The scorching sun had already climbed high above Elthorne Park, and the meadows where Hanwell Carnival was about to take place offered very little shade. Since the morning, Kash had been battling tangled strings, Pythagorean geometry and an acrylic line marker alongside a couple of Carnival volunteers. Luckily, reinforcements were on their way.

At 11:00, GoodGymers Angela, Chris and Harvey arrived to lend the event organisers a hand in setting up Hanwell's big community celebration. Little did they know that their task would involve marking out stall pitches rather than assembling gazebos.

"I've marked football pitches before." - Harvey.
"Great, so we have an expert now!" - Kash.
"No, I wouldn't say that..."

By GoodGym standards, Harvey was definitely an expert - and Angela and Chris quickly rose to that level, rapidly gaining experience on the job.

The team rushed to finish a batch of stall pitches before the midday break (it was really hot, so a break was very much needed!). Perhaps feeling a little too confident, they left one corner of a rectangle unchecked. It soon became clear that the shape didn't satisfy the Pythagorean theorem - in other words, it wasn't straight. The rectangle wasn't really a rectangle at all, but an impostor quadrilateral.

The mistake was quickly corrected, and the rogue white line on the grass was sprayed over with red paint. Kash kept hold of the red spray can to mark the pitch numbers, which turned out to be a lot of fun.

"Kash, you're a tagging natural!" - Chris.

When you think about it, GoodGym offers a rare opportunity to do graffiti-style tagging without being accused of vandalism. How cool is that?

Having marked and divided the large rectangle into smaller pitches, the team moved on to six more boxes around the crafts tent, which was still being erected. The speedy GoodGym crew finished their grass graffiti before the tent was completed and just in time for a well-earned lunch break.

Great work, everyone!

After burning through an impressive pile of woodchip in a single session in March at Lammas Enclosure Community Orchard, the bar was raised for GoodGymers: the woodchip delivery that followed almost doubled the size of the heap! We’d like to say that the number of GoodGymers at the Tuesday sessions also doubled. Well, we are not there yet, but last night we came with a strong team of eight to destroy the new pile, and - more importantly - refresh the path in the enclosure and the Forest School seating area by spreading fresh woodchip.

A range of runners, cyclists and walkers made their way to Walpole Park to help pick up the tools for the task. Sevan, who led the task, Conor and Kash ran from Ealing Broadway, Jo and James cycled, and Marie, Chris and Anna walked to the task. Marie made a big comeback after a break from GoodGym, combining the woodchipping session with plenty of walking for her step challenge - we’re sure she’ll smash it!

While pushing wheelbarrows offered a perfect way to get more steps in the day, raking and loading woodchip into barrows targeted different muscle groups.

”The shovelling is a proper upper body workout!”

With a dedicated team of GoodGymers hungry for an impactful activity, only the number of wheelbarrows available stood in the way of finishing off the woodchip pile. In less than an hour, a thick layer of woodchip was covering the path from the orchard gate to the circle of logs in the Forest School, which was also neatly surrounded by woodchip. Great work, everyone!

Next week, we’re heading 2km East of Ealing Broadway to tackle the litter haunting an alleyway between West Acton and Park Royal. 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. 🍕

A week after the Walpole Park tree whips mulching, we were back to... Walpole Park for more tree whips mulching! Sounds repetitive? Sometimes the tasks may feel similar. You may be on the 9874th shovelful of woodchip in your GoodGymming career. Or doing the 79th wheelbarrow run this year. But you show up. There will be a different set of GoodGymers, different chats, different weather, and different challenges. You find freedom in the routine. You know that that session is a part of your week, fortnight, or month, and you will feel better than if you'd stayed at home.

Who knows that better than tonight's hero, Harvey, who has just reached the amazing 1000 good deeds? In fact, 1003 good deeds, as Harvey wouldn't stop just because he hit the highest official milestone at GoodGym! In the last 8 or 9 years, Harvey had been consistently present at group runs and community missions, not only in Ealing but across the whole of London. As a GoodGym run leader, he's been leading social runs and epic warm-ups at flagship Ealing races, connecting us with the local running community and encouraging new generations of runners through volunteering at junior parkruns and the Ealing Mile. Congratulations on your impressive milestone, Harvey!

Chris, James, Sevan, Steph Ducat and Kash were at Walpole Park to celebrate Harvey's achievement and, of course, do some woodchipping. With experience from the week before and an extra pair of hands on the team, they finished the mulching task more quickly and completed the entire section of planted whips along the southeast path of the park. Top quality work, everyone! No more woodchipping needed ahead. Well, until our session in Lammas Enclosure in two weeks! Sign up now!

Walpole Park has been a frequent GoodGymming spot throughout December and January due to its seemingly endless supply of matter that needs shifting from place A to place B! The February session was no different, with an objective to mulch the newly planted tree whips along the park’s easternmost path.

Five Ealing GoodGymers, who met at the Tuesday group run, enjoyed the first evening of the year, which felt as if spring was just around the corner. No freezing fingers, no wind, no rain - well, if you don’t count the puddles remaining after the filming in Walpole Park earlier in the day. The film shoot involved pipes hung from the trees along the main alley to make fake rain, quite ironically, on the second rainless day of 2026 in London.

Chris, Freya, Sevan, Steph and Kash used their superhuman senses (and head torches) to locate the whips planted around an imposing plane tree in the dark. The stems were thinner than a little finger and easy to miss. The team had to be extra careful when wheelbarrowing mulch from a nearby woodchip pile to the end of the path, and not stomp on the whips. Survival of the fittest is not GoodGym’s motto after all. Buckets came in handy when carrying woodchip to the furthest areas to mulch.

The park was quiet and peaceful, apart from lively chats about travels and shrieks of foxes having fun in the bushes. The team covered the section of planted whips leading to the plane tree and around it. A few other nearby planted areas remained woodchip-free, but we’re keen to give it another try next week!