A regular task with regular runners, but not our regular area activator… we had Ana-lternative run lead tonight in Lucy to get the gang of GoodGymmers down to Chiswick House safely.

We met Chris the gardener, who let us into the grounds after hours and led us up to the grounds to grab our gear for tonight’s task and off we headed to the spot where the action would be occurring. The exciting thing about Chiswick House is that every time we visit there always seems to be a new area to discover, and a different task to be done.

Tonight, we were shown a mountain of woodchip and mulch, with the addition of a few autumnal leaves sprinkled atop. Our task was to move this woodchip from its pile below cedar tree A to a new spot below cedar tree B, about 100 yards down. So we got to work, forking down and shovelling the organic matter into wheelbarrows, moving it across the grounds and then dumping the load in the correct place for Chris to rake out. The relocated woodchip and mulch is full of nutrients for the soil and tree roots below, and helps to increase the biodiversity of the ground below, which is, Chris explained, a really good thing.

So we had done good and learnt some good! Cedar tree B had a new ring of woodchip, finished just as our time was up. Wheelbarrows, shovels, forks and rakes were safely located back by the kitchen gardens and Chris unlocked the gates and let us escape back into the wild once more. The walkers went off, followed by the running group, and we all happened to meet at the pub at the same time following our cool down. Timed to perfection once more!

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.

It's no secret that the wood-fired pizza from Horsenden Farm is a magnet for GoodGymers - so powerful that it pulls people from different areas to Ealing! Today the promise of the Horsenden Loaf speciality brought three guests from GoodGym Hounslow: Michelle, Kymm and Gus.

But there is no pizza without fire! And there is no fire without firewood.

This Saturday's task was to help the Horsenden baker Anthony stock up on firewood to feed all the hungry GoodGymers after the winter sessions at the farm - and the number of volunteers at the farm has grown rapidly in the last months, reaching 9 people in October. At today's session, we welcomed a new joiner, Diana, who met us at pumpkin carving at Northfield Allotments last week. Welcome to GoodGym Ealing, Diana!

Ijo, Steph, Sevan, Penny, Kash, Diana and the three Hounslow visitors grabbed wheelbarrows and loaded them with logs from a pile located higher up the hill. It was the opposite of our usual tasks at the farm: shovelling woodchip or compost into barrows and pushing them uphill. This time the heavy loads were going down the hill - but don't be fooled - it was hard work!

Not far from the pizza oven, Kymm was assembling a Jenga tower out of firewood pieces that kept coming in barrows in all shapes and sizes, so she had no way to apply any strategy to how best to arrange them. In the end, it turned out she did a nifty job! Next to Kymm, Gus found his happy place at a contraption he would love to get for Christmas: a log splitter. Before having a go at that apparatus, Gus received the safety training and protective goggles from Anthony.

"I'm the most hipster lumberjack!" - Gus said, admiring his new eyewear.

Splitting the logs required time and focus, so after the pile was transported downhill, Gus stayed at his post, accompanied by Michelle who swapped with Kymm on the wood tetris position. The rest of the team was made redundant and looked for other jobs at the farm. They were employed to build a highway between the veg patches out of old cartons and fresh woodchip. Penny, Diana and Ijo laid the cardboard foundations while Steph, Sevan, Kymm and Kash brought the material for the path surface - all of that to stop weeds from growing in spaces between the plots.

Two hours of the farm-style workout was concluded with the obligatory team lunch at Horsenden Loaf with pizza, coffee or craft beer from the local microbrewery. We are already looking forward to the session next month - save the date and sign up now!

What's that coming over the hill, is it a monster, is it a monster? No! It's just GoodGym Hounslow ready for their Wednesday session in collaboration with #ThisGirlCan!

Creeping it real

Last night 16 of us met to raise awareness about lifting the barrier to women running after dark, to help out at a local school, and to do a spooktacular fitness session. We also got to welcome Ola and Klaudia along to their first session - give them a huge cheer!

Not only that, but we celebrated our lovely Beth's 300th good deed - that is an unbelievable amount of dedication to doing good! Huge congratulations and well done to Beth.

boo-tiful costumes

A lot of us chose to dress up for the occasion. There was Emily in her fabulous sparkly unicorn outfit, Lucy highlighting the terrors of social media in a brilliant mobile phone one piece, Eloise as an excellent light up cat (incredibly helpful for back marking), Beth doubling up cycling safety and Halloween chic in illuminated ghouls and Kash managing to complete the task and run in a terifying mask!

Back to our old haunt

After a warm up we went round the group to name a woman or women who inspire us to get active. Paula Radcliffe, Femke Bol, Kelly Holmes, Eilish McColgan, women who row, and Angela Merkel are just some of the names we look up to. So with the thought of these leading lights in our heads, we set off for our task for the evening.

Last night we were back at Strand-on-the-Green school, a local primary school where we often go to help. We had quite a few jobs to do, including removing ivy from a massive wall, cutting back a huge shrub, and finishing off the bench sanding. We quickly sorted ourselves into teams and got to work.

Ain't no body

We were a blur of activity, with Gus, Luis and Beth tackling the removal of the ivy which was threatening the integrity of the wall and roof, and Matt, Kash, Michelle, Alan and Kymm all cutting back the enormous shrub. Meanwhile Emily's dream team of Georgia, Florian, Ola, Klaudia, Eloise and Kash got to work on the benches so that they can be repainted.

The minutes flew by and it was soon time to down tools. But there was just time for a silly spooky session focusing on lower body. Suffice to say there was a small delay as I struggled with technology (thank you for your help Florian) and we had to deal with a speaker which went on to (maybe appropriately) die, but we got there in the end! We took on the Monster Mash challenge, before knocking out a SIX minute plank challenge with Thriller as our theme tune! Amazing.

There are a couple of missions this weekend, including this one to spread the word about Feltham's new foodcycle and lunchtime planting with Thames 21.

Next week you'll be in the very capable hands of Lucy as I'm away, so sign up for another great session at Chiswick House right here.