Let the season of head torches and work lights begin!

Tuesday, 22 September 2026, happened to coincide with the autumnal equinox. The day and night were equal, and the sun rose directly in the east and set directly in the west. Needless to say, it set very shortly after our group run began!

For the last two weeks, our Tuesday evening group managed to get away without switching on the head torches, perhaps thanks to the leafletting and signage tasks' nature, both of which took place on the streets. But tonight we were back in the William Hobbayne Centre courtyard, which isn't lit after dark. Thankfully, enough of us remembered about the torches to make our efforts effective.

Sue from the Hobbayne Charity directed us to the outdoor sections of the centre that we hadn't had time to tackle at our last session there in June. We cleared all the leaves, brambles and other weeds from the passages leading to the gates to Lower Boston Road and St Mark's Road. We also had time to speed-weed the area around the tool shed, which left all the outdoor spaces sorted out before the autumnal leaf drop.

Although the equinox marked the beginning of autumn, the weather and our immediate surroundings were sending us mixed signals about what season it actually was. Temperatures above 20 degrees made it feel as though it were still the middle of summer, while the dried Christmas tree we found in the yard brought wintry, festive vibes.

We had barely concluded that the tree would have to wait until January for the council’s next Christmas tree collection when hell broke loose. Suddenly, the GoodGymers launched an assault on the already-dead tree, chopping off its branches until only the main stem remained. Then the mob returned to their usual cheery demeanour. What could possibly have turned the GoodGymers into a gang of notorious Grinches? The prime suspect? Perhaps pub Christmas dinner advertisements appearing before we had even made it to Halloween?

Afshin and Kash joined Janpal and Natalie from Southall Community Alliance and London National Park City Ranger Ash at Western Road Urban Garden at a special occasion: a community garden open day! The event was a part of Ealing Climate Week and aimed at introducing more local people to the garden. There was also a group of volunteers from Low Carbon Contracts Company, who swapped their laptops and the office in East London for gardening gloves, rakes and spades.

Afshin and Kash joined the team which was building on the outcome of the last Saturday's session. This time the exercise of leveling the ground, pegging down the Terram membrane and covering it with paving grids was to be repeated on a larger surface to create a new community space.

The volunteers managed to cover the most of the designated area with the membrane and grids. The scarcity of materials was the only thing that could stop them. Once more Terram rolls are ordered, GoodGym will be back to finish off the task!

Another visit at Mrs A who is still in hospital, but good news she is much better and will come out soon as her son told me today during my visit. More good news is that the clearing of the brambles in this massive garden is approaching - you can now see the back fence from the back door and also see the garage and house when at the back of the garden. Found more gold balls - a box full but no surprise there. There is also a compost container which Mrs A and her son will be able to use again. The garden looks much different after a few sessions.

Between Friday the 18th and Sunday the 21st, Goodgymers were spotted at different areas near water to take samples and test the water quality.Freshwater watch : checking the Nitrate and phosphate levels. Goodgymers having a sample day :

• Maria sampling Thames water near Kew Bridge
• Alan was at Gunnersbury Pond
• Sevan on the canal nor far from Elthorne Park
• Steph Ducat was on the Grand Union Canal between Southall and Hayes

Phospate levels pretty all the same for all and the nitrate levels with slight variants of pink but no signs of pollution at the areas sampled. No one ended up in the water - all nice and dry and having a sample day.

Coach visit : weekly visit with my 2nd coach Mr T. Same mode and good chat between to 2 of us

The 400th Acton junior parkrun (big celebration, woohoo!) brought 94 little finishers and some GoodGym legends as well!

Maria and Steph looked fresh and energetic, not indicating at all they'd just walked an overnight marathon, The Shine Walk! Congratulations both! If completing the race in 6h 19min itself wasn't enough of a feat (it was!), then how about reporting to junior parkrun duty in the morning to help set up the course? Some of you may call it craziness, we call it dedication!

Maria, with a shiny diamond still left in her hair from the race's glittery outfit, directed children into the funnel, and Steph gave the first timers a warm welcome and briefing, and then marshaled near the funnel.

Alan and Kash were the gatekeepers - marshaling at the South and North gates. Kash dealt with an emergency shoelace fix for a boy whose mum apparently hadn't heard of double knots.

It was quite a gap between the supersonic two leading girls and the tail walker, so the marshals enjoyed more time in the gentle autumn sunshine until the brand new fluffy fox tail has passed them. What a fantastic morning was it, finished with a chat over coffee!