Arrived at Mrs A house after a small run and stop for a lovely smoothie! As I was waiting in front of the house, had to ring Mrs A daughter as she looks after her, and was not at the home. Told me to start weeding the front of the house garden and she will be there soon to open the back garden. I did a few squats as had to remove the weed in between the paved front garden. Removed the weed including the ones along the fence and corner of the house. Then 2 carers arrived and said the front looked great!! Mrs A daughter arrived and provided me bags and a broom to sweep the paved garden and put away the weed. Then she asked if I could start the back garden - this time it was bigger slabs. Removed the paved area and started getting rid of some dead plants, weed and dried grass in the garden. I assume I or someone else will come back to finish the section of the back garden where brambles and grass have taken over. Mrs A daughter was very pleased and wants me to come back personally as she was happy with the work done. Lets see if it will be me, but re assured her that all Goodgymers give their most when helping out.

Seven Samourai's appeared early Sunday morning at Lock 91 to apprehend ruthless prickly gang terrorising other inhabitants along the canal in and around the flower beds. Equipped with their favorite weapons : not Katana swords but loppers, shears, hoes, litter pickers and shear willingness. After 90 minutes, the combat had a clear winner : Goodgym plus Canal & River Trust volunteers as they cleared the Garden at Lock 91. Brambles and other unwanted gangsters disappeared in either bin bags or on the pile of wasted greenery. The Seven Samurai's disappeared as quickly as they appeared in the morning to tackle other missions.

Not my first mission at Mr R and arrived at his house after a morning of community missions. This time, his wife Mrs I opened the door and Mr R was behind her in the corridor. They had dropped the tools and bags by the door. Mrs I was very chatty and stayed with me at the start of my hedge trimming session. The hedge had grown again since my last visit so it was Steph scissor hands in operation. As I had spare time, I removed the weed and dead leaves from the flower bed and pots. Scissor hand struck again and the hedge had a fresh look.

Six eager GoodGymers were the reason why Joseph, the owner of Grape & Honey Farm, abandoned his 60 kg of freshly made damson jam and 80 litres of damson wine (”fermenting as we speak”), to meet our team in Greeford and let us into the urban garden. Joseph is a good neighbour of the community site, now managed by Heston Lions, where vegetables are grown and donated to places like the foodbank in Acton. He showed us around and explained what needs to be done in August.

- Who has small fingers? - Joseph
- Me. - Kash
- Have you ever pollinated a dudhi? - Joseph

Joseph explained the difference between male and female flowers and how to pollinate them, then took us into the polytunnel to surprise us with an abundance of produce. He told us about how many vegetables an urban garden could produce in the summer, and that it was impossible to keep up with that amount if not attending to the harvesting task every day.

- This garden could feed a family of 80. Do you have a family of 80? If I lived here, I wouldn’t need to go to the shop to buy fresh food. I’d just put a chicken coop in here.
- Do you have chickens?
- I had a few hens and four cocks. But the cocks kept crowing in the morning, and I couldn’t sleep, so I curried three of them.
- Do you mean: carried them? Away?
- No. I've put them in a curry. Cooked.

Luckily, we didn’t have to deal with chasing and converting noisy cockerels into meals. The main task was to pick up excess courgettes, marrows, cucumbers, and tomatoes. Gus, feeling like a combine harvester today, after scouring for blackberries through thorny brambles at the earlier session, committed to that job. Sevan and Steph also stayed in the polytunnel - to weed the veg beds and tie the okra and tomato vines to stakes or even to a system of strings hanging from the metal arches - a network carefully designed by Sevan, who had learned that method at Western Road. Steph and Gus later joined the rest of the team outside.

The outdoor team, busied with weeding, consisted of Jules, Max, and Kash. It was yet another surprise comeback from Jules, who this time donned her red t-shirt. For Max, the urban garden afternoon session was his first GoodGym task. He had joined us for the team lunch at Horsenden earlier, and for a chatty walk through the woods to the afternoon task - the best way to get to know us!

One of the Heston Lions joined us that Saturday: Superna, who brought us water and snacks, then got busy harvesting and watering the plants. It was nice to see her again. We are hoping to see more Lions - and even more GoodGymers - at our next visit to the Greenford garden!

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!