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. 🍕

There are places in our minds, those blurry, obscure corners, that we don't want to come back to. They may not necessarily be bad memories. Those chapters of our lives might have been beautiful, but they became bitter after the loss of something or someone we know is not coming back. That makes it so painful to revisit the past.

For Miss D, that mental place was represented in the physical world by the corner of her bedroom she'd been avoiding for almost two years after her close family members' passing. She'd go across the ocean and return with three suitcases into which she had to condense all that remained after her two relatives. Two people's lives, reduced into three suitcases, out of necessity. Hastily chosen photo albums, papers, clothes - a legacy constrained by airlines' luggage policy.

To dare to go down memory lane, Miss D needed companions - people who knew nothing about her family's past, but were willing to join her on that difficult journey. Sevan and Kash sat with Miss D and opened the suitcases together, one by one. The first one was half-filled with Miss D's travel clothing, which the lady set aside for washing. The rest of the contents - the late relative's clothes and his laptop - went into the second suitcase, which had only a few items belonging to the same person, and stacks of photos, carefully unpacked beforehand.

The third, smallest suitcase had the belongings of Miss D's closest family member. The three opened it, but Miss D, after hesitation, decided it was not the right time. The small suitcase filled the remaining space in the big one, just like two Russian dolls. Miss D was left with only two suitcases taking up space in her room, one of which was now empty and ready to be donated.

Continuing the momentum, Miss D opened a few boxes that occupied the problematic corner. The items she found inside also carried an emotional load, but were easier to process. With the assistance of the GoodGymers, Miss D sorted through her paperwork, diaries, magazines, photos, greeting cards and other items, deciding to keep her journals and meaningful papers, while discarding plenty of leaflets and newspapers that no longer needed to be read or kept. All those papers went to the recycling bag, as Miss D was proud to be the Queen of Recycling, a title she'd lived up to. The meaningful paperwork was sorted into one parcel, and the rest of the cardboard boxes, potentially useful in the future, were put inside one another, again like Russian dolls.

"Thank you so much for coming here on a Sunday. I wouldn't do this without you, guys" - Miss D said.
"You have done it yourself" - Sevan replied.

A and B arrived at Miss G's house a few minutes early, so had a peek at the front garden. They were trying to work out what they'd be asked to do.

"Looks like everything is a weed." - A
"Those purple flowers aren't weeds, they're flowers." - B
"I think they're weeds" - A

Miss G set them straight...

"Is there anything in the garden to not remove?" - A
"Yes, keep the bluebells. Everything else can go." - Miss G

Miss G gave them rakes and shears, but the GoodGymers really wanted to do some digging to get rid of the roots. She reappeared with 2 forks and a spade. They were perfect for the task.

The garden was small and the soil was dry, meaning that digging went slowly. There were plenty of thistles, dandelions and bindweed to dig up while tip toeing around on eggshells to not trample the bluebells.

The dandelion and thistle roots went straight down, while the thick bindweed roots zig-zagged all over the place just under the surface. Turning over all of the soil made a mess. It also let A and B tackle both types of root, hoping that it would take longer for the weeds to grow back next time. They'll find out in a few months...

Maria, Sevan and Kash ran from their morning task at South Ealing Cemetery to the heart of Acton to visit newly opened Pokopia Garden, meet the plant-based Pokémon living there and check if their neighbourhood is safe and tidy.

Within 10 minutes the trio checked the signs and planters - all intact - cleared very few bits of litter, and reported back to the Pokopia team about the state of the area. One of the solar panels powering a spotlight appeared to be cracked, but - as it was a very sunny Sunday - the team couldn't tell whether that affected the light at all.

It was good to see the little garden looked after well and bringing brightness and colour to the busy Acton square.

The Sunday morning volunteering session at South Ealing Cemetery - a place that Ealing Parks Foundation transforms into a serene, green space, safe and friendly for the wider public to use - was powered by six GoodGymers. Jemma and Jo both joined for their second GoodGym task, while Maria, Steph Ducat, Sevan and Kash were no strangers to the joys of Sunday morning Ealing sessions. Steph, Maria and Kash even got to do a solid warm-up earlier on in Lammas Park, with bodyweight exercises on the menu.

The workout-for-good at the cemetery was not a light one, despite the activity description promising planting geraniums. The space for plants had to be prepared first, which involved removing barrows and barrows of excess soil from the bed in front of the chapel. The amount of dirt the GoodGymers and other volunteers dug out and wheeled to the hidden parts of the cemetery could create a brand new flower bed!

Digging in the earth at the graveyard wouldn't be complete without someone excavating some suspicious bones in the process. Jo and Jemma were pondering where the remains came from.

"That bone is so small. Couldn't belong to a human!"
"Who knows - could be a bone from a pinky?"
"There are a lot of chicken shops and foxes nearby. They must have dragged this here."

Meanwhile, Sevan discovered different findings at the back of the cemetery: men's trousers and kids' orange football trainers, the latter in pretty good condition. The owners haven't been found, dead or alive.

While the rest of the team was pressing on to complete levelling the flowerbed, Maria started planting geraniums, and Jemma sprinkled the seed mix over the beds. Jane, the task owner, promised a display of colour as a reward in a couple of months when the plants would start to flower. She was also impressed with what an addition of GoodGymers brought to the community day.

"That's amazing. Without you, we would be digging that bed for three days!"

The geranium is only a temporary solution, and different flowers will be planted in the same bed in autumn. In the meantime, we are looking forward to seeing the area blossom when we run past it in the coming months.