Clean Up River Brent (CURB), led by Ben Morris, has been very successful in recent years in removing Himalayan balsam from the banks of River Brent. What is Himalayan balsam, and why would anyone want to get rid of it, you may ask. The plant, native to the Himalayas, was brought to the UK in the 19th century for its ornamental qualities. Over the years, it became dominant on many riverbanks across the country. If left unchecked, the invasive balsam can exclude other plants and decrease biodiversity, as it’s not compatible with species living around it. This tallest annual weed (reaching even 3 metres in height!) dies each year and leaves no roots in the soil, which does not help hold the soil together and stop silt from washing into rivers. Silt, in turn, decreases water quality by blocking sunlight from reaching the water and helping spread pollution.

CURB’s plan for 2026 was to reduce balsam in Ealing to zero, and GoodGym Ealing were excited to find a Saturday to help Ben and the team with that ambitious mission. One walker, two runners and four cyclists from GoodGym met the regular Balsam Bashers at Brent Viaduct to walk up- and downstream the river and scour for baby balsam to curb it (pun intended) before it grows and flowers.

James, Richard and Kash went with basher Rachel to visit last year’s balsam hotspots, including a vast area GoodGymers helped clear in 2025. Rachel and Kash, who had done bashing in the nearby locations the previous year, were astonished by how much the place had changed. It was so hard to find any balsam - that might have felt unsatisfying to the bashers, but at the same time, it was proof that the strategy of fighting the invasive plant was working very well. Meanwhile, Sevan and Jo went downstream and found equally low numbers of balsam. With such slim pickings, part of the team - Ash and Amy - were redirected to litter picking, as rubbish in the river seemed way more abundant than the Himalayan invader.

The whole party came together, and regrouped after 90 minutes, as it was nearly impossible to spot any more balsam - the last year’s teams did so well! Resourceful Ben, having spotted “accessible rubbish”, proposed to GoodGymers to spend the last 30 minutes of the session on a litter blitz in the shallow part of the River Brent. The GoodGymers agreed, and in a very short time, retrieved a bag of rubbish each, and hauled some soaked, flytipped duvets - what an impressive and disgusting find!

As the area has mostly recovered from balsam invasion, CURB is now planning to use its budget to buy native plants to plant in selected areas once the balsam has been eliminated. Watch this space for the future sessions with them.

On Saturday morning at 9am, a knock on the door took Mr P - known to his friends as Mr J - by surprise. The gentleman was awaiting his carer's visit and was convinced his gardening helpers would not arrive before noon. Undeterred by the change of plans, Mr J got ready and welcomed two GoodGymers who had visited him a couple of times before.

"That's Kash and Stephan!"
"It's Sevan."
"Right!

While Sevan, whom Mr J couldn't help but call Stephan, went to fetch the tools from the lockup, Mr J told Kash about what "The Other Steph" had done during the last GoodGym visit in the front garden: planting strawberries and roses.

With planting sorted at the right time of the season, the next chapter of Mr J's Peace Garden story was all about rediscovering the fence separating the back garden from a grassy meadow. The fence wasn't visible under a cover of ivy and brambles, but the height of the weeds suggested there must have been something underneath.

While Sevan and Kash chopped away the invasive plants, Mr J sat down in the garden and read them aloud "J's Garden", a poem written by his friend, praising the enchanted oasis, filled with vegetables, fruit trees and a variety of recycled household items - painted, reworked and arranged in creative ways. Those objects, such as different parts of a bed used as fence panels and a gate, were still adorning the Greenford's Peace Garden, only hidden under vegetation.

Mr J, sitting on his garden bench, read the GoodGymers some other material he felt was worth sharing: a Peace Prayer and Serenity Prayer - the latter sounding very familiar to Sevan and Kash:

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

”I cannot stop all the wars in the world, but I can create my Peace Garden here.” - Mr J.

With the problematic overgrown corner cleared, the compost bin filled with cuttings, and five bags of garden waste moved to the front of the house, the GoodGymers were done with their first task of the day. Additionally, Kash filled the bird feeders and hung them in front of Mr J's bedroom window so that he could watch the birds from his bed.

Sevan and Kash wished Mr J a great rest of the day and a happy birthday - a celebration with friends, which was coming soon - then they ran East for their next task.

It had been 3 years since Kash and Sevan last met Mr S and not much had changed. Kash and Sevan were a bit older. Mr S was older too and a bit weaker, but his personality was exactly the same as Kash and Sevan remembered it.

The task for Mr S was the same as 3 years ago too. Getting the lawnmower out of the garage, where it was sitting between 2 classic cars. Plugging in the very long lawnmower cable and getting instructions from Mr S on how to Fly his Mo through the knee high grass and chop it back down to normal height. Mr S, as last time, sat, observed and managed the power cable, reeling it in and letting it back out to prevent any cable slicing.

Kash took the one person task of hauling the Flymo that couldn't fly high enough through the long grass. Sevan looked for something to keep him busy, so Mr S asked him to weed the patio. As Sevan did this he chatted to Mr S about how he'd been, visits from his long distance friends and his plans for the future. Mr S said that:

• He'd been better. His heart had stopped a year ago and, when it restarted, he called 999 and now he had a pacemaker
• A good friend from Poland was still coming to visit twice a year and looking after his garden, while some ex-students were also keeping in touch and passing through London
• An extension was being planned to make it easier for Mr S to live at home

Mr S was still an investment banker at heart and dished out life and financial advice:

"You need a little cash in savings and a little in your current account."
"Invest the rest."
"Use your money. Life is for having fun." - Mr S

If the cars and the international circle of friends was any indication, Mr S had definitely lived a fun life.

Back with the gardening, Mr S's gardener friend had created a compost pit next to the apple tree. The grass cuttings, weeds and everything else went in there to turn it into a mountain of future compost. Something for Mr S's friend to look forward to making use of when they next visit.

“Bring me all the greens you can!”
Said Mr G, a big cabbage fan.
So I bought him some kale,
Sweet cabbage on sale,
And broccoli, then home I ran.

Cliff, the chief gardener at St Mary’s in South Ealing, told us that the cemetery behind the church was meant to be a pollinator-friendly wildflower space, and not an ostensively manicured garden. Yet, after the spring was in full bloom, the back of the churchyard started getting out of control: nettles, green alkanet and other weeds took over the graves, and even Cliff’s superhuman gardening capability wasn’t enough to keep on top of that expansion. That’s where the GoodGymers stepped in.

Sevan led a group of ten nettleslayers, hungry for an evening pull session in a local jungle. Among them were two new faces in GoodGym Ealing: Giovanni, who cycled to his very first task, and Diana, who, despite being active for a few months as an Achilles guide runner, hadn’t completed an Ealing session until today. She also brought a four-legged support, the pooch Padron (pardon me if I misspelt the name), who made all the hearts instantly melt. Welcome Giovanni and Diana - we hope you’ve enjoyed our collective weeding frenzy!

Steph Ducat, Giovanni, Andy and Cliff attacked the left-hand side of the overgrown churchyard back wall, while Anna, Kash, and Harvey started from the right. Sevan, Diana, A.B., and James worked in the middle and eventually met the other two teams, having pulled or cut all the weeds on their way. In an hour, the stretch of graves along the entire brick wall at the back was weed-free!

Every GoodGym session is an opportunity to learn something new. Harvey told us about soldiers who used to whip their arms with stinging nettles to stay awake during their night watches. Since I wore a short-sleeved top while pulling nettles today anyway, I decided to test that method. I am pleased to report that the nettle stings still work, and I haven’t fallen asleep writing this report on Tuesday night.

As the days are now so long that it is still bright outside when we complete an evening task, there’s no excuse not to take advantage of it and come to the Tuesday night session. The weather has been a sheer delight, too! The next opportunity for an evening experience with GoodGym is next week - don’t miss it and sign up now!

Mrs L's house was a stone's throw from this morning's Hanwell Hootie wrap up task, so Kash and Sevan made a return visit a week after their last mission for her. They thought they knew what to expect. Trimming, weeding, few tools and very helpful neighbours. That was mostly true today.

Mrs L did want the rest of the flower beds weeded and the trees in the garden to be trimmed. Last week, Kash and Sevan's mission was earlier in the day, so today the helpful neighbours were out. Crucially, Mrs L's loppers that the pair used a week ago were also missing in action. Neither Mrs L nor Kash could remember where they'd stored them 7 whole days ago. They weren't in the shed and they weren't in the house, so Kash made do trimming tree branches with secateurs, which wasn't ideal.

The tools Sevan used for weeding last week were borrowed from a neighbours, so today he used a tiny trowel discovered in a plant pot. Kash dug out some weeds with a large spade and most of the rest weren't too deep rooted, so the small trowel was good enough for Sevan to clear the remaining flower beds.

Near the end of the session, with Mrs L trying to track down another pair of loppers to borrow, Mrs L's pair were found in a potting cabinet. She remembered that she'd put them there because they were broken. Broken or not, they were still just usable, so Kash and Sevan paired to cut down the final branches and get 4 bags of garden waste moved to the front of the house.