Our first session at Western Road Urban Garden in 2025 brought an even more formidable challenge than last year's log relocation. There were plenty of different tasks to do - including planting in the gaps of the native hedge - but when Kash asked who would like a non-muscle task, she heard a resounding silence from Mohamed, Liuba, Steph Ducat and Sevan. Everyone was determined to tackle the job that Janpal thought only GoodGymers would be capable of doing (in the absence of Council's heavy machinery or a chainsaw): moving bases of 70- or 80-year-old pine trees!

For the first four stumps, we used a combination of rolling and pulling a trolley to move them closer to where Janpal wanted to create a natural barrier to the garden. Thanks to stellar teamwork, the five GoodGymers and our friend Andre were well-equipped to complete that job. The remaining two giant tree trunks (one of them was a double tree!), even the mighty Andre considered impossible. Splitting the logs into smaller pieces would make the job manageable - but how?

Just as Deux ex Machina, WRUG's Chief Engineer Ash arrived with his head full of ideas and a wheelbarrow full of tools (sadly not the chainsaw!). His strategy to tackle the big problem was to split it into smaller chunks, using a saw, an axe, a maul, a wedge, a mallet and a sledgehammer. Liuba and Sevan were at the forefront of the transformation, removing the soil from between the roots, and then sawing grooves in the weakest parts of the wood. Steph, Mohamed, Kash and Ash were taking turns hacking into the rifts in the tree bases with the axe and the maul, making slow but constant progress in splitting the trunk.

Halfway through the task, the gang took a short break to replenish their stamina with samosas and tea, kindly provided by Janpal, and warmed themselves up in the polytunnel. The GoodGymers had a chance for a chat with Paul and Katie, who were busy with another job at the urban garden today. Our team found out that the wounded pigeon that Katie had found in the morning sadly didn't survive till the afternoon.

Life had to go on, so we went back to our wood-splitting challenge with fresh energy. We kept turning the enormous tree base (which needed three people!) and attacked it from different angles. The crevices got deeper and deeper with each strike of the maul. We handed the mallet to Janpal for the honorary last blow... which didn't happen! Instead, the wedge was stuck deep in the wood and we could no longer reach it with the hammer! We kept manoeuvring the wood, hoping to split it from another way or at least release the wedge, but we ran out of time. So close - yet so far!

Now it was time for the team to split, with Liuba and Mohamed heading home, and Steph, Sevan and Kash running to their next missions. Ash promised the GoodGymers they would complete the job at the March session at Western Road and the team pledged to return to claim the glory for their hard work. Come and join us at the session next month - the wood-splitting challenge is still on, and other, less extreme, tasks are waiting to to be done.