On a cloudy, yet no longer rainy Tuesday evening, Sevan took Ealing GoodGymers for a run through Walpole Park to Lammas Enclosure. Surprisingly, we went past the Transition Orchard, not stopping there this time, then past the tennis courts. Did our run leader miss the task location? Today we met Trevor from Ealing Transition at a new woodchip pile. He challenged us to fill our wheelbarrows first before he would take us to the area in need of GoodGym hands.

"You are filling these wheelbarrows six times faster than I would!" - Trevor.

Trevor showed us a patch of tiny trees planted last year. During the late spring, the snips were having a tough time, bullied by the brambles that grew much quicker. Trevor had already started rescuing the saplings to prevent the bullies from completely taking over, and we could see piles of thorny cuttings around. Our job was to free all the remaining tiny trees and cover the ground with woodchip to suppress further growth of weeds.

At first, the whole team focused on taking down the brambles, with A.B. and Freya at the forefront. Gradually, the chopping team started losing its members to the woodchipping job: first Steph Ducat, then Harvey, and finally Kash. Sevan stayed in the small forest area to rake and coordinate the woodchip operations.

As the cuttings heap grew, the woodchip pile shrunk, eventually running out completely. Just 45 minutes of GoodGymming transformed a sad, overgrown thicket into a little forest of happy saplings, thriving surrounded by a thick layer of mulch.

"On behalf of the trees - thank you!" - Trevor.

We are keeping our fingers crossed for the trees that had been now set for a fresh start in their long life - but we will be back to check in on them later in the summer and fight back the thorny bullies if needed!

Next week we have a totally different type of task: we'll be teaming up with Ealing Repair Café again to reduce fabric waste and create goods for the community! Sign up now. It's an indoor task, so the weather is not an excuse 😉

Friday Hub at ESK and Steph Ducat welcomed Freya to her first session in the church crypt. Freya. Also welcomed a visitor for GG Richmond, which I have not seen in a while. the one and only cyclist Chris. Freya was on tea station duties with Siobhan from 11am and had some nice chats with the visitors. They made a great team. It was also Chris first community mission at the Ealing Soup Kitchen and was the man in charge of the shower : giving tickets then calling the visitors when it was their turn. Provided fresh underwear, socks, towels and the shower gel, but also ensured that all spent the correct amount of time singer in the shower. Welcome to ESK Freya and Chris. On the other hand, Steph Ducat was in the kitchen cooking food with the usual suspects Andrew and Marie. But also helped Angela sort some IT cables/ laptops in the office and also helped a regular fix his trolley wheel as came off. Freya came and stirred the gravy that we were preparing for lunch. Chris was impressed on how organised it was and also loved the fact that chess sets were out with several visitors competing against each other.

When a bell at the Hanwell School of Boxing rang at 7:15 pm, it announced the start of GoodGym Ealing's match against dry leaves, weeds, a pile of decomposing trimmings, and very much alive ivy. There was a plentitude of opponents to fight against, but we came with a strong team: 8 people warmed up by 3 km run or walk to the session!

The task owner, Linda, let us into the club's building to peek at the ongoing boxing class with young people sparing in the ring or practising their boxing drills. But our battle was outdoors - which we appreciated as the late spring weather was fantastic.

Our job was to tidy up the space outside the boxing school, and the task looked like a big one! Would there be another round - or could we win by knockout? No time to overthink when you are already in the ring! We went straight into action.

A.B. and Madhan swept the old leaves from the vast patch of tarmac leading to the school entrance. Chris, Harvey and Sevan freed the trees from the embrace of the ivy. Freya pulled all the weeds from the gravel area, then helped Steph Ducat, who was shovelling the pile of old cuttings. Kash took a lot of photos - and also loaded the waste into a wheelbarrow and dumped it onto a dead hedge, as Linda had lost hope that the green waste would get collected.

The result? We won with the mess by knockout! Surely, the ivy will grow back and new leaves will fall in the autumn - but we left Hanwell School of Boxing transformed and looking welcoming. We, in turn, felt welcome seeing the friendly smiles of young boxers, leaving after finishing their training session. Our match was over too, so we set off for the journey back towards Ealing Broadway.

Next week, we'll stick closer to the starting location at Bodyline, and will walk or run to the Lammas Enclosure to free saplings from the rule of nasty brambles - sign up now!

GoodGym Ealing may not visit St Andrew's Church in North Ealing frequently, but everyone looks forward to another session there - maybe because the tasks are so unique? The task owner, John, always has a new interesting project for us. This time, he offered us a mixture of new (a DIY task) and familiar (hedge trimming). John knew well that our team could be very effective when it comes to cutting shrubs (maybe even too effective!), so he entrusted us with shaping the hedge at the side of the church. A job that required even more trust in GoodGym was renovating a memorial bench of Roy James Matthews - an artist who used to run art classes for the local community at St Andrew's centre. John consulted the late artist's family before proceeding with the task, so we were committed to doing all the sanding in painting to a high standard.

Steph Ducat and Christos employed a variety of scissor-like tools, including long-handled edging shears, to suppress the unruly expansion of the hedge. The boisterous plant responded by releasing sap, covering Steph's t-shirt, face and shades with sticky spots.

Are you sure you have not chosen the painting task, Steph?

Despite St Andrew's being a United Reformed Church, Christos got to practice Zen meditation by raking the gravel. Getting the leaves out from between the stones required a great deal of patience!

On the other side of the church and the community centre, Claire, Freya and Sevan engaged in an artistic activity: bench renovation - from sanding, through blowing the dust away, to applying varnish. The challenging aspect was painting the hard-to-access surfaces with big paint brushes. One of Roy James' students, who was visiting the community space, came to the rescue! He went back home and brought us what you can easily find in an artist's house: a smaller paintbrush. That made our job a breeze.

Madhan and Kash got to rotate between the two tasks and apply their versatile skills in the arts of both creation and decimation. John was delighted with the results of GoodGym's intervention and, as usual, grateful for our support.

Since the days got longer, the Ealing team was increasingly keen on the fitness element of GoodGym. On the way to the session, our running crew opted for a 2.5 km of hill running. Returning to Ealing Broadway, we took the shortest route down but finished with an 8-minute full-body interval workout.

Next Tuesday, we are visiting a different part of the borough to help Hanwell School of Boxing with the maintenance of their outdoor space. Sign up and join us!