The rain held off in Ealing for the whole day, just until 18:45 when the Tuesday night group run started. Refreshed by a mild drizzle, a group of runners led by Sevan looped around Walpole Park to meet Kash - a single person in the walking "group" - at the tool store. Harvey, Steph and Sevan came to help pick up the tools, which Kash thought was awesome. It's nice to have mates who have your back around when you're aware of strangers hiding in the nearby bushes while you're busy unlocking padlocks!

With an ample supply of chopping and shovelling tools in two wheelbarrows, the quartet marched to Lammas Enclosure to meet Chris and Bryon at the Transition Orchard. With the task owner, Trevor, unable to make it to the session that night, Sevan explained two jobs that needed to be done.

First task, cutting back brambles in the small forest area destined to become a hedgehog habitat, was tackled by Bryon, Harvey, Steph and Kash, after agreeing that not everything that had thorns could be classified as a bramble and obliterated.

Chris and Sevan focused on another job: snipping brambles and mulching around fruit trees. First, of course, they had to identify the fruit trees. Bryon did well in that matter, spotting a tiny apple under one of the trees. But there were also tiny oak trees growing under the presumed apple tree. How did they get there? Maybe the apple was a foundling, too?

Thanks to teamwork, two work lights and head torches for everyone, the six GoodGymers achieved good results despite the darkness. Our unstoppable team keeps going all year round, no matter the season. Next week, we will run to help Hanwell School of Boxing, a charity that supports young people of varying ethnic backgrounds in participation in sports. Sign up now!

When Sevan and Kash signed up for a task described as tidying and sorting after a recent move for Ms D, they weren't quite sure what to expect.

Is it decluttering? - Kash wondered.
I think it will be unpacking - Sevan reckoned.

When they eventually entered Ms D's home and promptly took off their shoes, caked with mud after their previous ground levelling job, the lady, to their surprise, led them to the garden. Shoes back on then! The duo didn't anticipate another gardening task that day, but they've always been ready for any job and, luckily, had their gardening gloves with them.

The garden had a slightly whimsical feel to it, with dozens of water-filled pots and pans, broken crockery and fruit peel scattered around, and ridiculously steep stairs, unseen in continental Europe (at least according to Kash). Ms D asked the two GoodGymers to sweep the leaves and remove rubbish from the paved area. It was not always clear which pieces were classified as junk and which were worth keeping, so Sevan and Kash didn't enter full-throttle clearance mode and asked Ms D for advice when in doubt.

As the area to tidy up was small and the number of items Ms D was willing to part with scarce, a lightbulb moment struck and additional tasks ideas emerged: emptying the stale water from the plant pots and dishes, pruning a rose bush and removing ivy from the garden wall. It also turned out that Ms D heard about the latest bug hotel trends and asked the GoodGymers to move some old timber to decompose at the back of the garden for the benefit of beetles and pollinators.

Although Sevan and Kash felt they could have achieved much more in 90 minutes, Ms D thought she received exactly the help she needed and felt that she regained some control over her garden.

Miss J moved back to her place at the beginning of the year, following a fire that had devastated the house two years ago. The tragic event that took Miss J's beloved cat and most of her belongings resulted in an unexpected number of furniture donations for her, which she wasn't able to fit inside the house. Miss J was also worried about the state of her garden, where the firemen apparently dropped the burning things from the house. The debris has been mostly removed by now, and there were good things that happened there this year: the pear and fig trees finally fruited after a couple of years!

My garden must have missed me! - Miss J.

Miss J had a big garden project in her mind: a 4x2.5m shed. The parts had already been delivered, but the ground where the shed would be constructed was uneven and full of roots. GoodGymers Sevan and Kash visited Miss J one Sunday afternoon to remediate that problem. Apparently, Mission Control had told the beneficiary that they were experienced in levelling ground (they weren't, really!), so the stakes were high.

First, Sevan and Kash squeezed through a narrow corridor to take bin sacks with the garden waste and debris out, then they pulled up fake grass in Miss J's back garden to uncover a kingdom of worms. The reclaimed 12 square metres of soil now needed to be levelled. With a new spade and fork that Miss J had purchased, and the incredibly soft soil (thanks to the overnight downpour), the GoodGymers easily dug out the roots and even a block of concrete. The debate between Sevan and Kash on whether to bury it back was settled by Miss J, who concluded she could use such a piece of concrete for something. The final polishing touches to the levelling job included a plank challenge (involving laying a piece of wood flat on the soil, not the exercise!) and flattening the ground with a rake Miss J had borrowed from her neighbour.

When it was nearly time to go, the grateful Miss J appeared with a tray with Spanish coffee in a cafetiere and Italian panettone. What a treat! And not only that. The lady also offered the GoodGymers as many fruits from her fig tree as they could pick - the fresh figs were delicious! Fingers crossed that next summer the Miss J will see plenty of fruit again - and, of course, her shed will be built! Mag-fig-icent job!

Today's Penn Road Gardens session involved a lot of leaves. A whole 90 minutes of raking for the team. First up was clearing leaves from under the benches to uncover any hidden litter. Bottles, vapes and food packaging was pulled out for the litter picking team to bag, while bags full of yellow and brown leaves made their way to the compost heaps.

Some unexpected finds glittered at the GoodGymers from the leaves. There was a silver teaspoon and a golden bracelet with diamonds that had been lost under a bench. Well, actually, the spoon was from Ikea and the bracelet still needs to be professionally valued, but it was shiny 🤩! Either way, they were stashed in the Penn Road treasure chest, along with all their other plundered valuables.

Once the bench areas were clean, the big win was to clear the lawns of leaves. The GoodGymers speed raked with one of the regular volunteers and managed to clear the largest grassy area before a tea break was called and it was time to leave for their next task.

The next community session at Penn Road Gardens will be on the 30th of November, when they'll be planting bulbs to flower in the spring. There will also be a thank you to all of this year's volunteers as they'll give out a Xmas decoration and a hyacinth bulb to each of the attendees, in case you needed any more incentive to help this wonderful, community maintained garden.

Over the past few weeks, GoodGym Ealing have been clearing up after the growing season in a few different community allotments and gardens around the borough. Today was no different as at Feeding Ealing, Kash, Beck and Sevan worked away in the polytunnel to clear out this year's produce and prepare for next year's planting. That was lucky as they stayed pretty dry while rain showers came and went outside.

The team were asked to say "toma-go" to the tomato plants and "bean-ough already" to the beans. Everything removed was to go onto the compost heap to provide nutrients for next year's crop. After discussing the best tools to use and choosing their favourites, they discovered that everything could actually be pulled out by hand, no tools required, making the task a bit easier.

Every cloud has a silver lining, as they say, and there was a cloud too to the simplicity of pulling the old plants. They were tied to bamboo stakes and other supports using nylon string and that needed to be removed. Who may have done such a dastardly thing as using non-biodegradable string? Well, that might have been Sevan... only because there was nothing else available back in July when he and Gus were asked to tie the crops up. Much effort went into destringing the plants to not pollute next year's compost.

Towards the end of the session, Joseph decided that any remaining crops could also be pulled as it was too late in the season for them to ripen, with the weather overnight being too cold for the chillies. So, the group said "chillio" to the chilli plants as they were also pulled out of the soil. A few green chillis were recovered that Joseph said would be added to his chilli chutney. In fact, there'd been a bumper batch of chutney this year. The earlier green chillis had also gone in the pot as well as 60kgs of green tomatoes, producing 16kg of tomato chutney. Nothing's gone to waste from the urban allotment's growing this year.

As everyone wrapped up for the day, Joseph said that the next cycle of fruit and vegetable growing will start in December. There are plans to create deeper beds and to start enriching the soil with manure and other nutrients, so we'll be back next month to make 2026's harvest an even bigger success than 2025.

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!