Our third visit to St Andrew's Church and Community Centre had a fabulous balance between runners, walkers and cyclists. Harvey, Sevan, Steph and Kash practised their hill running skills, setting off from Bodyline to conquer Hanger Hill, then finish with an easy downhill that took them to the church, where Christos and Alex awaited. Yes, you read that right - Alex made a surprise return to GoodGymming. Welcome back, Alex!

Seeing the transformed Pocket Allotment, where GoodGym had helped with clearing the shrubs and laying gravel, we marvelled at the lush flowers and vegetables ready to harvest. Indeed, harvest was underway as Carol, the designer behind the Pocket Allotment success, reaped the crops: kale, mangetout, beans, spinach and edible flowers, and shared them with us as a thank-you - such a lovely gesture!

The Pocket Garden appeared very well looked after and didn't need GoodGym's intervention. It was the area around the corner which needed our expertise in decimating shrubs. That's where we met John, the task owner, and cyclists: Paul from GoodGym Hounslow and Penny, who came for her 25th good deed. Well done - keep it up, Penny!

Tonight's group session had a martial arts undertone. Firstly, at the time of our task, in the community centre, young students were practising aikido. Secondly, the GoodGymers, under the watchful eye of Master John were practising choppido. Just like Mr Miyagi's students performed seemingly humble chores to unlock their karate skills, the GoodGym folk were developing muscle memory of chopping movements - so useful at our summer community missions to clear overgrown community spaces!

Unlike Daniel in Karate Kid, not convinced by his master's teaching techniques, our team jumped into action so eagerly that Kash didn't even get to take the before pictures of intact shrubs - Steph had to hold upright a little tree he had already chopped down! John had split the training session into phases:

1) chopping / trimming / pruning the hedges and trees
2) chopping the trimmings into smaller pieces
3) bagging and putting aside the green waste

Through the repetition of the chopping moves, each of us became one with their shears, loppers and secateurs. Steph earned his black belt by patiently combating a stubborn root stuck in the ground with a pickaxe. By the end of the practice, all Master John's students felt an immense sense of satisfaction when looking at the visible results of the less-than-an-hour exercise. The people inside the centre, in the room used for arts workshops, must have also seen the change as the daylight finally was back at their studio. Fingers crossed we will visit St Andrew's again soon to help with the following stage of the new green space project and see the longer-term impact, just like in the fabulous Pocket Allotment.

Next week, we are back to Lammas Orchard to keep this special community garden accessible to and usable by all. Sign up now!

Do you remember the decimation of the shrub population at St Andrew's Church outdoor space last year? After many months and continuous email correspondence between Kash and the project owner John, a date was pinned down for the return of GoodGymers.

When Annabel, Sevan and Kash arrived after a rollercoaster run (there were plenty of uphills and downhills on the route around North Ealing!), the stumps of shrubs were no more. In their place, the GoodGymers found a couple of raised beds with recently planted salad leaves: radish, spinach, radicchio, and rainbow chard.

John warmly welcomed the part of the GoodGym team that arrived ahead of time and gave them a quick tour of his new project: the Pocket Garden! Then he pointed them towards two tonne bags of gravel. The contents of the bags were to be distributed in front of St Andrew's - not to create a shingle beach (beachwear in the vicinity of the church? 🫣 no way!) - but to make paths around the raised beds.

Annabel and John were at the forefront of the transformation, shovelling the shingle into a wheelbarrow and buckets, and making a lot of racket. Claire who just made her way to the task, couldn't miss that noise. As the gravel transportation roles (carrying buckets and driving the wheelbarrow) were filled by Kash and Sevan, Claire joined Carol, one of the Pocket Garden designers, in raking the stones unloaded by the beds.

Halfway through the task, Sevan recalled he had an announcement to make. He declared 750 good deeds an officially recognised milestone in GoodGym Ealing and presented Kash with a new secret GoodGym prop. Forget milestone sashes! Such a commitment to doing good deserved a bright red milestone hi-viz 🦺 which Kash wore with pride despite it looked a bit too big on her.

Once the shovelling team had hit the bottom of each tonne bag, the bags were tipped over and the contents spilt on the ground, then raked. The whole job took John, Carol and the GoodGymers less than an hour.

"It would take us weeks to finish!" - Carol

You may think that fewer GoodGymers means less done. In tonight's case, it was quite the opposite! A smaller group worked in our favour as no one was getting in each other's way and we seemed to have just the right number of hands!

"Thanks again to you and your team for a brilliant stint of gravel spreading this evening. We are absolutely thrilled with the results." - John

Next week we are staying close to Ealing Broadway and running to the Transition Garden in Lammas Enclosure to continue the maintenance work there. Sign up now!

It's officially September! As we found out tonight, it's probably the time to start bringing head torches to the group runs. Despite being caught by darkness by the end of the task, we can say it was a night of many highlights!

• Sevan was celebrating his 400th good deed 💯💯💯💯🔥 - what an achievement, so close to 500 now!
• We completed a task for a new community organisation: St Andrew's Church and Community Centre, thanks to Claire who recommended them
• Annabel made her comeback after recovering from an injury - we missed her a lot!

As usual, we set off from Bodyline, with Madhan, Milly and Annabel walking to the task, and Sevan, Steph Ducat and Kash setting off for a short hill running session. Divya cycled all the way from Hammersmith to meet us at St Andrew's. Together with Mike and Claire he appeared with perfect timing!

The task owners - John and John - were excited about our arrival and confident about our destruction skills. You've read that right: destruction 💥 The task involved a serious cutback of naughty shrubs and small trees that were inviting anti-social behaviour. In other words:

I want you to decimate that shrubbery - John

After the briefing, John and John offered us cold water as the day was hot and gave us a choice of sharp objects: saws, loppers, shears and secateurs. Our eyes lit up immediately, and we were ready for action. In less than an hour, despite meeting a couple of cute pups that were a lovely distraction, we've accomplished our work of destruction.

GROAD - Get Rid Of And Destroy! - Madhan

We picked up the litter excavated in the cutting process, chopped the big branches into pieces, then swept smaller trimmings and piled them against the wall. The area of dodgy activities turned into an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty! And no, that is not an overstatement for the stretch of leafless shrubs and tree stumps. We believe that the place looks much tidier now. Minister Sue from the church, who was out with her dog for a walk, stopped by and admired the transformation. John was very grateful for our work and hoped to see us again for another task.

Some of us headed to Haven Green where we treated ourselves to a Tabata-style fitness session and some stretching, while others went to treat themselves to well-deserved drinks. Eventually, we all ended up in the pub to raise our glasses to Sevan's 400 and nibble on some sweet and savoury snacks.

Next week we are involved in once-in-a-year task - helping Ealing Half Marathon put up signs ahead of the race! Don't miss it and sign up here!