GoodGym Ealing made their first visit to Grange School, where a brood of ducks has a dream to turn their long dry pond bed into a beautiful wetland centre.

"We pay to send our ducklings to a wetland centre in Barnes."
"Why not create a wetland centre at the school?" - Nova, task owner

Standing in front of the deep pit that would become a pond, the GoodGymers and Nova took a gander at it to plan out the session. The hole was bigger than needed, so first up was to waddle in and clear any debris from the bottom then split the space. Vegetation, soil and rubbish were dug out and separated, with a surprising number of tennis balls found as ducks don't play tennis 🤷.

It was Zuzanna's first task with GoodGym and she took to it like a duck to water 🦆🥳👏. She found huge interest in a number of unexpected invertebrates hiding in the pit that the school of ducks hadn't eaten yet, including centipedes, worms and furry caterpillars 🐛.

Once the clearing of the pit was completed, a large new flock arrived, complete with their ducklings who attended the school. They preened the soil surrounding the future pond to remove weeds and grasses that weren't wanted. The GoodGym team moved on to organising pots and a stack of tyres, then raked and bagged leaves, with frequent flights to the far away compost heap to make drop offs.

A new liner was laid for the now smaller pond and the team dove into the empty space next to it to fill it with soil. The old soil that had been dug out went back in as well as fresh bags. Then, to round out the task, everyone jumped on the newly laid soil to bed it in.

The space was transformed in 2 hours and it was great to have so many drakes and ducks come along to make it happen. There is plenty more to do in future sessions, like completing the soil infill and then getting water into the pond liner, so keep an eye out for new listings.

This October, our usual third Saturday of the month, dedicated to Western Road Urban Garden, turned into a celebration of the end of the growing season. With the harvest already collected, all that was left was a tidy-up and throwing a party afterwards!

The atmosphere in Southall was buzzing with the upcoming Diwali festivities. It was a fantastic time to join GoodGym and Southall Community Alliance at a very special community day. Deepak decided to do exactly that. Welcome to the team, Deepak!

With eight GoodGymers to help the urban garden this Saturday, Janpal and Paul scrambled to provide them with a variety of light and heavier tasks. Steph Ducat, Ash, Afshin, Kash and Sevan, together with a good friend from previous WRUG sessions, Andre, and a new volunteer, Sangheeta, chose a tricky task of moving timber stacked alongside the polytunnel. The planks were not only heavy and long, but also packed with nails. Everyone was extra careful, resisting any temptation to show off, which resulted in a new stack of timber in a more appropriate spot and zero mishaps on the way! Sevan then joined Iram, A.B. and Deepak in meticulous weeding around the fruit trees in the orchard and wheelbarrowing the surprisingly large amounts of green waste to the compost heap.

It was not yet noon when our team and the new arrivals at WRUG slowly started gravitating towards the polytunnel to uncover its hidden treasures. This time, we don't mean okra, chillies or gourd, but a feast prepared by Janpal: samosas, chicken biryani, Indian sweets, hot and cold drinks and an abundance of fruit! The mid-session break was a great opportunity to chat with the familiar and the new faces and sample the flavours that are best found in Southall.

It might have been tempting to call it a day after such a pleasant interval - but not for the GoodGymers! The timber carriers team logged a new log-moving achievement in their portfolio. They migrated another pile of wood into the space created after removing the planks to build a timber wall with a double function: a border with neighbouring property and an enormous bug hotel.

That's not a hotel. It's a resort!"

When the main objectives, weeding the orchard and moving the wood, were done, the GoodGymers proactively asked about a bonus task - and Janpal responded! The recently cleared hedging and the bases of the orchard trees needed a thick layer of woodchip. With forks, wheelbarrows, buckets, and, of course, great teamwork, we completed that activity in no time. That was finally the time to call it a day (and the end of the season) - unless you were one of the GoodGymers with yet another session in store on Saturday!

A usual evening shop at Sainsbury's, but with Mr G falling out of love with cavolo nero. Also, featuring Kash helping Mr G set up a weekly reminder with an outrageous beeping sound to prompt Mr G to request his regular groceries delivery mission early in the week.

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.

What a beautiful morning to start the week! Kash joined Roger, Gary, and Wayne at 8 am to unpack a neatly stacked pallet of exotic produce and fill the shelves of the Community Food Cupboard at St Mary’s Church. Fairly familiar chillies and okra from today's delivery were accompanied by mysterious fruit and leaves from Spitalfields Market. The volunteers identified from the labels on the boxes that the extraordinary goods were cherimoyas and aloe vera.

Aloe vera - not sure if anyone will take those. Isn’t that for skincare? To put on a face?
Do the Food Cupboard clients need a beauty treatment?

Were the customers beautiful enough without aloe vera, or in need of food in the first place? Maybe both. One lady started queuing at 8:20 am for the 1 pm distribution of donated surplus food! Kash spotted her when carrying out the old crates outside the church and stacking them by the road for collection. The next stage was flattening empty cardboard boxes into more flattering shapes.

The last bonus task Wayne gave Kash was to clean mouldy dust off the skin of perfectly good oranges that were in a box with spoiled fruit. Those citruses certainly received their beauty treatment and were ready to dazzle the clients! Having contributed her little bit to one of the most beautiful initiatives in South Ealing, Kash wrapped up and was back to start work just in time!