Three of us met on a balmy Tuesday evening to help Mr R move some furniture. A group of GoodGymmers (what is the collective term for a group of GoodGymmers? A deed of GoodGymmers? A gaggle? A galaxy? If anyone knows, I would appreciate knowing, thank you). Anyway, said collective noun of GoodGymmers had attended a mission at the weekend to move some furniture for Mr R down the stairs, and the task for today was to take it outside ready for collection by the council in the morning.

In no time at all, the old bed and headboard, a selection of mattresses, a mirror and a chest of drawers were all transported from inside to outside and neatly lined up outside Mr R’s. Mr R was most grateful for our help, and as it was such a quickly and efficiently completed task, there was time for a little socially distanced door step chat... There was no avoiding the C word, but we all shared our vaccination stories, and Mr R told us that all he wanted to do was to get to the pub and have a pint in ‘Spoons. Don’t we all Mr R! One day, we might meet again, but let’s hope that that day is at the Red Lion and Pineapple!

On a sultry September’s eve, seven GoodGym runners descended on Ravenor Park by foot and bike (some hardy folk had already completed laps of the park with Liv and Harvey as part of the Queen of the suburbs challenge) to tackle some unseemly patches of litter. Indeed we found Liv, Jen and Chris in the “nature” part of the park with the task already under way...

An abundance of wine bottles and other beverages (and a significant amount of loo roll) presented themselves for our readily snapping litter pickers. Evidently, the park is the place to party!

The view as we emerged from the “wild woods” was beautiful with the wild flowers colouring the meadow-like park as the dusk descended on the last of the summer (wine). (Also serves as a reminder to get our bike lights on again!).

Today, myself and a few of the other GoodGym Ealing crew signed up to help Trees for Cities as part of their planting sessions in Elthorne Park.

"Trees for Cities has been working in partnership with Ealing council for several years and is delighted to be planting 43 new trees in Elthorne Park this September. The trees will be nut trees to compliment the wonderful planting the Hanwell and Norwood Green Orchard Trail has done in the park so far."

Previous tree planting we'd done in the area conjured up images of planting tiny whips into small holes and I don't think any of us quite realised the enormity of the task at hand and just how difficult digging a big hole on a brownfields site heavily laden with rubble and rocks could be!

It took over an hour, five shovels, lots of scooping, many BIG rocks and one large pokey stick to get the hole just right for our Scots Pine but if something is worth doing, it's worth doing well!

The best bit is most of us are in the park on a weekly basis and we'll be able to watch it grow and have even committed to watering it between us over the hotter months of the year.

Tonight, after our third run for the Queen of the Suburbs Challenge, we met to litter pick at Pitshanger Park.

The litter wasn't too bad in the main park and we had lots of members of the public thank us and ask what we were up to. Always good GoodGym exposure!

The main problem we found was in the wooded sections and in the river where there was a big backlog of rubbish in the water. I knew the council were aware of this and had plans to get it cleared so we set about clearing all the areas that were easy to reach.

Kieran was determined to get what he could off of the top section on the water!

We did two bags worth tonight and because lots of people saw us doing it hopefully it means they'll be less inclined to leave their rubbish behind in the future!

What's this challenge all about?!

Well let me tell you! The Queen of the Suburbs Challenge is a virtual event Ealing Half Marathon have set up to run, jog or walk in 13 designated Ealing parks and you have the whole of September to complete the challenge. You can enter by clicking here and on completion, you’ll receive the Queen of the Suburbs medal. Map available to download here.

How's GoodGym taking part?!

Every week throughout September we'll be setting up training sessions to run through all the different parks and we'll finish with a litter pick in each one. You can join for the run, the litter pick or both! Keep an eye on the training sessions here and the litter picking sessions here.