller number. The number of sides on the sculpture that Ariane would be marshalling at. The ad-hoc marshal point for the day that Alan discovered was made up of dodecahedrons ("the big metal things") and was actually meant for bouldering.

Around the course, Steph took on the role of tail walker, encouraging the children at the back to keep going to the finish. Kash was barcode scanning and Alan tried to keep time, battling his iPhone screen that was sensitive to raindrops and could randomly record phantom runners. Sevan was also marshalling and spotted one cheeky participant run through a gate late and join his friend at around 1/3rd distance.

If you'd like to join us next month, in any role around the course, sign up here!

Sevan and Steph Ducat met at Ealing Broadway Station for a chatty run to Acton Junior parkrun. A few drops at the start of the 3km run which increased on the run. It was raining cats and dogs when we arrived at the park.