There was unmistakably feeling of spring in the air last night—lighter evenings, a hint of warmth and a lovely sense of collective optimism. It could only mean a Wednesday group run in Hounslow!

We headed to one of our regular spots, Strand-on-the-Green School, ready to get stuck into a two part task. Paintbrushes in hand, the first team took on the first section of wall. However, there was some consternation about the colour—was it definitely meant to be yellow… or was it supposed to be white? Coverage had to be committed, and before long the wall was getting a proper glow-up.

Team two tackled the other side—pulling, trimming, and liberating the wall from a determined tangle of greenery. There was impressive teamwork, serious progress, and… quite a lot of sneezing. Turns out ivy removal comes with a side of dust clouds, but that didn’t slow anyone down.

As the session progressed there was singing, there were tales of St Paddy's day escapades, there was the satisfying sight of filled bags being lined up, and there was definitely no incident whatsoever involving a paint tin of water. Absolutely none worth mentioning.

By the end, we had a semi transformed space and a skip full of ivy cuttings. Great work everybody. We'll be back on the 1st April to finish up the job.

There’s plenty more to look forward to:

🌱 A mission this weekend at the Eyot ⛪ Gardening at Hope Church—can you make it? 🌼 And next week we're planting cowslips on Turnham Green, plus some fun, longer fitness

Assembling flat pack furniture is a satisfying activity, Ms B though will have to wait a little longer for the final reveal as after 1.5 hours the project was 50% complete. Sadly I forgot to take a photo of this half finished chest of drawers!

It's been eight months since Sevan's and Kash's last visit to Mrs E and her husband - a mission featuring apple collection, getting soaked and watching Wimbledon during the worst downpour.

The first task for the elderly couple this season was far less eventful: cutting the grass, weeding pots and flowerbeds, and scraping moss. This time, Mrs E's husband wasn't well and couldn't come out to the garden to join the gardening team, but Mrs E worked alongside GoodGymers throughout the session, directing Sevan and Kash, cutting dead rosemary, and sweeping the cuttings. The most unexpected event of the session was mowing the thick grass, which turned out to be, judging by the scent, unwanted wild garlic.

Sevan and Kash finished the day of GoodGymming with a 5km run back to Ealing, enjoying the sight of cherry blossoms on the streets and many other trees blooming in Boston Manor and Blondin Parks.

Shopping for Mr K on a beautifully sunny morning, this time featuring razors

For today's mission I went back to Baron's pond, following the building of the dead hedge on Wednesday. While I was the only one from GoodGym, 4 volunteers and 2 dogs joined us to get the work done. First thing first I admired the dead hedge which was flamboyant under the sun. Then we started with a long standing GG task: uprooting the brambles. After much effort, we went on to clear the area near the pond to allow the sunlight through to support further vegetation growth. Taking the opportunity to grow the dead hedge further, we finished by that one. We ended taking a picture in front of the dead hedge, which was after all our red thread!

A dark and chilly Wednesday evening, with headtorches at the ready and lots to celebrate – it could only be a GoodGym Hounslow group run! 🎉🏃‍♀️

Before a single sapling had been wrestled or stake hammered into the ground, there was a roll call full of brilliant achievements. First up, a huge round of applause for Beth, fresh from conquering the Tokyo Marathon and jet lag. What a run! 🌏🏅 Lucy smashed a half marathon at the weekend – clearly the marathon training is going well. And then a massive cheer was for Ariane, who tonight completed an amazing 50 Good Deeds. That’s fifty times showing up, pitching in and making our local area better – a brilliant achievement and very well deserved 👏 Not only that, Jon quietly cruised past the 200 good deeds mark. What a serious amount of good done and a real contribution to the community.

If that wasn’t enough excitement for one evening, we also had a brand new group session location - Baron's Ponds. While some GoodGymers have visited the site before for tasks like planting daffs (and we could see the bright and beautiful results of that hard work tonight), this was the first time we’d descended on it as a full group on a Wednesday group run – and there was plenty to do.

The task list was long. It included clearing an area of willow saplings, hammering stakes firmly into the ground and the small matter of moving a four-metre dead hedge. With so much to do, it was an all-hands-on-deck situation. It didn't help that it was dark, the ground was uneven, and there were plenty of brambles - but none of that slowed the team down. Headtorches flashed, saws were pressed into full use, branches were shifted, and gradually the transformation began to appear.

By the end of our 45-minute burst of effort, the area looked completely different. Mark and Pete, the volunteers who manage the site, told us it would have taken them at least half a day to achieve what the group managed tonight. A very satisfying result. 🙌

This weekend there’s another mission at Baron's Ponds, with plenty to get stuck into if you fancy more muddy fun. And next week we’re either back helping out at Chiswick House or teaming up with Wild Chiswick for more community impact.

There’s no stopping GoodGym Hounslow! 💚🏃‍♂️