When I think of Blondin Park, I picture a vast space shrouded in darkness, with a tarmac path lit by evenly spaced ground lights like an airport runway. Above it, a bunch of lights hover five or six feet in the air. They move forward with a slight jitter, so they're clearly not drones. What are they? GoodGymers in head torches, running to meet Linda at Blondin Park Pavilion!

For the last three years, our sessions at Blondin Park have mostly been a winter thing. Linda is one of those task owners who doesn't mind us hanging around the park after dark, doesn't mind seeing us through the coldest months of the year and, most importantly, Linda has hot chocolate. Really good hot chocolate.

But today was different. Picture this: the sun setting over the park's community orchard, its rays giving the burnt yellow grass a golden glow. Fallen apples, tree leaves, people's hair, everything catches the light. If only the massive pile of woodchip we're digging into could turn into gold too! But in a way, it already is gold. It's gold for the fruit trees, protecting their roots and providing nutrients. And it's gold for us too, putting our energy into something worthwhile.

We scrape away the dried grass around each tree as far as the drip line. We load woodchip into wheelbarrows, tip it around the trees, then rake it carefully so it doesn't touch the trunks. There are quite a few of us today: some arrive by bike, others walk or run individually, while four of us run together through three parks to get here. Maria, Amy, Jo, Richard, Kristian and Sevan scrape away the hard, sun-baked surface to reveal the earth beneath. Steph Ducat and Giles tirelessly load the wheelbarrows. Scott arrives straight from work, having battled everything TfL could throw at him, determined to make it - and immediately starts wheeling the queued barrows to empty them. Dora takes charge of raking the mulch spread by Scott, and later by Jo and Kash, neatly around each tree.

The team finishes just before dusk. The golden hour is gone. There'll be no golden glow in our hair or long shadows for the group photo. But that's ok. Ten fruit trees now have a solid layer of mulch around them. Great work, team – especially Giles, who joined his first GoodGym session today, and Dora, who came along thanks to Linda's persuasive skills.

What is no different from the winter version of this picture is the teamwork, the smiles, the satisfaction, and the woodchip, of course. And there is hot chocolate. Linda invites us into the pavilion café for refreshments. Only Steph accepts the hot chocolate offer, Richard opts for tea, and everyone else chooses cold drinks on such a warm evening. The head torches will be back soon enough. Until then, let's enjoy the summer sunshine!

The Pirate Queen, Ms F, struck a bargain with her captives, Sev Blackhair and Short Kash Silver, whose ship, the Golden Grind, she had plundered earlier in the afternoon.

In exchange for their freedom, they were to carry the Pirate Queen's treasure chest aboard their vessel, sail it to a location of her choosing, and bury it where no one would ever find it. The chest contained not only treasure but also Ms F's flamboyant pirate attire, relics of her swashbuckling past.

The Queen had decided to retire from piracy—at least for a while—and lie low to evade the pirate hunters on her trail. Wise as she was, Ms F believed that good fortune is earned through good deeds. True to her word, she released the crew of the Golden Grind and even gifted them some of her old pirate outfits.

Their final task was to sail to Covent Garden and donate the clothes to Oxfam, buying the Pirate Queen a little good luck for her retirement.

And that's exactly what they did.

For Sunday afternoon, Sev Blackhair enlisted himself to serve on board the Golden Grind, a very busy merchant ship that sailed between East and West London, trading with anyone who had some cash on them—even pirates!

Blackhair sailed with Captain Short Kash Silver through Bloomsbury with a cargo of rum (or maybe it was ginger beer?) when they were attacked by the Queen of Pirates, Ms F. Ms F plundered the Golden Grind's cargo hold, taking, among other goods, potatoes, green beans, eggs, oatcakes, and, of course, the ginger beer.

The fearsome buccaneer single-handedly captured Blackhair and Short Kash Silver and refused to release them until they had repaid her with a favour.

Our Sunday chatty runs are normally very early, before Acton Juniors Parkrun. Today was different as we are 7 days from GG Ealing 10th birthday, so after the GG crew volunteered at the Junior Parkrun, we went to Boulangerie Jade for our usual coffee stop before moving on. After a lovely drink, it was time to set off from the Boulangerie on an historical chatty run through parts of Acton and going towards West Ealing. Roughly a 6.5 km run. Three became four as Maria who just got her wings this week decided to fly with Kash, Sevan and Steph Ducat.

Short run to Acton Market place where 3 keys event/tasks are part of GG Ealing : - Pokopia Garden(Pokemon) : newish task with head office and Cultivate London - St Mary's church Acton : tasks with Ealing Repair Cafe in the church - recycling at its beast - Leafleting meeting point to promote several charities in the area of Acton

Then we set off direction of Action Station to stop in front of the Acton Transport Museum where we had some sessions with All Aboard Club who allow young children with autism to build and play with trains. We started originally in Ealing at the Log Cabin.

After this short stop, we set off in the side streets towards Ealing common to stop and observe where we did several tasks of trimming trees that were quite low. Ranger asked us in the past to trim them to make it safer for walkers, runners but also have a clear view of the park when walking.

We could have sat and chatted in the park, but we had better ideas - run in the back streets towards Walpole park, where we help the ranger throughout the year - a lot of wood chipping in winter!! We also did help when there was a photo competition/exposition in the park.

The next 2 stops were close to each other : St Johns Church and the Salvation Army where GG Ealing volunteer with Ealing Soup Kitchen. ESK are there for the homeless : cooking food, giving food parcels, providing clothing, showers, hair cut and also a place for them to be indoors with others. Sessions happen mainly on Friday but we have also Monday, Saturday and Sunday sessions between the 2 locations. The 2 are separate by Dean Gardens which we ran through and of course some of the Goodgymers volunteered here with Cultivate London who focus on the green spaces.

Then it was time to go to our final point : West Ealing Station. This is one of the stations that GG and We Run Ealing have as stop when we do the Ealing Tube station social runs.