Did you know that Pitzhanger Manor in Walpole Park, along with the surrounding area, will soon be the filming location of the Antiques Roadshow? Because of that, the rangers and volunteers are carrying planting activities, turning the ordinary grass patches into elegant flowerbeds.

A small but effective team of GoodGymers had a go on the planting task one Saturday in April. Tonight, GoodGym was returning with some experience and twice as many people to try to finish off the planting. Was the work easier this time?

There are no great GoodGym adventures without challenges!

⏱️ We were tight on time! It was a group run, so we needed to adjust the timings to account for that (well done Ijo on keeping a steady pace! 🙌)!

🍕 We had a booking for a monthly pizza social! That meant time was even more precious! The planting team - including the newest addition to the team, Georgina, worked extra hard to complete the whole geranium patch - and we did it! We only managed to wrap up on time because we had Milly leading the group to the venue, and Steph staying to help with putting away the tools.

⛔ The code to the lockbox didn't work! Luckily, the ranger was on duty 🫡 and saved the day, answering the call. Otherwise, we might have gone straight home (or for the pizza 😋)!

🖍️ There were no markings on the ground this time! Luckily, Annabel kept her eyes wide open and figured out the exact planting location from the photos we had! Sevan's knowledge of the location from the previous task allowed us to start digging right away.

🌱 The soil was not prepared this time! We had to deal with removing a large patch of grass first. It was a blessing to have Claire on the team, with her gardening expertise and the brilliant idea to use forks, not just shovels, to quickly prepare the ground.

🧱 There were bricks in the soil! In some areas we used brute force, in others we worked around the bricks. The plants may not ended up evenly distributed, yet they made their way to the soil!

🍂 We had to do some mulching too! With a bigger team, not everyone could do the planting. Taskforce Mike, Milly and Steph knew the drill and volunteered right away to wheelbarrow the woodchip and distribute it gently between the existing plants.

Thank you, Amazing Team, for the incredible effort in such a short time! 🤩 You totally deserved the pizza prize after the task!

Next week we are finally back to St Andrew's Church to help create gravel paths in their Pocket Allotment. Sign up now!

On a dark Tuesday night, a couple of officers from Ealing Patrol Service sat in their car, watching hypnotising flashes of the lights mounted on top of their vehicle. It was the most exciting sight they could hope for in the tranquillity of nighttime Walpole Park.

Suddenly, three wheelbarrows rolled in front of their car. The officers blinked in disbelief.

Are those wheelbarrows?!

We are a volunteer group called GoodGym. We borrowed some tools from ranger Jon to help in the community garden across the road. We know it's dark and that it looks weird.

The people with wheelbarrows disappeared into the darkness. The officers weren't sure whether they were hallucinating or not.

In the neighbouring Lammas Park Enclosure, fairies were having a party at the wooden circle in the middle of the community orchard. When they heard loud wailing, they hid in the holes of the trees and under the bark of old logs surrounding the party area. No one would tell that the pixies were having a good time there a few seconds ago. Only a blue plastic carrier bag with an empty beer can inside rolled through the orchard like tumbleweed.

The wailing noises were coming from a wheelbarrow borrowed from Trevor of Ealing Transition, the mastermind behind tonight's movements in the Enclosure. And there were quite a lot of movements happening! First, the GoodGymers, the people who brought the haunted wheelbarrow and three well-behaved barrows, moved the old, rotting logs from the fairies' circle into a dedicated log decomposition zone. They replaced the decommissioned logs with new ones that would make nice seats for the fairies. The GoodGymers even built a coffee table in case Tinker Bell and her mates needed some caffeine to pick them up the next day after the night out. Finally, they spread woodchip from a nearby pile onto the ground at entrances to the Enclosure. Fairies didn't need it to avoid walking on muddy paths. They can fly over the mud after all! The woodchip carpet was made of milled thuja that brought an irresistible forest scent into the Transition Garden.

Once the GoodGymers were gone, the fairies resumed the party, wrecking the new wooden furniture in their magic circle and rolling in thuja chips.

Next week, the GoodGym crew will be wheelbarrowing a different cargo - check out the session in Acton here. We hope to see you there!

Sanding at the theatre Branded a volunteer What will they say Monday at work?

Someday, when the toilets are painted Somehow, someway, our two worlds will be one

I sit, I wonder whyyyyy… Oh why you left the walls so smooth Oh, GoodGym, baby

Did you know that Pancake Day always coincides with GoodGym Ealing's group run? This time, Shrove Tuesday also happened to be a Hot Choc Day as we visited Blondin Pavilion, where Linda, the manager, offered us hot drinks again. But we got to work for them first!

The gang welcomed new joiner, Helene, who ran from Bodyline with the running group through Walpole, Lammas and Blondin Parks.

Eight eager GoodGymers showed up at the pavilion, which was a pretty good turnout for an outdoor task in February. Was it the mild weather, the location, the promise of hot chocolate or the task of putting up signs? Who knows! Because there were only four signs to attach, we split into two teams and drew a second job from Linda's deck of task cards. It was... the woodchip!

Team Runway Riot

The Riot team marched with big signs along the pathways in Blondin Park lit with dotted lines of small lights which made them look like an airport runway. Claire was ready to take off! The rioters protested against Blondin Park Pavilion not being sufficiently recognised. They attached the signs to two lampposts and two fences near entrances, using Liv's expert knowledge of the park and Mike's height. Madhan was in charge of trimming the cable ties, which has proven more difficult than putting up the signs!

Team Barrow Barbarians

The group woodchipping the waterlogged edge of a path to the pavilion kept rotating team members between three tasks: loading the wheelbarrows, transporting the woodchip and levelling the unloaded woodchip with a rake. Helene stuck most of the time to the barrow driving, Sevan was perfecting the surface of the woodchipped area and Christos and Kash discovered the quickest way of filling the wheelbarrow with two shovels. The secret was teamwork: breaking down the dense woodchip pile and filling the massive shovel with the help of the smaller one - much faster than shovelling individually!

Wrap-up

After all four signs were up, proudly announcing the presence of the community pavilion in the park, and the source woodchip pile was reduced to a woodchip plainland, the GoodGymers header to the pavilion for hot chocolate and tea. Due to half term, there was no Zumba class tonight, but the silence was quickly filled with chatter.

Next week we'll have a rare chance of an indoor task at Impact Theatre! Fancy a run plus an upper body workout while rubbing down walls before painting? Sign up now!