Cliff, the chief gardener at St Mary’s in South Ealing, told us that the cemetery behind the church was meant to be a pollinator-friendly wildflower space, and not an ostensively manicured garden. Yet, after the spring was in full bloom, the back of the churchyard started getting out of control: nettles, green alkanet and other weeds took over the graves, and even Cliff’s superhuman gardening capability wasn’t enough to keep on top of that expansion. That’s where the GoodGymers stepped in.

Sevan led a group of ten nettleslayers, hungry for an evening pull session in a local jungle. Among them were two new faces in GoodGym Ealing: Giovanni, who cycled to his very first task, and Diana, who, despite being active for a few months as an Achilles guide runner, hadn’t completed an Ealing session until today. She also brought a four-legged support, the pooch Padron (pardon me if I misspelt the name), who made all the hearts instantly melt. Welcome Giovanni and Diana - we hope you’ve enjoyed our collective weeding frenzy!

Steph Ducat, Giovanni, Andy and Cliff attacked the left-hand side of the overgrown churchyard back wall, while Anna, Kash, and Harvey started from the right. Sevan, Diana, A.B., and James worked in the middle and eventually met the other two teams, having pulled or cut all the weeds on their way. In an hour, the stretch of graves along the entire brick wall at the back was weed-free!

Every GoodGym session is an opportunity to learn something new. Harvey told us about soldiers who used to whip their arms with stinging nettles to stay awake during their night watches. Since I wore a short-sleeved top while pulling nettles today anyway, I decided to test that method. I am pleased to report that the nettle stings still work, and I haven’t fallen asleep writing this report on Tuesday night.

As the days are now so long that it is still bright outside when we complete an evening task, there’s no excuse not to take advantage of it and come to the Tuesday night session. The weather has been a sheer delight, too! The next opportunity for an evening experience with GoodGym is next week - don’t miss it and sign up now!

GoodGym Ealing's first group run to the Polygon, linked to St Mary's church, took each of the runners back to their childhood. Waiting outside, they wondered what they'd find inside and thought about memories from when they were little.

"[The toys] will probably be sticky" - Freya

They were welcomed by task owner Wei Hei, who introduced them to the jobs for this evening. There were tiny chairs to clean, there were small kitchen toys to be washed and there were big puzzles to be solved. Each big kid chose the task that they would enjoy the most.

Harvey and Freya took the tiny chairs outside into the sun to scrub them down and let them dry. They were careful to not use too little, nor too much detergent as they were warned. Too much would lead to an explosion of bubbles that couldn't be rinsed away, but the pair got it just right.

Conor and Jo went into the adult sized kitchen to wash the play kitchen equipment, cleaning plates, toasters and slices of pizza. By the time they were done, the plastic food was ready to be chewed on again by the children.

The final group was bigger. Maria and Chris, who made achieving his 💯th good deed look like child's play, were preparing play bags to give out during church services. They were filled with fun toys that were also quiet toys, which would keep children entertained while the adults were busy. Each bag contained a toy, a puzzle, a book and a jigsaw. Next to them, Kash and Sevan were sorting through a jumble of toys that had already been played with, getting them ready for Maria and Chris to pack, ready for another child to enjoy.

The team blitzed through all of the tasks, having a lot of fun along the way. They left Wei Hei very grateful for what they'd achieved.

"You've done more that I could have imagined."
"Thank you!" - Wei Hei

As they did such a great job, a return visit may be on the cards when the plastic pizza slices feel a bit sticky again. 🍕

Every community has its own traditions to celebrate festive times. GoodGym Ealing is no different. Our Christmas tradition since 2018 (with some breaks) has been kicking off the season by decorating the Christmas tree at St Mary’s in South Ealing to get the church ready for the Christmas services.

Eleven GoodGymers and one new GoodGymer-to-be were welcomed at the church by Wei Hei, Revd. Joy French and her husband, Clynt. It was a great opportunity to meet the vicar, who, although new to Ealing, showed a familiar warmth and - pun not intended - joy. We’ve been treated to some Christmas tunes, mulled wine, and minced pies, yum!

We had a Geordie Santa, The True Santa, and a bunch of helpful elves on our team. Not all the elves had expected to be following a Christmas dress code, but Thaiza got them covered! She brought all sorts of festive headwear, making everyone a bit more sparkly.

Some elves got busy decorating the tree, and others headed to the gallery for a work at height: a little bit of dusting. The good news was that our earlier session in September hadn’t left us with much dust to bust.

With Joy very pleased with the outcome of using our Christmastifying skills, the team headed to the New Inn across the road for more festivities: Christmas crackers, quiz time, and Secret Santa!

Tonight GG Ealing were back in St Mary's churchyard for the first time since their new vicar had taken up residence and since the mammoth churchyard tidy that led up to it. With autumn in full swing, it was time for a last round of weed removal before everything goes into hibernation over the winter.

As well as some Ealing regulars, Sarah, who'd ventured across London on the Elizabeth Line from Greenwich, joined the group of runners and took some atmospheric photos to boot! At the church, tools were taken from storage, head torches were turned on and the team were ready to go. At that moment, a runner came around the corner and was scared that they'd be impaled on Steph's fork!

"Oh, that's dangerous!" - Runner

Forking averted, it was time to start the hunt for brambles and nettles. On one side of the churchyard, there was a path with a few specimens that were dug out or pulled. As they worked their way further along and between the Victorian graves, a plot full of nettles was found, which kept everyone busy for the rest of the session as they were dug out by the roots.

As is the way at St Mary's, one wheelbarrow full of cuttings was stacked around a trunk to compost down and feed the tree, while the rest were left on other conveniently placed compost piles. Next Tuesday, join us to move compost into the Walled Garden in Walpole Park, which'll be a great workout.

St Mary’s Church of South Ealing is well-known to GoodGymers, whether through the weekly food cupboard sessions on Mondays, the gardening tasks in the churchyard, or the annual Christmas tree decoration. Tonight's task was a unique one. The local community was preparing for the first service to mark the start of the ministry of their new vicar, Revd. Joy French. Renowned for their Christmas tidy-up expertise, our team was asked to clean the gallery and tackle cobwebs in the church.

A team of runners and a cyclist arrived at the church to meet the member of the community, Brian, who handed them the tools: a few brushes, a dustpan, and two very long brushes - the cobweb busters. Freya and Kash, excited about getting the extra range, grabbed the super brushes and stayed on the ground floor to clean under the gallery. Iram, Chris, and Sevan, armed with brushes, wipes, and a dustpan, headed upstairs to handle the dust in the gallery.

While dusting, the upstairs team learned that their favourite church tower, an attraction to visit after each Christmas clean-up, was no longer accessible due to safety concerns. Meanwhile, the cobweb vanquishers downstairs discovered a bust of a biblical prophet with two left hands! We completed the job in just an hour and are hoping now that the community will be proud of their dust-free church while welcoming Reverend Joy.

Next week, we are staying in Ealing Broadway for the Tuesday evening session and tackling thistles and brambles in Walpole Park - sign up now to join us!.

If you want to visit St Mary’s during the day, sign up for one (or more) of the weekly sessions at the church’s food cupboard here.

It wasn’t a long time ago since Ealing GoodGymers engaged in intense gardening in the sepulchral surroundings of South Ealing. Only two days after building stumperies at South Ealing Cemetery, the gang was back in the neighbourhood, this time at St Mary’s churchyard, where the task owner Cliff took on a huge task of getting the garden and the graveyard in shape ahead of the arrival of the new vicar.

It was the fourth session with Cliff of the year, after three Thursday evening tasks this summer. Sevan and Harvey set off from Bodyline for a picturesque run through Walpole Park and alongside Lammas Park. Steph Ducat and Kash left Ealing Broadway as the walking group. For Steph, it was a weighted walk as he was carrying a heavy switch in his rucksack. That was quite literally taking the work home! Ash and Sajeel met at the task - the latter visiting the church for the third time.

After finishing off bits and bobs at the crescent surrounding the church - the location of the previous task at St Mary’s, the team moved to the back of the graveyard to clear the monuments of bindweed, brambles, nettles, alkanet, and holly.

Between graves, we found diamonds, marbles, and other treasures (such as glass milk bottles from the previous century). We wouldn’t dare to steal from the dead and bring their anger towards all the GoodGym Ealing, so we left the precious goods where we found them - or rather, put them in the bin.

Harvey shared with us an interesting story about a tour that his Tube stations running group had received at the London Necropolis Railway station. We learned about a cemetery in Surrey, developed in the 19th century in response to the growing population of London and the overcrowded condition of existing cemeteries. The London Necropolis Railway was built to transport corpses away from the city, all the way to Surrey.

After less than an hour of serious weeding, Cliff was happy to say we got the back of the church under control now, ready for the vicar’s arrival.

Next week, we are heading West to help the ranger clear burdock in Elthorne Park - sign up now!