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.

Four grown up GoodGymers and one MiniGymer met at St Margarets Open Space to pick the litter as a part of LAGER Can's Great British Spring Clean, a bold initiative aiming to pick all 146 parks in the Ealing Borough over the second half of March. 45 minutes was more than enough to tidy up the pledged space, so the team cleared the path (and its surroundings) leading to the Fox pub as well. Well done everyone, big or little rubbish fighters!