Joy Diversion

3 Goodgymers helped their local community in Ealing
StephDucat
Kash
MOHAMED NAOUM
1 / 18
Ealing

Sunday 15th December 2024

Credits
StephDucat
StephDucat

PHOTOGRAPHER

Kash
Kash

SESSION ORGANISER

PHOTOGRAPHER

REPORT WRITER

MOHAMED NAOUM
MOHAMED NAOUM

PHOTOGRAPHER

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Report written by Kash

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On a December Sunday morning, GoodGymers Mohamed, Steph and Kash met Greenwayers Richard, Sue and Alex near Brent Viaduct to continue their quest of shaping the Pear Tree Park paths. To say that the recent storms and floods spared the riverside trail that our teams had been working on would be too optimistic. Luckily, the woodchip we had spread last month survived, after being covered by water, so today we had to walk through only a few muddy sections.

Further down the path, the situation didn't look so well as part of the trail suffered from what is bread and butter for the White Cliffs of Dover: erosion. There was also a large fallen tree arching over the walkway, which didn't look particularly safe. Richard brought us to that location so that we could fix that. Removing the fallen tree didn't seem like a job for six people with saws and loppers. Our options were:

  • creating a diversion closer to the water and hoping that the river would not swallow it anytime soon
  • creating a diversion towards the park, additionally allowing visitors to enter the pathway at that spot

The second choice was more sensible and we immediately set off for lopping, sawing, breaking, hacking, pulling and forking. Richard, as usual, gave us a very comprehensive health and safety briefing ahead of time, so everyone was careful when performing all the feats of strength and wit required to remove dead trees and brambles on the way. Minute after minute, the visionary path was becoming a reality and we saw the light at the end of our way towards the park.

It took us only an hour to create a passage, so we spent the rest of the allocated time making it wider and safer. We said goodbye to a few extra rotten trunks at the sides of the new route and cut off all the overhanging branches we could reach. If someone tells me that the activity was not satisfying, then they may as well repeat after Mick Jagger that they can't get no satisfaction.

Key achievements:

  • The dangerous path under the fallen tree has been blocked
  • A new, safe path towards the park has been created
  • No one lost an eye

This task supported

CURB was founded by Ben Morris in October 2021 in response to a significant pollution incident on the Lower Brent, and is part of a growing movement to regenerate the UK’s badly degraded rivers. CURB, working in association with Thames21, and together with local volunteers including LAGER Can has removed around 100 tonnes of rubbish from the river – including over 500 car tyres – has initiated an invasive species replacement programme, planting hundreds of reed and rush rhizomes, reports regularly to Thames Water and the Environment Agency on pollution, is building connections with other volunteer groups throughout the Brent Catchment, and is currently trialling a self-started network of water quality sensors with the support of the Environment Agency.

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