The fourth expedition to Grove Farm in search of the Unholy Grail of biodiversity - Japanese knotweed - brought together volunteers from the local area, from the far south of the borough, and even from beyond its borders. Mike from Friends of Grove Farm decided to lead the task unusually in the afternoon, due to an earlier event at the Grove Farm Nature Reserve - the Slow Worm Safari. Mike told us that only one specimen had been spotted during the event, while the expected number was ten, which wasn't good news for biodiversity. On a positive note, the sighted slow worm was pregnant, so there's still hope that the local legless lizard family will grow.

The quest to find the highly invasive non-native knotweed attracted adventurers like GoodGymers Giles and Jo, who cycled from the South Ealing and Brentford area, Sevan and Kash, who ran, also from the south, having completed two missions on the way, and Afshin, who returned for the second adventure of this kind in a row. The GoodGymers were joined by a returning explorer, Deborah, and Sue, new to Grove Farm. A team of eight resumed their travel up the Coston's Brook ditch.

The regulars knew the drill, the newbies quickly got up to speed: hedge trimmers, shears, loppers, rakes. Clear the path. Make it wider. Put the trimmings aside. Throw logs away from the trench. Do not hurt the other folks in the process.

Today's discoveries:

• Badger burrows
• A rusty shopping trolley
• A tyre
• A single wellie
• A sandbag-reinforced campsite (a secret bunker entrance?)

But all of those artefacts paled in comparison to what we discovered at the end. Even the knotweed. Oh yes, we eventually did reach the knotweed, although some of us, after three previous sessions, had started to doubt whether we'd find it this year. We left the invasive knotweed alone, acknowledging the mission's success from a distance. Then all the eyes landed on the most unexpected finding, waiting for us under the crown of a large fallen willow whose branches Mike meticulously sawed off.

It was a geocache. Afshin opened the container and found an Elvis CD and logbook with an entry from 23rd May 2005! Everything was soaked, and we couldn't reveal other pages of the notebook without destroying them. The artefact from over two decades ago now needed some drying before getting reinstalled in its location.

Meanwhile, a much younger thing that could be found in the park needed quite the opposite - plenty of water. On the way out of the woods, we visited the black poplar tree the GoodGymers helped plant in December last year and lent Mike a hand in watering it, before returning to the tool container to tidy and lock up the equipment.

As a former pet shop owner and importer of birds and pets, Mr B knew a thing or two about animals. That meant that Mr B knew that he had a problem with foxes in his back garden. They kept making a mess there and as his eyesight had gotten worse, he wasn't able to keep the garden tidy anymore.

What Mr B told the GoodGymers:

"They've taken the head off a doll and ripped it to pieces"

What Kash heard because of Mr B's accent:

"They've taken the head off a doe and ripped it to pieces" 🦌😵

As Mr B had recently slipped on some twigs, Kash and Sevan's lines of enquiry were to:

1. Dust the paving for paw prints, removing any garden waste in their way
2. Clear sight lines by chopping any plants growing onto and over the paths
3. Investigate anything the foxes had left behind, including shredded deer

The pair started by sweeping and chopping the patio area nearest the house where they found lots of dried needles from a supposedly evergreen thuja tree overhead. There were huge fig trees towering over them too and clusters of white fluffly stuffing in the flower beds. Evidence of a potential teddy bear murder, so the fluff was collected for safe keeping 👮.

"I don't see any of the usual signs of foxes" - Sevan
"No..." - Kash
...
"I found a sign."
"I covered it with some cardboard."
"It smells! 🤢" - Kash

Well, that figured. Where there are foxes, there's fox 💩. Kash's shoe was also put in the evidence log.

Kash, now single shoed, chopped the bushes blocking the passage to stage 2 where the GoodGymers found on the grass a bunch of rotten bananas, some food containers, more white stuffing and yellow fur. Further evidence for the log book. Photographs were taken and catalogued.

Sevan concluded the investigation when he discovered branding on the yellow fur of a dog toy company. This was a case where the victim had been wrongly identified. No dolls or teddy bears had been killed, only a canine's companion.

There were still mysteries to be solved. Who was eating takeaways in Mr B's back garden 🥡 and why were a bunch of rotten bananas sitting on the grass 🍌? Fingers were again pointed at the foxes and there were rumours of the foxes having stolen them from local shops. Without any hard evidence Kash and Sevan couldn't take action, so they filed their paperwork and said that they'd keep an eye on things and come back again if there were more unusual occurrences.

One Saturday in August, Sevan and Kash showed up at Mr R's bright and early. The older gentleman had been one of the first customers of their mission alliance, so the GoodGymers had experience in managing his large front garden. Yet, today Mr R had other plans.

The priority was the back garden (which Kash never visited), more specifically, maintaining Mr R's relationship with his neighbours by appropriate bramble management along the fence. Mr R sensed he could maximise the value by splitting the team, and decided that Kash would stay at the front (and never see the back garden) and Sevan would take care of the brambles with a strimmer at the back. Sevan politely objected to that task allocation and headed to the front, leaving Kash with what she liked most: power tools.

The power tool disappointed Kash in the power dimension. It wasn't fierce enough to deal with the thicker bramble stems, nor was it practical against the long young shoots, which kept getting caught in the mechanism, stopping it from spinning. Kash decided to use the shears she had noticed on the way to the garden and summon help.

Sevan, having removed the biggest weeds at the front, appeared in the back garden. Having tested the strimmer's effectiveness himself (not satisfactory), he grabbed another pair of shears and, together with Kash, cleared the brambles growing within a metre and a half of the fence. Kash, armed with brambleproof gloves, packed the trimmings in the green bin.

More work remains to be done, but the good relationships with the neighbours have been protected for the time being.

Report by Maria

On Thursday evening, the Ealing GoodGym team supported Hanwell Boxing School, a registered charity and amateur boxing club that provides affordable boxing training, fitness coaching, and structured youth development programmes for people from all backgrounds.

The group, consisting of Sevan, Giles, Kash, and Maria, met at Ealing Broadway Station, where we were delighted to welcome a new member to the team, Bilal, who arrived well prepared for the task, complete with his gloves.

Before heading to the task, the group completed a short warm-up led by Kash and set off on a run of just over 3 km. Kash split the group into two teams so everyone could run or run/walk at a comfortable pace. Sevan, acting as backmarker, ran/walked with Bilal and Giles, while Maria and Kash ran ahead to the task location to meet Scott, who cycled there, and the task owner, Linda.

Linda was very pleased to see the GoodGym team and explained the evening's task. The boxing school was preparing to welcome new members and launch new activities, so the outdoor space needed some attention. Our job was to clear leaves from the pathways and remove overgrown vine plants and ivy to make the area cleaner, safer, and more welcoming.

Linda provided all the necessary equipment, including brushes, large plastic buckets, and digging shovels. Initially, Scott, Kash, and Maria began sweeping leaves from the entrance area. When the rest of the team, Sevan, Giles, and Bilal, arrived, we divided into two groups.

One team focused on removing ivy from the corners of the site and gathering leaves with shovels into piles. The leaves were then transferred into large buckets and carried to a designated grass area for disposal, following Linda's instructions. The second team concentrated on sweeping leaves from across the pathways into central piles, making collection easier and more efficient.

As time passed, Kash began to wonder whether we would manage to complete all the work before the end of the session. However, the GoodGym team never lets its leader down. Everyone increased their efforts, worked together efficiently, and successfully completed the task on time.

The transformation was impressive. The pathways looked much cleaner, tidier, and more inviting, and Linda was delighted with the results. Seeing the positive impact of our work made all the effort worthwhile.

At the end of the session, the team made their separate journeys home. Kash, Sevan, and Giles ran back to Ealing Broadway, Scott collected his bike, Bilal headed for the bus, and Maria walked home after another rewarding GoodGym mission.