The Sunday mid-July session for Care4Calais brought together regulars Sevan and Kash, plus two new faces: Iram, who has already established herself as part of the GoodGym Ealing TaskForce but hadn't tried the Care4Calais sessions yet, and Emma, new to both GoodGym and West London. Welcome both!

At today's session, task owner Tamzin took all four GoodGymers from her secret HQ to an equally secret storage location near Ealing Broadway. Thoughtfully, Tamzin offered everyone sunscreen, as the usual easy-going indoor session had been turned into an easygoing outdoor session. With the recent heatwaves, she was worried about people working in the full sun.

As it turned out, the space in front of the storage unit had its own special microclimate. Between the shade from the trees and a cool breeze, Iram and Kash even got goosebumps! Emma had cleverly brought a second layer with her.

Our task was to carry out quality checks and sort donated shoes, from size 5 to 12 and beyond, or, for those who prefer European sizing, from 38 to 44 and beyond.

There was quite a variety of footwear, from fashionable trainers with tall, airy soles to branded Hello Kitty shoes. Luckily, the latter were mostly in smaller sizes, so unlikely to be offered to the male asylum seekers, who don't always appreciate that particular style. We also found a pair of bright red Haribo-branded shoes in size 44 and hoped there might still be a niche for those.

While sorting, we also tried to come up with a portmanteau for something between sandals and trainers, but didn't come up with anything spectacular. Any ideas?

As well as sorting the shoes into boxes, we built up a pile of questionable pairs: some in mismatched sizes, others slightly discoloured or a bit worn. Tamzin is going to go through them later to see whether anything can be salvaged or offered to asylum seekers as a second pair.

The two hours flew by. Some volunteers headed off to the next thing in their day, while others stayed for a lovely barbecue hosted by Tamzin. She had invited volunteers from across Care4Calais: people sorting donations like us, drivers, volunteers supporting refugees directly in the hotels, and even asylum seekers turned Care4Calais volunteers. It was a wonderful gesture and very much appreciated.

Our latest visit to Acton Junior parkrun aligned with the start of the school holidays. There was lots of chat between the parents and also the volunteers about their summer plans and again, fewer children than normal.

The roster was surprisingly full, until a space opened up as a warm up leader. The Run Director was advised how to handle this by other volunteers:

"I need someone to lead the warm up."
"I've been told that the GoodGym woman is very good." - Run Director
"That GoodGym woman is not here" - Kash

Neither Kash not Sevan were keen to stand in for Maria or Kat, recent GoodGym warm up leaders, in front of the children and run through the routine. Instead they stuck to their more familar and comfortable roles as tailwalker for Kash and barcode scanner for Sevan.

All of today's runners completed the course quickly. Even at the tail, so everything was packed up in record time.

Another hot Saturday in Southall offered everyone a bit of relief from the heatwave, with a gentle breeze reaching Western Road Urban Garden.

Four GoodGymers and Janpal from Southall Community Alliance were the only participants at the community day until one of SCA's trustees and a member of the Southall community joined them.

Before getting to work, Janpal showed the GoodGymers the recent developments in the orchard and the polytunnel. The dwarf fruit trees, planted less than three years ago, were already bearing copious amounts of fruit. In the polytunnel, exotic plants like karela and snake gourd, and more familiar ones like aubergines, cucumbers, watermelon and bell peppers, had started producing crops as well - and we'd only watered them last month when the plants were still small. What an incredible growth!

Today's task was simple: remove weeds from three sections of a vegetable plot to free up space for more food to grow. Sevan, Amy, Freya and Kash tackled thistles, nettles and bathua, which Janpal described as a staple green in North Indian cuisine. The plant, although healthy and tasty, had completely taken over the veg plot, so it had to be removed. Luckily, it was easy to pull out. We cleared the whole patch with ease, leaving only two rogue tomato plants that had introduced themselves from the neighbouring plot.

After a break to grab some water, fruit and samosas that Janpal had brought for us, we continued by clearing the plot closest to the fence - removing not just weeds! The amount of broken glass we keep finding in the soil never ceases to amaze us, even though we've dug that area several times and many of us know Western Road's past as a derelict allotment and a fly-tipping hotspot.

Time flew by. We chatted not only about football, but also about Southall Community Alliance, which recently celebrated its 25th anniversary. Janpal has been with the organisation almost from the beginning and told us the story behind the charity, its focus on bringing community groups together in Southall, and tackling important local issues such as inequality, poverty, mental health and social isolation.

We entered the woodchipping phase and covered all the soil and the remaining broken glass we hadn't been able to remove. We're sure we'll find it again at the next opportunity to dig that section!

The highlight of the session was tasting the delicious apricots from the orchard. Janpal had covered the little tree with a net to save some of the fruit for the volunteers. The method had proved a successful defence against the fox, who loves to steal the fruit before it gets ripe.

"He won't be getting his one of five a day now," said Janpal.

Thanks to that, we could get a little closer to our fruit and veg quota, munching on sweet, juicy apricots straight from the tree. You won't get that kind of taste from the supermarket!

If you want to help out at the urban garden and find out what will be ready to harvest in August, join us for the session next month. Sign up here!

On a sunny late afternoon, our GoodGym crew came along to support Collective Light, a pop-up community event built around an interactive glowing park furniture - powered by touch and movement. As people gather, connect and play, the space comes alive with light, turning everyday moments into something magical and helping to create a park that feels safer and more welcoming. A busy park is a safe park.

At today's festival, there was art, storytelling, yoga, nature workshops and community conversations. GoodGym gathered together a small group of willing festival goers to play our part in keeping the space litter free ahead of a tea party, chatting all the way! We split into small teams - two teams finding one sock each. Sadly they didn't form a pair. But that's okay, they still went in the bin bags!

As I arrived at Mr G’s I calculated in my head how many months it’s been since I’d last seen him. These slots are popular with west London’s finest Goodgymers.

A few more pictures on the walls but otherwise it was if no time had passed at all. Making my way inside I asked “is it ok if I come in?” “No” came the deadpan response. I had to laugh, some things do not change. Mr G doesn’t give himself enough credit for his excellent comic timing. Once we’d established he was pulling my leg and I could come in, the real catching up began … from interior design and world travel, to Marxism, yogurt making and the new prime minister, there was alot to cover.

Once the world had been put to rights it was time to get down to the main order of business, the food shop.

Mr G’s first online shopping order facilitated by Ealing’s finest Goodgymers, had arrived in tact this week. Apart from the odd item being a bit bulkier than expected, the IT support mission was a success and Mr G was happy with the delivery driver’s careful unloading of the items.

So today’s shopping list consisted of the usual favourites, yogurt (the yogurt making kit has yet to be mastered) chicken, cod, plenty of greens and more standard sized cans of baked beans, because the smaller size aren’t enough to satisfy Mr G’s daily bean habit.

With the labels and shoppings bags in tow it was a quick march, to try and keep the chilled items cool, and back for some more rant and release with Mr G.

Bean stocks replenished for another week, it was time to say goodbye “see you in another 12 months” called Mr G as I headed out.

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Ms A had quite a few bags of recyclable and non recyclable trash accumulated. 12 to be exact! The mission was to help her free up her space by bringing it downstairs. As there was plenty of time we engaged in a deep conversation mixing football and ireland. After a few great learnings i headed back home, mission complete!