Our usual Tuesday group run and changes of location for our LAGER Can litterpick - Ealing Parks Great British Spring Clean(13-29 March 2026) .Originally we were meant to go to Hanwell but it changed to Haven Green near Ealinng Broadway station which was literally just opposite our meeting point. 3 GoodGym Angels on LAGER CAN Duty tonight and the cold wind did not stop them. We still decided to do a small run after a nice warm up. Went around the area running to then start litterpicking in the park before the Heavens would open. We dodged the rain. Conor, Katarina and Steph Ducat went for a little slice of litter-picking heaven. The 3 helpers managed nearly 2 full bags of litter which mainly consisted of food wrappers, drinks, vapes, newspapers and take away food bags. The trio were thanked by a person walking nearby to acknowledge their Spring mission.

After a circus-style warm-up, full of jumping into and over bin bag hoops, Conor, Steph, Sevan and Kash ran nearly 4 km from Ealing to North Acton, which GoodGym hadn't visited for a litterpick for a while. The area might have changed dramatically over a couple of years, with its seemingly never-ending supply of new tower blocks, but what had not changed was the supply of litter in the alleyway cutting through North Acton Cemetery. Or maybe it had even grown bigger with the expanding population?

The runners met Maria, who had cycled to North Acton Station from Chiswick after having successfully repaired her bike. Well done! The five dished out council bin bags, litter pickers, hoops and even hi-viz vests to legitimise their litter-picking claims. And be safer in a poorly-lit passage.

The GoodGymers didn't need to travel far to find rubbish, as just within a few metres from the entrance to the alleyway, they collected six bags of litter in under 40 minutes. Apart from an industrial-sized brush that barely fitted a bin sack and some food wrappers, the collection of trash consisted mostly of drink cans and bottles from around the world. If that alleyway had been a bar, it would have served you whatever you wanted - you name it! Stella Artois? Check. Carlsberg? Check. Tyskie? Check. Corona? Check. Smirnoff? Check. Heineken? Check. Glen's? Check. Red Stripe? Check. And so on.

The team opted for depth rather than length of the litter research and cleared the section of the path that probably needed it most, leaving the rest of the passage for another time. Solid impact, everyone!

GoodGym Ealing already cemented their position as speedy and resourceful engineers when they replaced a row of rotting wooden posts with new bollards within a short group run task at the Hanwell School of Boxing last year. Impressed by the concrete evidence of solid delivery, Linda, the task owner for both the boxing club and Blondin Park, rehired them for another construction-type task. This time, the job was to erect two new boot scrubbers in front of the Blondin Pavilion and lay woodchip on a muddy area serving as an overflow car park for the pavilion.

On a chilly Tuesday night, one walker, one cyclist, four runners, and one late runner landed on Blondin Park’s tarmac path, famously lit like a runway. In front of the pavilion stood a wheelbarrow with spades and shovels prepared by Linda. It was time for everyone to choose the tasks. Our close neighbour from GoodGym Hounslow, Breda, for her first Ealing group run, decided on the shovel+wheelbarrow action, accompanied by Sevan. James, Conor, Harvey, Steph Ducat and Kash were more in the mood for DIY and opted for the unique boot scrubbers installation experience.

Linda, experienced with larger construction projects, knew that for quick jobs involving securing fences or posts, there was nothing better than GoodGymers and Postcrete. We all know how GoodGymers work - but what’s postcrete, you may ask. It’s a rapid-setting cement solution that requires only the addition of water, and no mixing, making it ideal for occasions when you’re short on time.

The five GoodGym builders first dug four narrow and knee-deep holes, then tried the boot scrubbers on them, testing their evenness with a spirit level. The levels turned out to be perfect, and the GoodGym spirits were pretty high, so the team enthusiastically poured generous amounts of postcrete and water into the holes. And waited. And waited. To be frank, the mixture was set within 10-15 minutes, which may seem like no time in the grand scheme of things. On the other hand, seeing Sevan and Breda still racing their wheelbarrows and raking like there was no tomorrow, made the builders' team feel pretty idle.

With the scrubbers literally set in concrete, there was not much else to do on the night than claim the delicious refreshment Linda prepared: sweet and dense hot chocolate! After warming up in the pavilion with a hot beverage, the runners set off for the run back to Ealing Broadway, which was the location of our following week’s group run: a gardening session in Walpole Park.