The twelfth and final month of 2025 brought a dozen GoodGymers to the Horsenden Farm volunteering day. Were we surprised by such a turnout in December? Not at all! The farm continues to attract crowds of GoodGymers from Ealing and other areas. Today’s visitors were: the regular guest from Hounslow, Maxime, and a former Ealing team member, now based in Tower Hamlets, Maria. It was great to see both of them!

The task was not only an occasion for returns, but also for new beginnings. We welcomed Raji, who already knew Horsenden’s pizza and craft beer secrets, but was keen to get stuck into various volunteering opportunities, and farm work sounded pretty exciting.

Steph Ducat, Iram and Victoria were the lucky (or shall I say mucky?) ones to get the quintessential farm experience, with its animalistic element. They got to play with Nala the dog and with cow poo. Transporting barrows and barrows of manure out of the barn, they clocked in plenty of steps and built an impressive pile of... you know what!

Meanwhile, the less dirty of the dozen played explorers in an overgrown part of Horsenden Hill. Their mission: locate a ditch, clear the ditch, build a dead hedge. Simple, right? With such a big team - yes! On the forefront, several brave ones: Ash, Freya and Raji, led the expedition, and raced each other to get to the ditch. The first timer, Raji, impressed everyone by being the first one to reach the trench. Maxime and Kash widened the paths made by the pioneers, and Afshin vigorously raked the cuttings to gather material for the dead hedge.

The ditch turned out to be longer than expected, so Penny and Sevan launched two more expeditions to attack the ditch from the other side. Both reached the destination and joined forces with those already in the trenches. Result? All unwanted vegetation has been removed from the ditch and used for constructing the dead hedge. Clearing the space will help improve the drainage at one of the trails at Horsenden Hill - when we worked on that path on a very rainy day in the past, it looked like a river!

We finished the session, traditionally, with the wood-fired pizza, and were proud to support Horsenden Loaf, which otherwise didn’t get many customers in the morning. We hoped the sales would pick up in the afternoon, and now hope that the pizza oven will be on in January. Horsenden will be one of the first sessions in 2026, so if we want to include more GoodGymming in your New Year’s resolutions, sign up now!

The first day of November 2025 didn't feel like mid-autumn at all, with the blue skies and warm sunshine welcoming us at Horsenden Farm. Apart from the yellow and orange leaves on the trees, the Halloween-themed craft market stalls that suddenly appeared at the farmyard were a gentle reminder of which season we were in.

The day was supposed to be a big milestone for the Horsenden cows, particularly for the young ones. The farm kept five rare-breed Shetland cows: three adults and two calves born this year. The eight-month-old baby cow and baby bull were to be weaned in the evening, so the task owner, Elsa, asked us for help in preparing the calves' new room in the barn, right next to their mum, but behind a barrier to discourage sucking.

Afshin and Penny came prepared with their own wellies, so they were ready to give the slightly mucky job a go. Simon joined them in moving straw bales into a trailer and hay bales into the space created after removing the straw. As a result, a spacious bedroom has been created for the calves.

In the meantime, Christos, Diana, Gaby, Victoria, Sevan, Kash, and a new Horsenden volunteer, Sam, rolled or carried the scattered logs onto a single neat pile, following Elsa's safety advice.

We don't want any logs or bodies in the ditch.

Everyone was cautious not to trip over or strain their backs when lifting, so all seven happy volunteers marched up the hill for their final task: a bramble bash! The seemingly never-ending effort of cutting back massive patches of blackberries with slashers, shears and loppers was slowly paying off with reclaimed meadow space. The reestablished grassland will be seeded with wildflowers and become a new grazing area for cows.

Speaking of grazing, after the task, following the GoodGym custom, the team gathered at a bench in a sunny spot to enjoy pizzas, baked goods, coffee or local beer. We are looking forward to keeping the tradition alive next month, even if it may get a little bit colder. If you'd like to join us, sign up for the December Horsenden session! We are hoping to see you there!

We rolled up our sleeves, pulled on wellies, finding the right size gloves at the shed and joined forces for another Green Task at Horsenden Farm today Saturday at 10am

Hedges trimmed, weeds cleared, and compost turned — the hilly aide of back of pizza oven now the flower plantation is looking greener and healthier thanks to all the helping hands. Muddy boots were the badge of honour by the end of it.

The team after the activity was introduced to the pigs snuffling happily for attention, and the chickens clucked around keeping everyone on their toes. Each creature added its own charm to the day. Speaking to Elsa and learning about the animals age and care was a whole new joy.

After the graft came the feast — wood-fired pizza, bubbling with melted cheese, plus refreshing craft beer brewed nearby. Farming energy in, foodie energy out!

The best harvest of the day? Friendship. Making friends with some new faces. Volunteers old and new shared laughs, swapped stories, and left with happy hearts (and maybe a little hay in their hair), Sevan and Steph felt very happy and playful working with hays stacks.

As always, the best part was the people — regulars and newcomers: Afshin and Thaiza working side by side, making a difference and having fun.

👉 I had to head off a little early to catch a family fun day festival (sorry Kash will make it up next time) 🎶, but the farm vibes and friendly faces definitely made my Saturday extra special.

Until next time — keep it green, keep it fun, and keep it Horsenden!

With the return to school looming, there are parents across the land cheering (including Rebecca) and children lamenting the end of the summer holidays. Back to school means new school clothes and that's no different for Care4Calais' clients, some of whom will be going to UK schools for the first time.

Packing school clothes and shoes was the priority for the GoodGym team today. With building work ongoing at our usual location, the stock needed was spread across different places and the stock room wasn't as well organised as it usually is.

First up was to find school shoes for the new students. With the smallest ones starting at nursery, there were some tiny feet to protect and everyone was working at at different scale to the usual Care4Calais sessions. With some sizes unavailable, they did the best they could, hoping that larger pairs would quickly be grown into.

Then, there was a change of location to Care4Calais' offsite storage to find clothes for the children. Boxes were helpfully labelled "10-11 years, grey" or "4-5 years, grey", which was great as most schools expected grey clothing and each GoodGymer was working on packs for a particular age group. Peering into the boxes, the sizes and colours were all jumbled together and not as ordered as they claimed, leading to a lot of rummaging and calling to others when unexpected sizes or colours were found.

Even with the extra challenges and the mid-session road trip, the team managed to complete all of the requests and clothe all the children, even if a few will have a slightly baggy style for a term or two.