A sunny yet windy Sunday had three GoodGymers rubbing their chilly hands against warm coffee cups at a cafe on Pitshanger Lane. After volunteering at Pitshanger Junior parkrun, the team was regrouping ahead of a walk to Pear Tree Park to help Ealing Greenwayers take care of the area around the now-closed park cafe.

For those Greenwayers who couldn't squeeze a run, walk, or cycle on their way to the session, Kash conducted a full-body warm-up involving many gentle joint rotations ahead of 80 minutes of edging, shovelling, wheelbarrowing, and raking.

Richard, the Greenwayers leader, outlined the task of improving the looks of the park's north border. First, the grass' appetite to spread had to be curbed, so the Greenwayers Sue and Ian were on the edging duty until one of the edging tools broke. Oops. That wasn't the GoodGymers this time! The other Greenwayers, Yi Shwei and David, initially joined the GoodGymers Steph Ducat, Sevan and Kash in the woodchip transport department.

Everyone had a go with both shovelling and wheelbarrowing, apart from Kash, who had injured her foot the day before and decided to stay away from any attempts to increase her step count. But did she miss her workout? It couldn't be further from the truth. Kash was on endurance shovelling duty for the entire task and was the main cause of the erosion of a woodchip coast that day. Richard's endeavour was a reverse of Dubai's Palm Islands project. The team have been mercilessly reducing the woodchip pile coastline. Steph and Sevan served as heavy-duty trucks carrying woodchip away from the coast to create desert-like patches under the hedge. Initially, the dunes appeared, that later had to be raked to create a flatter landscape. By noon, a chain of beautiful oases was created of woodchip spread neatly between palm-like bushes. Or was it just a mirage?

We have two new Pear Tree Park sessions already scheduled for spring in April and May! We are hoping for temperatures a little bit closer to those in Dubai - but not too much! Join us next time for a fun and rewarding Sunday morning workout.