GoodGym Ealing were raising the stakes today at the new Feeding Ealing site in Greenford. The stakes in question were marking out the locations of polytunnel poles that they'd measured out last month and they were now being raised to dig holes where the real, metal poles would be placed.

For some, they were experienced hands with constructing polytunnels and for others it was their first time. Today's jobs didn't need any polytunnel expertise though, only how to use a spade. Eight arches would need 16 holes to hold the each end of an arch. Polytunnel architect Joseph had made a start on the corners, so there were only 12 more intermediate pockets to excavate.

Joseph works with imperial measures, with everything being in feet and inches, so he gave the team a shock when they asked about the hole depth.

"How deep do the holes need to be?" - Gus
"30" - Joseph
"Inches?!" - Sevan
"No, centimetres" - Joseph
"Oh, phew!" - Sevan

Twelve big holes doesn't sound too hard, unless you're digging London clay soil which is heavy and sticky. Spades struggled through the dirt, trying to scoop the space out. One thin, saw toothed spade - Joseph's prized possession - was the perfect tool for the job, able to slide through the dirt and slice tree roots. It was much in demand.

Despite the hard going, the team used their muscles and determination to dig 11 and a half of the required pockets, only being stopped on the last one by available time and some really thick roots.

As a thank you for their huge efforts, task owner Jatinder gave everyone a Diwali treat at the end of the task. Everyone was offered a box of freshly made Indian snacks to take home as well as some samosas to nibble with the full volunteer group.

After a 20-minute walk to Horsenden Grape & Honey Farm following their previous task and pizza social, Steph, Sevan and Kash encountered a closed gate and an ominous feeling that the weekly session at the new urban garden was not on. Yikes!

A quick phone call solved the gate problem as Joseph, the owner of the neighbouring, vineyard arrived faster than a fire engine would! And he was not alone. A black dog was accompanying him.

His name is Merlin. He's absolutely magic!

Joseph had been planning to meet Jatinder from Heston Lions Club to discuss organising the future work at the Feeding Ealing urban garden in the afternoon. But he couldn't let the GoodGymers down. He dropped his brandy-making halfway and came over to open the tool shed and give Steph, Sevan and Kash a task.

What kind of task do you want to do today?
Something useful.

Joseph had something perfect for the occasion. He was going to measure up the ground and mark the outline of the polytunnel with bamboo stakes and string. But even with the magic of Merlin, that task seemed like too much for one man and one dog.

The GoodGymers, having already dealt with creating lines over the soil earlier in the morning, were up for the job. Like it or not, it appeared that the session was going to elevate them further towards the status of polytunnel gurus - the probably not fully deserved reputation they had been slowly building in Ealing.

Joseph announced the desired polytunnel dimensions: 42 feet long and 24 feet wide. Steph and Kash scratched their heads - just as you would expect from people coming from countries using the metric system. Joseph's measuring tape was feet-friendly, so the units weren't such a big deal after all. After finding out where the four stakes at the edges of the polytunnel base should be, Joseph and the GoodGymers put the stakes in the ground and attached a string to each of them. Then came the time for the final verification of dimensions by measuring the distances between the edges of the rectangle on the ground diagonally. One of the diagonals was only 1 inch off, which Joseph considered a brilliant result.

You cannot even imagine how helpful that was! I wouldn't have done that on my own - Joseph.

Before leaving, the GoodGymers levelled out a little bit the heaps of soil left behind by the rotivator, then put stakes along the longer side of the rectangle, six feet apart. The last task was to tie a string across the rectangle to connect the stakes.

Just before Steph, Sevan and Kash set off, Jatinder arrived with a tasty selection of samosa, methi paratha and aloo paratha. Yum! It was a new treat in the Horsenden area and maybe a magnet for signups for the November task!

After a well deserved lunch break at Horseden Farm, Kash and Steph Ducat walked around 2km to go to Feeding Ealing CIC for more hard labour. Pioneering a new urban garden : Goodgym Ealing have had a few sessions and it's taking shape....so we will probably see or help with a new polytunnel. Today was continuing with getting rid of the rubbish in the soil, but also digging up bricks, concrete and other materials. The skip was full agai with general rubbish, but today we had loads of bricks and concrete pillars to dig out and put on the side as this will be used in the foundations of the hut 🛖 that will be built. Kash even had time to do some ironing...not shirts or shirts but the bags 🎒 😃. Good gym session for the 2 goodgymers. Joseph was impressed with the job done today by the volunteer's....your are Bricking Fantastic.

Cinderella's wicked stepmother had decided that not only did she have to do all the housework but she also had to maintain the space at the future Feeding Ealing allotment in Sudbury Hill. Her only escape from the daily drudgery was getting out and playing football on a Saturday evening. To further frustrate Cinderella, her stepsisters had hidden the footballs and football boots that she needed to go to training in a big pile of rubbish on the allotment site. Not wanting this to prevent her from her only happiness during the week, she called in her friends from GoodGym Ealing and Heston Lions to clean up the mess and find her footballing kit.

An empty skip had been placed near the allotment and the GoodGym team, with their friends got stuck in to carry and wheelbarrow all sorts of waste from the pile, including a typewriter, bikes, chairs, a childrens' slide and lots of chunks of concrete and bricks. As they removed the bigger items, the smaller ones below became visible. One, two, three, then four footballs emerged to fill Cinders' net bag. As they rooted through the waste, the GoodGymers found one each of her work flats, her basketball shoes and her court shoes. Still, her football boots - both of them - were nowhere to be found.

By this point the pile of waste was small and the skip was filling up. Kash and Roberta decided with so little left to clean up, it was a good time to cut back the brambles on site and also collect some juicy, sweet blackberries at the same time.

Finally the team managed to uncover Cinderella's pair of football boots, meaning that her kit was complete and she could go to her football training. As GoodGym and the Lions had done such a great job, Cinders could also have a night off from gardening in the allotment and her wicked stepmother would never know.

After a restorative combination of fresh air, cow muck, company of farm animals, pizza and wandering around Nature Festival stalls at Horsenden Farm, Sevan, Paul and Kash walked up Horsenden Hill. They carefully avoided the Gruffalo Trail to not encounter the scariest of animals in the woods: preschool children. At the (almost) top of the hill, they entered Horsenden Grape & Honey Farm where Feeding Ealing, a charity that focuses on growing vegetables and fruit for the community, was establishing their new base.

The Feeding Ealing project was started off by the Heston Lions Club, who are part of Lions International, the largest service organisation in the world! They are very active in Ealing, joining many projects GoodGymers were involved in too, like Ealing Soup Kitchen, Western Road Urban Garden and others. Our teams seemed to keep missing each other, so it was a real pleasure to finally meet their volunteers at the Feeding Ealing session and work side by side for our local community!

The GoodGymers were at the forefront of a great transformation, alongside the Lions, and their first-ever task at the to-be urban garden was cutting into a jungle of bushes, trees and brambles! Mark, the task owner, pulled out brand new tools and gardening gloves with absolutely gorgeous patterns from his car's trunk. Kash was eyeing the PPE with cactuses but those were claimed by Sevan, who soon discovered they might be too thin for brambles. In the meantime, Kash obtained a pair of equally classy gloves with flowers and butterflies. The tools included three secateurs, which didn't seem too durable, but Sevan, Paul and Kash were up for the challenge, regardless of the gear they got. Before starting on the task though, the experienced thicket terminators advised Mark on which tools would be the most effective. Jatinder, a volunteer from Heston Lions Club, took up the tools & PPE supplier job and raced to the local DIY supermarket to procure more equipment.

One pair of secateurs was particularly unfortunate and lasted only for an hour, but brought havoc amongst the bushes before being retired. In the meantime, Jatinder supplied GoodGymers with way better armaments. Sevan chose shears to bring mayhem to the cluster of brambles that stood in his way. Paul picked up a good, old-fashioned saw to decimate the chunkiest of trees in the jungle. Kash, who likes to claim "big wins" with the least effort, tactically chose the quickest and deadliest tool: the loppers. The young trees didn't stand a chance against those and got knocked down like in the Tunguska event. Paul decided to drop the saw and do some extra steps, helping Jatinder carry the whole trees to a pile with the trimmings.

Not knowing that GoodGymers were still under the effects of performance-enhancing pizza, Mark brought an abundance of refreshments: water, sandwiches and bananas. There were also wotsits and lemon cake.

"They are orange, that means that's healthy food!" - Mark
"Yes, they must be rich in vitamin C!" - Sevan

After making massive progress in removing the bushes, the GoodGymers treated themselves to some of the goodies, then finished off the day of volunteering, leaving the rest of the nourishment for the Lions volunteers and the remaining bushes for chopping another day.

We are not done with the pruning yet, so watch for the next Feeding Ealing event full of chopping and Mark's jokes - he promised he will invent some new ones for the next session!