On a late August Thursday evening, Richard, Sevan and Kash met with Tom, Linda and Nicky at Havelock Estate in Southall to help We Run Ealing spread the word about a beginners' running programme starting very soon - on 2nd September. The programme, led by the running coach Linda, was aimed at women who wanted to progress from walking to running their first 5 km.

Sevan and Richard ran along the canal to the task, while Kash clocked in a 10 km evening walk through green spaces and towpath on the way to and from the session before it got dark.

The team spread to post 500 leaflets through letterboxes on different streets of the estate, including, fittingly, Post Road. The area wasn't large, and the group agreed to meet up again at designated points.

"Let's meet again at the Islamabad Road."
"Where?"
"Oh, that's Isambard Road. I cannot see it on my phone screen, the map is so small."

If you are a bridge enthusiast like the author of this report, you may link the road name with Isambard Kingdom Brunel, a 19th-century engineer who designed the nearby Three Bridges landmark. Interestingly, there are only two bridges in that crossing: the aqueduct carrying the canal over the railway tracks and a road bridge over the canal. Don’t let that disappoint you - seeing the rail tracks underneath you and the road overhead, looking from the towpath, is still unmissable!

Hopefully, in less than an hour of leafletting today, we helped the women of Havelock Estate bridge the gap between walking and running this autumn.

Do you know how many hidden gems are waiting to be discovered in Ealing? Some of them are hidden right in plain sight in the heart of the town! Four new Ealing GoodGymers who joined in the last two weeks uncovered one such place during our Tuesday evening session in August.

We welcomed Sasha, who joined us for her very first GoodGym experience, and Dora, who had actually got involved with us unofficially a few weeks ago. Both of them opted for a short run led by Sevan to pick up the tools from Walpole Park. Conor, Steph Ducat and Kash also met at the Ealing Broadway station for the run.

Alana and Janet, who returned for more GoodGymming after kicking off the adventure at last Wednesday's session, walked to the park together to meet the runners, the cyclists Maria and Amy, and Freya, who made her way directly to the task.

The next stop, after the tool pickup, was the Lammas Community Orchard and Wild Play Area, also known by other names.

"Welcome to the Garden of Eden!" - said Trevor from Ealing Transition, the host of today's task.

Trevor told everyone the story about the orchard, which used to be one of the tennis courts in the Lammas Enclosure between Lammas and Walpole Parks. In 2011, local children planted fruit trees on the tennis hard court surface - and it worked!

"Nature is very resilient." - Trevor.

Today's task was orchard maintenance, including cutting back brambles and pruning the fruit trees. The important part was to recycle the cuttings as material to fill the gaps in the orchard's outer fence, and to make the space safe, but not too manicured.

"Nature doesn't like neatness." - Trevor.

Although we clearly had a preference for rewilded space over sports grounds, the surviving tennis facilities have proven very useful. Janet and Maria were able to source the water for their cans from the tennis club and top up the wildlife pond.

The unexpected attractions in the orchard were a branch with desiccated plums, praised for its beauty, and a crab apple tree - a perfect background for the group photo as it had the most fruit.

"It has so much fruit because no one likes them. They are very bitter." - Trevor.

The evening tasks aren’t over yet! This Thursday, we’re heading to Southall for a walking task. There’ll be no running involved on the night itself, but we’ll be spreading the word about a new beginners’ running programme and helping local people discover a new way to get active - sign up now!

Next Tuesday's session will be led by Steph, who will take us for a short run or walk to St Mary's Church to help remove the weeds from the churchyard garden - register here!