GoodGymers traveled on foot, on two wheels, and even accompanied by four legs to the historic Gunnersbury Park Estate last night. The centenary celebration of the creation of the estate is coming up, so we joined the group of residents to help with a tidy up ahead of the big birthday event.

One by one we arrived to be greeted by a welcoming committee spearheaded by Rosie the dog and fellow GoodGymer Stephen. After treats had been dispensed, we learned there were two separate tasks to be completed. The first was a big gardening job on the green, and the second a paving challenge at the entrance to the estate. So while master masons Chris, Remy and Kash began mixing cement and digging trenches, the rest of the group headed down to the green space.

Led by Tony, we divided up to tackle the extremely spiky trimmings cut down by the tree surgeon, chopping them up into manageable sizes. There was also litter picking to be done, sweeping, clearing and a general tidy up.

We worked until night fell, and headed back up to admire the job done by the paving team. Impressively, in just 45 minutes they had managed to mix cement, dig channels for the paving stones and relay them in prime position. Great work everybody. There was even time to leave the inaugural paw print in the wet cement (just don't tell Rosie).

Next week we will be back for our regular visit to Chiswick House when you will have a treat as Hounslow's newest (almost) qualified run leader will be leading the session....who is it to be? Come along to find out!

It was Wednesday so it could only mean one thing: 10 GoodGymers met up at Gunnersbury Park to pick up the sheers once again and help keep the pesky brambles at bay.

Gunnersbury Estate is a not for profit organisation that has had the double whammy this year of Covid and the fire in the cafe by the pond. This has left the Estate with a significant funding gap of £250k, 40% of the entire yearly income lost in just a few short weeks.

We always enjoyed helping out at the park prior to Covid. Since lockdown when many of us have spent time in the park during lockdown, running, walking or cycling or catching up with friends so we’re more keen than ever to keep lending a hand while we can.

We met up slightly earlier than usual to make the best of the light and got stuck in with chopping back the bramble around one of the larger trees in the centre of the park.

We welcomed Louisa from Richmond on her first Community Mission and were joined by Luke and Chris from Ealing and Hammersmith and Fulham.

Passers by stopped to chat including the local police, and the time flew by. As usual Watson was ever the crowd pleaser, top marks for your PR efforts Watson. Before we knew it we’d chopped back 6 bags of the prickly stuff. Great work!

Don’t forget the virtual 5k in October that Pete Gillibrand Taskforce member in Cardiff and The Vale has set up, there’s a super dooper GG medal in it for anyone who takes part, £13 and the link for sign up is here: https://www.virtualrunneruk.com/product/goodgyms-october-5k/

Eleven Goodgymers braved the weather and made their way to meet Paul at Active 360 at Kew Bridge.

We gave a big hello to Marieke who was completing her first mission with GGHounslow......so we did what we do best and gave her some baked treats courtesy of Michelle to try and entice her into becoming a Hounslow regular ( sorry Ealing) after devouring some delicious banana flapjacks it was time to "get trashy"

We split up into socially acceptable groups and got work, We had some balls for sure and poor Luis and Alanna even got crabs. Michelle didn't just sit in the fence but literally dragged it from the river with the help of Andy, great team work. It wasn't long before the eleven of us had managed to fill countless buckets of rubbish and bags of recycling. It never fails to amaze us just how much stuff ends up on our shorelines and in such a short space of time.

We may not ever manage to get rid of all the debris but you know what they say......

"every litter helps"

After over an hour of plogging and feeling very soggy, muddy and cold it was time to retire to our favourite watering whole for a beverage or 2...........

"Did someone say Beveragino??"

Great work team, hopefully see you again in a couple of weeks to do it all again.