It was Wednesday so it could only mean one thing: 10 GoodGymers met up at Gunnersbury Park to pick up the sheers once again and help keep the pesky brambles at bay.

Gunnersbury Estate is a not for profit organisation that has had the double whammy this year of Covid and the fire in the cafe by the pond. This has left the Estate with a significant funding gap of £250k, 40% of the entire yearly income lost in just a few short weeks.

We always enjoyed helping out at the park prior to Covid. Since lockdown when many of us have spent time in the park during lockdown, running, walking or cycling or catching up with friends so we’re more keen than ever to keep lending a hand while we can.

We met up slightly earlier than usual to make the best of the light and got stuck in with chopping back the bramble around one of the larger trees in the centre of the park.

We welcomed Louisa from Richmond on her first Community Mission and were joined by Luke and Chris from Ealing and Hammersmith and Fulham.

Passers by stopped to chat including the local police, and the time flew by. As usual Watson was ever the crowd pleaser, top marks for your PR efforts Watson. Before we knew it we’d chopped back 6 bags of the prickly stuff. Great work!

Don’t forget the virtual 5k in October that Pete Gillibrand Taskforce member in Cardiff and The Vale has set up, there’s a super dooper GG medal in it for anyone who takes part, £13 and the link for sign up is here: https://www.virtualrunneruk.com/product/goodgyms-october-5k/

Eleven Goodgymers braved the weather and made their way to meet Paul at Active 360 at Kew Bridge.

We gave a big hello to Marieke who was completing her first mission with GGHounslow......so we did what we do best and gave her some baked treats courtesy of Michelle to try and entice her into becoming a Hounslow regular ( sorry Ealing) after devouring some delicious banana flapjacks it was time to "get trashy"

We split up into socially acceptable groups and got work, We had some balls for sure and poor Luis and Alanna even got crabs. Michelle didn't just sit in the fence but literally dragged it from the river with the help of Andy, great team work. It wasn't long before the eleven of us had managed to fill countless buckets of rubbish and bags of recycling. It never fails to amaze us just how much stuff ends up on our shorelines and in such a short space of time.

We may not ever manage to get rid of all the debris but you know what they say......

"every litter helps"

After over an hour of plogging and feeling very soggy, muddy and cold it was time to retire to our favourite watering whole for a beverage or 2...........

"Did someone say Beveragino??"

Great work team, hopefully see you again in a couple of weeks to do it all again.

Today's task was one of many happy returns:

1. We came back to one of our favourite task locations: the brambles at gunnersbury park!
2. A huge welcome back to Laura, who did her second good deed!
3. A guest appearance from our favourite Brummie-turned-Noweigan, who dropped by on his morning run
4. (And most importantly). Happy birthday and many happy returns to Michelle, who hit the big 4-0 today! Lots of celebrating to be done!

Unfortunately it was also a sad occasion for a couple of reasons: it was the Nashes' final bramble bashes for a while before their big move to the suburbs, and poor Watson had a bandaged paw. Get well soon pup 🐶

Gunnersbury park on a Saturday morning would normally be the place to go for a park run. A couple of sore heads lead one GoodGymmer to remark 'how did we ever get up before 9 on a Saturday to do parkrun?!'

In true GoodGym Hounslow style, we set to work and the nearest tree so there was less distance to drag the bags back to (work smarter, not harder folks). There were plenty of choppy tools in the wheelbarrow for Matt, Laura, Remy, Amanda, Tish, Laura and Eloise to hack away at the brambles, whilst JP was our trusty raker. Watson provided essential supervision by chasing balls, keeping an eye on other dogs and occasionally checking how the grass tasted.

We made quick work of the brambles and uncovering some excellent litter to pick up, including a lighter and a bottle of amaretto that clearly had a 'mystery' liquid added to it (I'll give you a clue: the word rhymes with miss).

Before you could say 'Ready Oxtedy Go', Matt, Eloise and Laura set off on their run back home and the birthday girl was on her way to her afternoon of pampering.

See you soon (aka in the pub later) guys!