On her day off work, after a morning spent at Ealing Soup Kitchen, Kash walked from West Ealing to South Acton to help Mr G with his usual end-of-the-week shopping. Unlike on most Fridays, she was lucky to find the paninis still in stock.

Jacquie, Roberta and Everton smashed the dining shift at Friday's Ealing Soup Kitchen, serving baked chicken or veg ratatouille to the clients. A special kudos to Everton, who got himself straight into deep water, rising to the occasion and staying for a part of the very busy shift after his first-ever task in the morning! Well done!

Kash arrived at the Ealing Soup Kitchen at 10 am with her work colleagues and started off the session by peeling off the eyes from potatoes to be given to those clients who had the facilities to cook. In the Soup Kitchen, nothing gets wasted, so the removed sprouts would be taken to a compost bin by Steve, one of the regular volunteers.

Jacquie came shortly after, sporting her brand new black t-shirt - a reward for her 50 good deeds! We mean GoodGym deeds only here, as Jacquie has also been involved in many other fantastic volunteering initiatives, including LAGER Can, parkrun, and Horsenden Hill, to name a few.

It was great to see Roberta back after a short break! She's nearing 50 good deeds too, only 5 tasks away from her own black t-shirt after this morning's Soup Kitchen shift. Together with Jacquie, Roberta served tea, coffee and biscuits to the clients at the tea station and made everyone feel welcome with her smile.

Finally, today's session was a debut from our newest GoodGymer - and a true trendsetter when it comes to way of getting to the tasks! Everton has proven that you can not only walk, run or cycle to do good, but also skateboard! There are no limits to getting active while doing good!

Everton joined Kash at the food parcels where their goal was to test the limits of how many mushrooms, tangerines and potatoes could be fitted into grocery bags for the clients. The conclusion was that there were no limits as the volunteers successfully squeezed in all the surplus. Remember: nothing should be wasted at the Soup Kitchen. We're still wondering about how many people would try cooking jacket potatoes with tangerine topping.

Everton might have expected a more physical aspect of GoodGym, but at the end of today's morning shift, he's been fully engaged with the sport that famously exercises the brain! He played chess with a couple of clients, including Mark, who, as rumours said, last week had defeated all four players with whom he had played games simultaneously! Well done Everton for taking the challenge from the Soup Kitchen's own chess master!

St Mary's churchyard had undergone big changes since GoodGym's last visit 3 weeks ago. Human power to remove weeds [last time] had been replaced with the electric power of a hedge trimmer that task owner Cliff was using like a strimmer, at ground level. There was still plenty left for today's GoodGym group to help out with and they weren't being replaced by power tools just yet.

Some GoodGymers had been expecting to be battling nettles, so wore leggings or running tights. The main job for today turned out to be covering the cleared area with wood chip to stop the weeds from springing back, so in the warm weather, the shorts wearing duo had chosen well.

The wood chip piles to relocate had been left in front of the vicar's house, so tidying that space would put Cliff - and GoodGym - in the new vicar's good books. Andrew, Michelle, Kash and Sevan got shovelling, ferrying wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow into the churchyard and tipping them out to cover the areas that had been cleared of weeds. Andrew in particular was having great fun powerfully flipping his wheelbarrow over to empty it.

While the group worked away, they kept themselves amused talking about holidays, imposter syndrome and the "Ealing Feeling" that was wafting over from one of the churchyard's visitors. Meanwhile, Cliff was continuing to cut away at anything green that shouldn't be in the garden. By the end of the session, there was great coverage of wood chip and a whole new area to be cleared. There were more weeds to be wiped out too in other parts of the garden, so keep an eye out for another session later this month.

With temperatures in Ealing reaching 33 degrees, Sevan, Steph and Kash showed up in the evening at Bodyline Studios equipped with bottles full of water. Some were wearing vests, others caps - anything to fend off either heat or UV.

The GoodGymers decided on a walk to Lammas Orchard through Walpole Park - quite a different place than the one remembered from the January's evening group runs! The sun was still high up, so adults and children enjoyed walks, bike rides or relaxing on the grass.

On arrival at the orchard, Sevan, who led the task, passed to Steph and Kash the instructions from Trevor from Ealing Transition. Since there was only three teammates, they had to prioritise. According to Sevan, Trevor was really keen on GoodGym taking care of the thorny brambles that grew in the hedgehog enclosure and were stealing minerals and water from the young trees planted there this year. That was the job the trio tackled first, stepping into the fenced area and working with utmost precision.

"Look for primroses and don't trample them. Don't chop them. Don't chop the trees." - Sevan.

With those restrictions in mind, the chopping machines like Steph and Kash opted for using loppers rather than shears to tame their destructive tendencies. They didn't find any hedgehogs hiding under the brambles, but discovered planted saplings, 3 or 4 tennis balls and a winter hat - the latter two not particularly useful at the time.

When the brambles became sufficiently pushed back, Sevan grabbed a watering can to water the flower bed and top up the water level in the frog pond. The GoodGymers, despite low in numbers, left the orchard having made a visible difference and having set up the young trees for success.

The brambles and other undesirable plants virtually explode in the summer months, so next week we're on the chopping duty again - this time in Half Acre Woods in Hanwell to cut back the summer growth and keep the paths accessible to public. Sign up now to give our team an extra pair of hands!

Each Monday morning, GoodGym helps the South Ealing Food Cupboard volunteers prepare to give away food to the community. Supermarkets and other organisations donate surplus items to prevent waste. A lot of heavy lifting and speedy organisation is needed to get a van-load of food ready to share!

This morning’s haul was a slightly odd selection: white chocolate Easter bunnies, jelly play kits, and a mountain of Cornish pasties. Rebecca and Iram channelled their inner Tetris masters to squeeze the pasties into every available fridge space. Honestly, there were probably more pasties in the room than in the whole of Cornwall! Meanwhile, Jamie did a fabulous job flattening the humongous pile of cardboard, and Martin took on the sun-soaked task of unloading crates from the van and hauling them over to the church.

It was Rebecca’s first GoodGym session and Jamie’s second — lovely to welcome them both! They took to it like ducks to water!