Two of our gang, Kate and Harvey ran/walked to the task tonight, bumping into another GoodGymer, Caz, on her way for some light refreshments on a warm evening - luck her! Milly and Mike took a long way round to the entrance, after ending up the wrong side of the fence (there's a message in there!). After collecting tools from Linda at Hanwell School of Boxing, the four set about clearing and weeding. Four?! That should have been five! But where was Chris?! With tales of poorly performing maps, Chris found us at last and joined in.

We toiled and cleared, weeded and pulled up ivy, making the driveway up to the club look so much more presentable. After finishing up, a treat lay in store for us - Linda from the club put the kettle on and rustled up five mugs of steaming hot chocolate. Whilst we sipped, we learned about the history of Hanwell School og Boxing, the reason for its strange opening times, and some of the amazing achievements of the young people who learned the fine art of pugilism there. It's a fantastic community resource and it now has an impressive walkway up to the club.

Walpole Park on Tuesday nights can get surprisingly busy. Tonight, the enthusiasts of a stroll in the park after dark were startled by the sight of bikes approaching them - only to find out that the cyclists were actually runners with powerful head torches!

One group of GoodGymers ran two loops around the park while the second, smaller one, decided on a slower, single round. Everyone eventually met near the Rickyard, where Ranger Jon had left a few shovels for the volunteers. He also gave them a task in the walled garden.

The walled garden was originally an ornamental kitchen garden to the 18th century Pitzhanger Manor House, the home of architect Sir John Soane. The practice of growing food and flowers in that part of Walpole Park continues today, and the GoodGymers were about to become a part of that tradition.

A newly built raised bed was waiting to be filled with compost delivered last week in four massive bags spread around the bed. Jon carefully positioned the bags for GoodGymers to make their work the most efficient. Did they stand up to the task?

The team picked up a range of tools they thought were worth trying in a small space they had. Annabel, who just came back to running and GoodGymming, following a recovery, picked up a good, old shovel. So did Miriam and Steph. Sevan opted for the fourth, last shovel. His movements had far more impetus, so he practically had a bag for himself as no one would dare come closer to his deadly, sweeping shovel. Helene was left with a spade which she used to fill a big bucket. Chris and Kash found using smaller buckets the most effective for their bag which was further down from the bed. When the two compost bags which were closest to the bed were empty, the third bag was moved nearer to the destination. Steph and Kash attacked the furthest source of compost with shovels and a wheelbarrow.

The GoodGymers had so much fun that they were surprised to see how quickly they filled the raised bed to the required level. They packed up the three now empty bags and tools to return them to the storage at the Rickyard. Hopefully, Ranger Jon will be happy to see the compost getting comfy in its new bed tomorrow!

Our next task for Ealing Parks is next week - at Elthorne Park. Sign up now!

Yesterday 7 goodgymmers from far and wide joined us to help out the fabulous crew at Western Road Urban Garden in Southall.

Rain didnt defeat us and once we got there it had actually stopped!

The super 7 had walked, run (some even parkrun) and cycled their way there to join the efforts.

Milly arrived early to meet the attendees and was quickly tasked with rehoming several plantpots.

Main tasks were helping Manny with the Polytunnel, it needed a few repairs and tall people to support in the tricky corners. Sevan headed this up drawing in a crowd for support as people arrived.

The other job was digging away, turning the ground ready for some more future planting. the allotment had been left derelict for years so the thing you can find in that mud- from roman pottery to some very old glass bottles and more. kash and milly got to this with Chris, Michelle, Suz and Louis joining after the polytunnel completion.

We had a well needed samosa break and a cup of tea and set back to work! thanks to the team at western road for always looking after us!

Thank you to crew from Hounslow and Richmond Goodgym for joining!

Please check out other tasks coming up this week for more of the action!

The Reduce and Recycle Hub team (Action West London) got really serious about reducing when it comes to their leaflets. Minimum size, maximum content. The A6 flyers that we were distributing today were loaded with information about the upcoming and regular events in Acton:

• Reduce and Recycle Hub on Saturday the 3rd of February where the residents can learn to fix clothes, bring their bikes for repair, recycle clothing and shoes, appliances and laptops and swap books
• Acton Market - a weekday street market supporting small local businesses
• Market W3 - a similar street market but every Saturday

The GoodGym leafletting squad was formed by the usual suspects. If only one of them was not in recovery mode, all would have been running today! Sevan led tonight's run, Steph Ducat was up for getting some mileage in as usual, Christos made his comeback in 2024, hoping he wouldn't be freezing his fingers like the last time, and Chris, who doesn't shy away from a humble Acton leafletting session, didn't disappoint after he let us know last week he'd be joining the gang.

The runners met Kash in Acton, who brought five fat envelopes of kash (see the photos!) after making a suspicious deal last week with Action West London. We didn't want to be caught with so many notes on us! The contents of the envelopes had to be dropped somewhere! The team decided to use the letterboxes of houses on the streets between Uxbridge Road and Gunnersbury Lane for that purpose. The suspects finished lighter by 433 leaflets, but they have been seen by a few cats and heard by several dogs. We are hoping that having a few tasks for the Ealing Animals Fair coming up soon, we are in their good books and cats and dogs will keep quiet about our activity in Acton.

The runners covered 5km in total, the lone walker 6km, and everyone put in an extra 2.6 km during the task.

Join us next week for another run to Acton followed by the usual chaii afterwards here!

As we come to the end of another year and another year of good deeds, that can only mean one thing... it must be time for lots of silliness and merriment at the GoodGym Ealing Xmas party!

This year was no different as we got together at the Draper's Arms in Ealing. First up, it was time for drinks and a late dinner after another GoodGym Ealing tradition, our task to prepare St Mary's church for their Xmas services.

As drinks were drunk and stomachs stopped rumbling, it was time for the first event of the night, the GoodGym Ealing awards. As a nice bunch of people, there was an award and a badge for everyone 🙌. Chris was recognised for his work as the area's S-Club 7 lovin' Sound Engineer, Christos was the Phoenix who changed areas and rose from the ashes of injury and Emmanuella was outed as a Double Agent for her work with Cultivate.

Steph then announced that he was Santa Claus and got his big sack of presents ready for each of the GoodGymers to rummage around. It was time for Secret Santa of course. Even with a £5 limit, there were still some choice gifts for us busy GoodGymers including some gardening gloves, a head massager to relieve the stress of a challenging group run and a big box of chocolates 😋

Finally, the part we'd all been waiting for 🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁 Milly and Claire's big quiz! Rounds included Ealing history, identifying Milly's favourite celebrities and the innovative make-a-wheelbarrow-from-a-sheet-of-tinfoil round.

At the end of the night, the food was all gone, the drinks were gone and team Never Mind the Bullocks (or something like that) were the proud winners of the quiz of the year!

Right. 2 weeks off then we go again! 🚀