You might have heard in the past that Thursday is the new Friday, but in Ealing, Thursday is the new Tuesday! This week, we trialled a non-Tuesday evening group run to give people with schedules different from our regular group a chance to get fit while doing good.

After a brief warm-up - as the evening felt nice and summery - Sevan led a group of four runners 1 km south of Ealing Broadway towards St Mary's Church. Although the run was short, two GoodGymers took an extra challenge: running with laptops in their bags, coming straight from work! Among them was a new joiner: Ayesha. Welcome to GoodGym, Ayesha!

At the destination, GoodGymers Sevan, Ayesha, Steph Ducat and Kash met Cliff, a volunteer passionate about keeping the church garden in shape. That job became a challenge when the weeds shot up in the spring after a group of garden volunteers shrunk earlier in the year. Cliff was determined to make the garden presentable for the arrival of the new vicar in early August. He chipped away on that task every now and then on free evenings and weekends, but the weeds were a formidable army that kept coming back.

Cliff decided on a section to be cleared today and handed our team forks, adzes and a mattock. The overgrown surface was not a small one, so we got right into the task. Cliff was surprised to discover that a heap of weeds he had cleared earlier has moved. Was that a ghost from the cemetery in the garden? After closer examination, we revealed that the pile of garden waste was concealing a lime bike! Hiding a lime bike in your garden is naughty - but disguising it in a graveyard under a heap of weeds is a totally different level of mischief! Interestingly, just a few minutes after the bike was freed, it disappeared, taken by someone in need of a ride. It was reassuring to know that the lime bike was alive and not ready to end up buried in the graveyard.

We worked away, listening to Cliff's stories about people camping in the church garden and even setting a fire to heat up dinner packed in a plastic container. A charred log we saw was proof it was not some tall tale at all.

In an hour, we made impressive progress, finishing our section and uncovering the path to the compost heap. Ayesha learnt some new skills by trying out different tools. The Thursday group run was a success, and we are already looking forward to another session at St Mary's to help the community make the best impression on the new vicar!

Chunky soups were on Ealing Food Bank's shopping list this month, so a chunky can-heavy shop was done before tonight's group run to St Mary's.

The William Hobbayne Centre is where the magic happens! The wild Burns Night, the fun Quiz Night, and the artsy Christmas Fair - GoodGym Ealing knows all those fantastic community events where Hanwell folk enjoy themselves in the most relaxed atmosphere you can imagine while taking part in fundraising for local causes. We support running those parties, after all! But a different kind of magic happens behind the scenes, or should I say, behind the wall. Tucked behind the centre is an unassuming backyard covered by concrete where the weeds keep growing endlessly. On many occasions, that backyard has been an arena for Ealing GoodGymers to test the weapons of moss destruction: hoes, brushes and even snow shovels! It was no different tonight.

Sue from the Hobbayne Charity welcomed five GoodGymers to the centre and equipped them with tools, gloves and waste bags. We were ready to show the weeds and moss where their place was! A side quest included removing obstructions: moving bricks from the fence to the centre's wall. That task was handled by Freya and Lenka - the latter returning to GoodGym after a few years of hiatus. Great to have you back, Lenka!

Lenka made sure the bricks were cleaned before being stacked again as they were covered in dirt, cobwebs, leaves and snails. The more layers of bricks Freya and Lenka moved, the more wildlife they uncovered: spiders, slugs and even earthworms that must have felt very well in the rotten leaves turned into compost. At the destination, the pristine bricks formed the Great Wall of Hobbayne or the Hanwellian's wall - maybe not as much of a landmark as the Hanwell Viaduct or the Clock Tower, but we were proud of it anyway!

Steph Ducat and Sevan scraped and swept the moss from the ground, accompanied by the sound of violence: the doleful song of a hoe against the concrete. Despite the sun finally coming out in the late afternoon, the snow shovels came in handy - to scoop the waste into the bin bags. In about 45 minutes we were done! If the weather permits, the charity will be able to do a nice send-off for one of their retiring trustees in the back garden.

Next Tuesday we will be supporting the William Hobbayne Charity again - but in their community gardens! We will free as much of the overgrown area as possible to make it accessible again! Sign up now!