"Everything's growing so fast with the rain." - Mrs C

...and it was only March. The task that Kash and Sevan had been asked to help with wasn't a burst of spring growth. It had been years in the making. A tree planted before Mr and Mrs C moved into their house was now crowding over their patio and most importantly for Mrs C, getting in the way of their washing line. Mr C used to take care of it. For the past 3 years he hadn't been able to, so a big slice needed to be taken off one side.

"Don't take too much off. A bit less [than the first cut]." - Mrs C
*"We'll make sure we don't kill the tree." - Sevan

Armed with a pair of baby loppers, shears and 2 saws, the branches were cut well back to the point of having no leaves left on the problematic side of the tree. It would still have plenty of strength and life though. As well as the baby loppers, there were mummy, daddy and baby ladders too which were all used. The biggest ladder almost allowed Sevan to reach the top of the tree. On a gusty day, he needed to be careful to keep his balance.

With the cutting and clean up done in an hour (include Kash taking a broom to the tree), Mrs C and Kash saw the opportunity to tidy up more bushes in the garden.

"Can you take a little bit off this?"
"A little bit off this one too...?" - Mrs C

Kash was only too happy to keep chopping.

When Kash and Sevan finished, Mr and Mrs C would not only be able to hang their washing up. They'd also have a lot more sun on their patio, which is perfect for the coming spring, as long as that rain holds off.

At the destination of a 20-minute jog to a mission in Islington stood an imposing mansion with an artistic name, an impressive lobby, and bright, sunlit corridors. Sevan and Kash learnt from their beneficiary, Ms M, who lived there, that a beautiful façade does not always mean a well-maintained, functional interior. The lady couldn't even enjoy the view of her building as she was partially blind. While awaiting a cataract operation, she depended on volunteers to help her with reading the correspondence.

The three assumed seats at the table in the sun-soaked living room and attended to a small stack of papers. The first from the top was a beauty salon leaflet that Ms M planned to visit. Sevan spelt the contact details to the beautician, which Ms M wrote with a sharpie using very large letters on an A4 sheet and filed away. The three envelopes to go through consisted of a political campaign leaflet and two important letters regarding money matters.

"When we get the mail these days, it's not happy news. People don't send love letters anymore.", Ms M observed.

It was hard not to agree with her that the art of composing thoughtful letters to loved ones was in decline.

With all the letters read out aloud, large-letter notes taken and filed, the three spent the rest of the mission time chatting about the impacts of AI on the job market, the diminishing critical thinking skills in modern society and the benefits of healthy, homemade food. Ms M revealed herself as a well-travelled individual and a Chinese medicine practitioner, who strongly believed in the empowering role of mindset in healing.

After the enriching conversation, Sevan and Kash left Ms M grateful for the assistance and hopeful about her upcoming surgery. She was full of a positive outlook about regaining her sight and independence, which was very important to her.

There were lots of new things going on at Acton Junior parkrun this morning. There was a new (to GoodGym) run director, a lot of first time runners and GoodGymers running the warm up with Maria leading it alongside Kash and Chris.

Around the course, Alan was marshalling and Steph wore the leopard tail and orange vest as the tail walker. Most other GoodGymers were in the funnel. Maria double-roled, also funnel managing, with Chris recording times and Kash and Sevan making up the barcode scanning team.

The real excitement was far from Steph, with the leading runner finishing in 7 minutes flat on the hilly course 😲. They were so far in front that there was a 95 second gap back to the first boy to finish. Some parents weren't as impressed with their children, leading to those adults making childish comments like:

"[She] didn't pull her trousers up in time at the start, so she deserves to finish 39th" - Childish parent

Chilly but sunny Sunday morning - early start for 3 Goodgymers who were ready to run from Ealing Broadway Station to Acton Park. After a small and chatty run in the sun they arrived in the Park to volunteer at Acton Junior Parkrun. Covered around 3.5km in roughly 19 minutes. The cold weather didnt stop them from getting out early for a run.

It's been eight months since Sevan's and Kash's last visit to Mrs E and her husband - a mission featuring apple collection, getting soaked and watching Wimbledon during the worst downpour.

The first task for the elderly couple this season was far less eventful: cutting the grass, weeding pots and flowerbeds, and scraping moss. This time, Mrs E's husband wasn't well and couldn't come out to the garden to join the gardening team, but Mrs E worked alongside GoodGymers throughout the session, directing Sevan and Kash, cutting dead rosemary, and sweeping the cuttings. The most unexpected event of the session was mowing the thick grass, which turned out to be, judging by the scent, unwanted wild garlic.

Sevan and Kash finished the day of GoodGymming with a 5km run back to Ealing, enjoying the sight of cherry blossoms on the streets and many other trees blooming in Boston Manor and Blondin Parks.

After the HANGOT green task at Osterley Lock we wandered over to No. 6 Coffee for a well deserved break. We were slightly dubious of the choice to toast banana bread and the milkiness of the milkshake (they seemed to take the name quite literally) but a lovely time was had by all. It was great to properly welcome our newest Goodgymers, Shubham and Purva.

On another HANGOT day, the sun came out to play. That was good news for the team as they would find out later. With most of the group present, the HANGOT and GoodGym volunteers took a long walk along the Grand Union Canal to Osterley Lock Orchard, where the fruit trees needed a good mulch and dead plants needed to be cleared.

The team put their 4 wheelbarrows to work, with Ashley, Steph and Kash joining HANGOT volunteer Mas in filling wood chip into wheelbarrows and shuttling it to the orchard at Osterley Lock, where Iram, Sophie and Sevan were ready to remove weeds, spread the wood chip and chop back any dead plants.

"I have a small challenge if you'd like it."
"Can GoodGym take mulch to the terrace?"
"It's at the top of the hill, so we don't often go there." - Hillary

That did sound like a challenge. None of the GoodGymers had been to the terrace before though, so no one knew where the hill was how how difficult it would be to get to the top. At that moment, Shubham and Purva arrived for their first GoodGym task, joining the others to power wheelbarrows up the muddy path to the sun-drenched orchard up the hill. Welcome to you both! 👋

With mulching of the terrace trees complete, everyone gathered to celebrate 🎊 Iram's 50th good deed 🎊. The only snag was that Iram's epic battle with burdock had left her covered in burrs and she needed some emergency hairdressing, expertly performed by Ash. Iram achieved the "black belt" sash under a year since she started attending tasks, then writing creative reports, leading tasks and finally promoting GoodGym through the videos that she creates and shares online. That's some journey. The coveted black GoodGym t-shirt will be heading Iram's way soon. Congrats Iram! 🥳

Everyone returned to the main orchard for some speed mulching and chopping in the last few minutes of the session. Then, it was time for the group photo and a walk through Elthorne Park to a local coffee shop for social and some refreshments.

We'll be back helping HANGOT in April for our regular monthly session. Sign up here.