For the last mission of the day, Sevan and Kash ran 5km, with a pit stop for lunch, from Hanger Hill to Greenford for a repeat visit to Mr P, a former Kew Gardens employee, volunteer nature conservationist and generally an avid gardening enthusiast. Mr P's fragile health and limited mobility no longer allowed him to tend to his back garden the way he would like to, so GoodGymers acted as his extra pair (or two) of hands to make his vision reality.

Mr P wasn't feeling great that day, but did his best to stay in the garden for a part of the task and keep GoodGymers company, entertaining them with a chat. He mentioned the parakeets and robins (the latter seen first-hand on the day), nibbling on the bird feeders just in front of his bedroom window, that Mr P could watch in the morning from his bed. The gentleman also made some references to more or less famous places, shows and artists.

Did you hear about an artist called Marcel Duchamp? - Mr P
Yes, rings a bell. Did he create "Fountain"? - Kash
Do you know what it was?
A urinal?

Mr P mentioned Duchamp in the context of his garden, where he collected a variety of items obtained through the art of skip farming. He then transformed the objects into installations by painting them or arranging in intriguing settings, giving them a new life as creative decorations.

In that imaginative environment, Sevan and Kash chiseled a new work of art, shedding the garden's winter skin to shape the space into a spring-ready chapter of life. Both GoodGymers first cut back the ivy, dealing with particularly thick and difficult to access roots, which Sevan eventually defeated with conveniently bendy saw. Sevan also used his height to cut back the rogue shoots of a rose bush and Kash tidied up the garden of old, rotten planks and plastic containers.

80 minutes into the mission, it was time to pack the green wheelie bin and the composter, leaving no more space inside them. For Sevan and Kash, it was a perfect finale before running back home and letting Mr P have his lie-in to feel a bit better.

After a coffee stop, Steph, Maria, Kash and Sevan walked to their second community mission of the day at Care4Calais, where task owner Tamzin had collected lots of new stock from another C4C site, which needed to be sorted and stored. Looking into the stock room, there was nowhere to walk. The floor was full of bags, which was the huge task that team needed to solve.

There was a lot of variety in the relocated items, with the team sharing what they'd found in each:

"I've got women's large bottoms"

"A bag of bikinis?"

"This is a bag of babies. Don't open it!"

The babies were actually baby clothes and the sack they were in would contain hundreds of tiny items, so the advice from Tamzin was not to open that sack of worms today. Steph discovered a cache of handbags, there were stilettos, pillowcases and there was even a purse full of cards and cash, all 20 years out of date.

The donations either went into stock, into a charity donation group, one for rags...

"Is the washing machine on?" - Kash
"Yes" - Tamzin
"Good. If there isn't then it feels like there's an earthquake" - Kash

...or into the washing machine, if there was a chance of cleaning the clothes up for new recipients. The team wasn't working fast enough to cause an earthquake today. Must try harder next time.

Over 2 hours, the team had a huge impact in the stock room, with all of the newly received clothes cleared off the floor. Some sort of order was restored. As much as there normally was in the stock room, at least.

There were surprises at Pitshanger Junior parkrun after the morning's fitness session, with a new clip-on tiger tail putting a smile on Kash's face. She showed it off as she and a second tailwalker brought up the rear, making sure all runners made it to the finish safely. They were misled by latecomers, having to drop back to pick up a new 'last child' more than once.

The other 4 GoodGymers, Harvey, Maria, Steph and Sevan were all assigned to be a formidable cheering force at one marshal point, quadrupling their volume to give the runners a boost to the finish line. As well as cheering, Steph and Harvey played a global game of guess the football strip, spotting supporters of Morocco, Valencia, Brentford and the mighty Hanwell Town.

Near the end of the parkrun, the tailwalkers stopped and looked confused. After picking up extra runners around the course. The last one decided to dive into the nearby playground instead of reaching the funnel, leaving the number of today's finishers at 98.

Many paws really did make light work! When Maria, Harvey, Sevan, Steph Ducat, Kash and Iram arrived at the end of the fair, most stallholders had already made great progress packing away their wares. We helped some people take items outside to load up their cars but mostly we packed away tables, stacked chairs and moved other items back to their rightful homes.

Always on the lookout for the next useful task, we even experimented with creative chair-transport techniques: a trolley stacks with five GoodGymers. The most ambitious move of the afternoon was transporting a piano. Thankfully the team managed it without any bumps or breakages, and it was still playing beautifully afterwards.

With the hall cleared and everything back in place, we were rewarded for iour efforts with some leftover food and a cheerful bunch of daffodils to take home.

A pleasant walk over Horsenden Hill led Kash, Maria, Melissa and Sevan to the Feeding Ealing site, where there were already a lot of greens shoots on display. Task organiser, Joseph, explained that the onion and garlic shoots planted last year were part of his ingenious organic food strategy, keeping flies and other nasties away from the crops.

Where were the crops though? Well, that was today's task, to plant fruit and vegetables into the soil to harvest later this year. Joseph had long term plans too, to plant asparagus and strawberries which would take 2 or more years to mature. Melissa made great use of her horticultural knowledge at her first task, mastering the art of planting the octopus-like asparagus crowns in the trenches the team had dug. Welcome! 👋🥳

Different planting techniques were used for each of the other crops, with the strawberries being transplanted from pots, Swiss chard planted in rows dug with sticks, then onion and garlic being poked into holes made with gloved fingers. Most interesting were the carrots. Joseph showed the team how to lay a strip of toilet paper just under the surface and cover it with soil. How did that help to plant carrots? The Andrex like strip had the carrot 🥕 seeds 🥕 perfectly 🥕 spaced 🥕 along 🥕 it 🥕. Once Joseph explained that to the confused GoodGymers, what they were doing made a lot more sense.

At the end of the task, the veg beds looked almost the same as did 90 minutes before. The only sign that GoodGym had been were the strawberry leaves poking out of the ground in 2 beds. Underneath the dirt however, Joseph and GoodGym had kick started some magic that nature would take care of through spring and summer. In the case of the asparagus, it would take a bit longer than that.

We'll be back in the coming months to see how our veg is growing ⏳.

For the third year in a row, the first Saturday of March had our GoodGym Ealing band on tour, with gigs jotted around Hanwell, Perivale, Greenford, and again Hanwell.

The performance in Perivale's countryside-style venue was all about rock & roll: rolling the rocks in wheelbarrows. Devi, Victoria, Maxime, Sevan, Steph Ducat and Kash entered the stage at Horsenden Farm, cheered by Elsa and other familiar faces. They were ready to make some noise - and, boy, they did!

The band started on a clean slate, with a new task: moving the slate debris obstructing the car park to a space behind a container, planned to be transformed from an eroding bank into a reinforced and levelled seating area. The tempo and loudness of wheelbarrow loading were so intense that the audience insisted on an encore after the GoodGym band finished.

The amped up six then moved onto another stage: a space with raised beds that also had to be cleared of debris and levelled. GoodGymmers rocked that task, leaving behind a smooth, rockless area, with an outdoor sink firmly planted on top.

If you missed the beat in March, join us in April for another unforgettable jam (and pizza)!

The team gathered bright and early to help prepare for the 46th Ealing Animals Fair, an annual event that raises funds to help relieve the suffering of animals around the world.

Kash, Steph Ducat and Iram were the first on the scene, proving that early birds really do catch the worm. Then Sevan, Lucia and Nayantara dropped by to lend a hand. It was pawsome to welcome Lucia and Nayantara to their first GoodGym session!

As stallholders began arriving with carloads of goods, the GoodGymers helped keep things running smoothly by guiding drivers through the one-way drop-off system, helping them unload quickly, and pointing them towards nearby parking. Once the cars were emptied, it was time for the heavy lifting. Volunteers helped carry boxes, displays and supplies to the right tables so stallholders could set up their stalls and get ready for the fair. With lots of vehicles arriving one after another, teamwork and speedy unloading were key to keeping the area clear for the next arrivals.

There were plenty of unusual and delightful finds on display, including a dog-shaped plush bag and a toy armadillo, alongside stalls full of animal-themed treats raising money for great causes. With visitors beginning to arrive and the fair buzzing with activity, we took the opportunity to enjoy the fair and chat with stallholders (one had published an interesting book) and learn about the imminent arrival of local actor, Peter Egan.

Last night’s run featured many bags of collected rubbish, muddy shoes, curious passers-by with their dogs, and a very tough fitness session. Just another night with GG Hounslow!

We headed out for one of our regular plastic and litter picks down by the river. This is something we do regularly because it genuinely makes a difference. Rivers are highways for plastic and rubbish – what gets dropped upstream ends up traveling further downstream and into wider ecosystems. Our visits mean we clear the draw dock, keep the path looking welcoming and remind people that someone cares about this stretch of river.

Armed with gloves, bags and pickers, we got stuck in. Passers-by had plenty of encouraging comments as we worked our way along. There’s something about a group of runners in red stopping to pick up litter that draws attention and hopefully makes them reconsider dropping that crisp packet! By the time we wrapped up, we’d collected quite a few bags even though it wasn’t exactly dry out there either. Check out Steph’s muddy shoes. A GoodGym badge of honour in my book!

With the job done, we headed back to Turnham Green for what can only be described as a brutal fitness session combining sprinting laps and strength exercises with a dose of tactics. Michelle took the lion's share of the laps with some very impressive distance, while Lucy somehow managed to squeeze in a day of double fitness. Florian delivered some excellent sprinting form among a huge effort from everyone.

I’m just finalising next week’s session, so watch this space. There are also some missions coming up, including working on the eyot this Saturday and a session gardening at Hope Church.