While at South Ealing Food Cupboard, Sevan wandered over to see the "one of your lot" who was busy in the church garden. It turned out it wasn't a GoodGymer at all, but Cliff, the gardener and task owner at St Mary's churchyard who was wearing a red Nike t-shirt. Since the last time GoodGym had visited, spring and a lack of volunteers had caused the weeds to shoot up to the height of the old graves or "monuments" as they were called, so he was trying to reign them back in.

Sevan was wearing totally inappropriate footwear to go gardening, but he said that he'd be back to give Cliff a hand once the Food Cupboard was set up. Sevan did return and grabbed a fork and gloves, spending 30 minutes pulling cleavers - a.k.a. sticky willy - which were everywhere and digging out nettles and blue alkanet. By midday, there was a small oasis of brown soil appearing in the sea of green weeds. Looking across the churchyard there was still a lot of green, so there is plenty more work to do to prepare the church garden for the arrival of a new vicar in August.

A church clean-up task at St Mary's is to GoodGymers what Home Alone or Die Hard are to families watching TV - a Christmas classic! Only a brief run away from Ealing Broadway, St Mary's awaited our sweeping and decorating skills. Although we knew that GoodGym's good friend, Vicar Steve, wouldn't be at the church anymore with his indispensible words of encouragement, the new task owner, Brian, gave us an equally magical treatment.

Tonight's church clean-up and Christmas tree decoration session had a fantastic turnout of 13 GoodGymers, including three (yes, that's right!) new joiners. Makkiya, Raphael and Sudha brought us a lot of enthusiasm and good energy, and we are hoping to see them again soon at another task.

The team split into the dust busters who worked upstairs and the Christmas tree beauty specialists at the altar. If decorating the tree somehow didn't provide enough merriness for everyone, then Claire's Jingle Bells played on the piano did!

Having received praise from Brian on their work, the team headed to the Grove for more festivities to come: the Christmas crackers, buffet, quiz and Secret Santa!

Next Tuesday, we are staying close to Ealing Broadway and helping the ranger transport a pile of woodchip outside Walpole Park into the walled garden - sign up now!

GoodGym returned to St Mary's churchyard for the first time in 15 months and there was a huge change from previous visits. In much of the area, the bramble invasion of the old days was under control and there wasn't a jungle of weeds. Still, with such a big area to look after, there's always more work to be done.

Today's task was to help task owner Cliff and regular volunteer (and today's DJ) Paul to clear the area around the graves on the far side of the churchyard which, once upon a time, were hidden by brambles. Cliff and Paul explained that they'd been working for 3 years to get on top of everything and, as well as tidying up, had managed to do some new planting in the centre too.

Before starting on the weeds, there was a big log to be moved. It was resting on a gravestone, so everyone got involved with rolling and flipping it towards the compost pile. With the heavy work complete, it was on to the simpler stuff.

As the team worked out from one corner, the usual suspects were found and dug up or pulled. Nettles and brambles, then Kash removed ivy from a boundary wall, then holly was found, which led to:

"I hate holly. I hate ivy too" - Paul
"I guess you're not a fan of the Christmas carol then?" - Sevan

Even if Paul didn't appreciate The Holly and The Ivy, he had some music blasting out throughout the task. It started with 80's disco and modern remixes of it. He explained that his children were into 80's music too as part of its revival. Then, there was a change in era and genres to suit Kash and Sevan, with a new playlist that included some 90's/2000's alt-rock and nu-metal like The Cranberries and Linkin Park.

Back on the ground, there were saplings discovered that were growing in places that they shouldn't. Awkward places that needed them to be dug and levered out, which they were. The group achieved lots of little wins that had a big impact and it led Cliff to uncover a grave that was marked with the date 1824. It was still in great condition even after being there for 200 years!

At the task's end, one area of the graveyard had been cleared, and the soil was visible again. With Cliff's dedication and a little help from GoodGym, they'll work to keep it that way.

The last group run before the Christmas break needs a truly joyful task. What can bring the GoodGymers more festive spirit than helping a friendly church with the tidy-up before the holiday season? Putting up a Christmas tree, of course! Vicar Steve from St Mary's Church had both of the tasks for us tonight! Emily found out about the tree decorating opportunity early enough to beat anyone else to it and book the artistic job for GoodGym.

Four runners, including two speedy Santas, met as usual in Ealing Broadway and went for a short run to South Ealing where they were welcomed by Steve and invited inside the church. Aaah, an indoor task in December - a luxury!

With more GoodGymers arriving soon after, everyone wanted to have a go at the Christmas decorations, leaving only three people to give Steve a hand upstairs. The upper level had a great view but got a bit dusty. The floor needed hoovering - a job diligently done by Cam, joined later by Madhan. Steph Ducat and Kash were spraying the benches with Mr Sheen and polishing the seats. Reinforcements: Sevan, Christos and Claire would come later.

In the meantime, if the Christmas tree had emotions, it would have felt pretty overwhelmed, surrounded by a crowd of GoodGymers. If you are thinking about the "how many GoodGymers does it take to...?" question right now, it needed a team of five to wrap the lights around the tree! Putting up the baubles was an equally strategic exercise and, after the decorations were in place, no one dared to challenge the status quo.

Don't touch it, don't touch it!

There was only one ladder - most impressively used by Chris to deliver the star to the top of the tree - which meant that others, standing on the floor, like Jenni (not as tall as Mike!), had to resort to throwing the remaining decorations at the top of the Christmas tree.

There was some Christmas carol-themed jamming going on at St Mary's tonight, with Claire singing accompanied by Jenni at the piano. Madhan and Milly gave the drums a shot.

Steve was delighted with GoodGym's 45 minutes of joyful tidying and decorating activities. Even if the people-to-efficiency ratio was not convincing (we're sure it was!), the ratio of enthusiasm-to-people was skyrocketing! Steve wished the gang of merry men and women a happy Christmas and a great party tonight. The GoodGymers said their Merry Christmases and goodbyes too and ran and walked to Drapers pub for a night of fun, food and festivities.

Four Knights met at Bodyline Castle and mounted their coconut warhorses to set out on a quest to find Wizard Steve. As dusk was approaching, Annabel, Steph Ducat, Sevan and Kash went around the dim forests of Walpole and Lammas fast to escape the monsters lurking in the darkness.

They arrived at St Mary's Church, known for its secrets and a tower with a long Round Staircase. Wizard Steve welcomed them to his fortress and introduced them to his adept wizards, Mike, Shan and Rohan who also appeared at the church, looking for an adventure.

Steve told the knights and wizards about a terrifying drigeon terrorising Ealing and recently breaking into the church through a gap in netting and a fragile window. The monster resided for some time in the Round Chamber and fouled the holy place. The traces of its outrageous presence in the church had to be removed. Annabel, Sevan and Rohan volunteered to exorcise the corruption left by the winged demon with water, buckets, clothes and latex gloves. They climbed the stairs to reach the Round Chamber and have been trapped in it.

In the meantime, the rest of the Knights were asked to remove the Cursed Scaffolding from another secret chamber. Steve had brought the scaffolding inside the church as a treasure but over time it had become a liability. It was taking space and attracting monsters like the drigeon. The Knights started moving the treasure down the Round Staircase, fighting the weight of the scaffolding parts and vertigo. Luckily, the reinforcements arrived: Claire on her coconut steed and Divya on a mechanical mount.

When the treasure that had looked like gold inside the church was moved outside, it turned into a stack of metal poles and wooden planks. Steve directed the Knights to the back of the church where they were going to bury the treasure in a den, hopefully not occupied by any demons. When they thought their path was clear, a shadow emerged from the church walls and blocked their way. In the darkness, the Knights thought that the shadow was a homeless person squatting at the back of the church. But he was the Denkeeper. And he had questions.

Who would cross the Path of Death must answer me these questions three, ere the other side he see.

The Knights were not up for mental games and let Wizard Steve deal with the puzzle. They didn't hear the answers but Steve managed to get the Denkeeper out of the way.

After all the Cursed Scaffolding was left in the den, Steve and the Knights climbed back up the stairs to rescue others from the Round Chamber. St Mary's has been cleansed of evil, dust and drigeon waste. Wizard Steve was amazed by the Knights' bravery and efficiency. He awarded each of them with the title of the Knight of the Round Staircase and with exclusive access to the top of the tower. Of course, to get there, they had to climb the Round Staircase which seemed to have no end. At the roof awaited a stunning panorama of the nighttime Ealing and its surroundings.

The vista was magnificent but the Knights were longing to get closer to the ground level and find a cosy inn. They descended from the tower and found themselves in front of The Rose & Crown pub. There was another obstacle on the way! No monsters, no challenging questions, and no proving one's strength this time. The Rose & Crown only accepted royalty as its patrons and refused the Knights to go inside. Someone had to wear the crown for the team. It was decided it would be Kash who had accomplished the most Feats of Glory in the crowd, five hundred. She disguised herself as a queen and the other knights as her lords and ladies. The innkeepers let the merry men and women in and everyone had fun and a piece of Round Cake at a Round Table.

Our GoodGym has a fantastic history of working with St Mary's Church in South Ealing. We haven't been to their church garden for a while. Someone had to make a move and make things happen. That person was Milly. She got back in touch with Vicar Steve and organised a gardening task for us. Result?

14 Ealing GoodGymers weeding, chopping, cutting and pulling trees - that's a 2023 record! 🥳

Today's session featured:

• A welcome to Arran and Louise 🎉 (the latter we had already met at Pitshanger junior parkrun) to GoodGym Ealing - a welcome with a twist! Both of them have been already doing group sessions in Ealing back in 2018, so they should be really welcoming the rest of us! 😆
• Comebacks of Ben and Cam who rushed to the group run so much that the GoodGym logo of his red t-shirt couldn't match his pace and was left behind. We are sure it will catch up with Cam before his next group run
• The usual suspects: Claire, Mike and Milly
• Cyclists: Emmanuella, Madiha and our Hammersmith friend, Divya
• Runners: Steph, Sevan, Kash and already mentioned Ben who all ran through Walpole Park and around Lammas Park to the church - it was a lovely run in the late afternoon sun 🌞
• Madhan who walked to the task which earned him his own category on this list!

Milly and Ben volunteered to help inside the church move boxes with documents. The task involved heights and climbing a ladder. Our heroes' skills could match the Horsenden mountain goats, so no one fell down. Steph and Mike were taken on a special expedition to cut back a large tree. The rest of the group stayed in the main garden area that was troubled by weeds.

Our main enemies were:

• Sycamore tree saplings - they grew from the seeds fallen from the nearby adult trees and covered the area like a carpet. We had to remove them with the roots while they were still young before they all turned into full-sized trees!
• Brambles - Ealing is already full of brambles. Why would they hesitate to enter the land of a holy building?
• Bindweed - there was surprisingly little of that bad boy but pulling it was satisfying as usual!

In an hour we transformed the area, making the weed blanket disappear and the clear ground reappear. We made space for the native perennial plants to thrive. Steve was pleased with our efforts and was sure our work will help the area's biodiversity.

After we transported all the garden waste to the back of the church garden, it was time to...

go to the pub!

...but then an alternative appeared:

who would like to do a fitness session first?

There were seven takers for the fitness. They were served an easygoing core workout with a focus on the lower back, followed by musical planks. The latter was a brutal survival game in which the players enter a grassy arena and run around cones accompanied by classical music. When the music stops, a person who cannot find a cone to plank in front of is out of the game. Did I mention burpees as the penalty? Ealing was by Hammersmith's plankiator Divya who earned the title of the King of Planks.

The fitness session was so absorbing that the group that exercised showed up a the pub too late to mingle with the original party crew. Nevertheless, they stayed for a quick one and enjoyed the still warm August night in the pub garden 🍻.

Next week we are running to Acton to flyer for the Reduce & Recycle Hub.

A week after, at the group run, we tackle a task similar to the one at St Mary's but for a new church - St Andrews Church and its community centre! It is 5 minutes walk from Ealing Broadway. Check it out here.