The second appearance GoodGym Ealing made at Featherstone High School Learnscape was all about woodchipping a path running through the length of the garden, connecting its two gates. Volunteers Alex, Gurpal, Andrew and Ki were very eager to get the task going as five heavy bags of woodchip were awaiting to be spread. The only missing part was more hands!

Luckily, GoodGym came with a strong team again:

• Jags, who regularly engages in Southall's community work, within or outside GoodGym
• Sevan, Steph and Kash returning to Featherstone School after the fierce log moving last month
• Rainu and Roberta coming back for more GoodGymming after joining the team recently

We had three wheelbarrows for ten people to complete the woodchipping task. How many did we use? None! Dragging and tipping bags proved to be more effective, both as a full-body workout and as a way of distributing woodchip. But that's not all! Between moving bags and spreading the chips, we had to lay a membrane on the entire length of the path and pin it to hard, dry soil. We had one mallet for the pins, so we had to get creative!

Having 90 minutes for the task, we knew we had to get focussed. Did we? Driven by our desire for a challenge, we allowed ourselves to get distracted by a side mini landscaping project. We fulfilled Alex's and Jags' vision of an outdoor classroom, having a mound of soil, spare woodchip, heavy logs and donated rubber mats as materials. See the outcome in the photos!

Although we have not started woodchipping until about 20 minutes before the end of the task - believe it or not - we've made it: the new path was laid!

"Thank you so much for all your time, advice and work - I can't believe how much we achieved in the time!" - Alex, the task owner.

With another satisfying session under the belt that Sunday, we split: running, walking or cycling, back home or for yet another task in the day.

Donations that come in to Care4Calais are mysterious. GoodGymers don't often know who has donated sacks of clothing. Sometimes members of the public, sometimes a church or mosque. Today, task owner Tamzin had a surprise for the team. Two crates full of shoes that had been donated from the set of a TV series called Heads of State.

Rainu and Sevan spent most of the session untangling and pairing shoes, then grouping them by size. Once they'd worked out the UK to EU size mapping, they made good progress through the shoes and sandals. The second crate included 3 zipped bags and when they were opened, they were filled with slippers and Ugg-style boots. Great for the winter, not as useful in summer, so they were put to one side. Upstairs, Kash had paired up with Tamzin to prepare standard clothing packs for women in different sizes.

Rainu had a great time, saying:

Just so rewarding...back breaking ha ha. Well worth it. Luved it. Great team work..felt so part of team thank you Tamzin and GoodGym guys

At the end of the session, everyone came together to prepare requests that had come in, with trousers, tops and newly restocked shoes being bagged up for beneficiaries. New clothes, shoes and packs were organised in the stock room, before everyone wrapped up for the day.