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!

Sixteen months have passed since GoodGym Ealing visited the IMPACT Theatre, a place where adults with severe learning disabilities can develop communication skills and confidence through performances on stage and creative arts.

Just like previously, the GoodGymers were contacted as trusted DIY experts when the time came to redecorate one of the art centre rooms - this time, the Creative Health Room, used for activities like yoga.

Three runners, Steph Ducat and Kash, led by Sevan, ran to the task from Ealing Broadway, Amy and Richard biked to Perivale individually, and Maria walked to the session, and then decided she wouldn't mind a few extra minutes in the outdoor gym while waiting for the others.

When task owner Peter opened the door, he was a bit surprised to find a larger group than those who had been visiting in the last few sessions.

"Is this a firing squad?" - Peter.

The arrivals turned out to be peaceful, and they decided to direct their energy towards the walls that needed prepping for painting. Who needs sandy beaches on a hot summer evening when you can have sandpaper! Different heights of GoodGymers came in handy while focusing on different parts of the four walls. One surface needed a particular smooth finish - the wall intended to become a projector display.

The team got to sanding, filling the room with constant rustling and raising plenty of dust. Peter equipped GoodGymers with face masks (who doesn't have a stock of spare face masks after 2020?) to reduce the amount of dust they inhaled.

After all the walls became nice and smooth, Richard fired up Henry the Hoover and did a round around the edges of the room to vacuum up the dust. Peter thanked everyone for the great job, then the GoodGymers ran, walked or cycled home - apart from the Frenchmen and Spaniards, who headed to the pub to catch the last minutes of their countries’ semi-final match.

Next week we are back for an outdoor task - but worry not - we'll be safe in the shade of the Half Acre woods while cutting back the wild summer growth to improve accessibility of the public paths. Sign up now to join us!

Monday, the 13th of July 2026, marked a new era in Mr G's shopping: his groceries were about to enter the digital age!

The regular mission beneficiary, well known to a group of West London GoodGymers for his unusual "book of labels" shopping list, artistic flair, and razor-sharp wit, decided to switch to online shopping. His objective was to supplement, rather than entirely replace, the end-of-the-week GoodGym shopping missions. The hope was that Mr G would be able to buy food more independently, including larger quantities of store cupboard items he couldn’t carry home himself.

Sevan and Kash signed up for this quest to render themselves obsolete as Mr G's shopping helpers - or at least reduce his dependence on GoodGymers' weekly availability.

Two GoodGymers and the beneficiary sat together around a 15-year-old laptop that dictated the pace of the mission, suspensefully displaying a blank browser window for long stretches, keeping everyone on the edge of the fashionable 1930s chairs.

The good news was that Mr G (or someone acting on his behalf) had already set up a Sainsbury's customer account, filled in his address details and special instructions to carry the purchased goods upstairs. Mr G even had the correct details recorded to log into the account. He had also already added a few items to his virtual basket.

During the mission, the GoodGymers introduced Mr G to the ease of using the search box rather than looking up items by category. The gentleman went through the user flow himself with minimal guidance, although he couldn't resist commenting on the website's UX and advertising from the perspective of a former professional in the display and sale of high-end products.

Some of the items Mr G selected for his basket reflected what Kash, Alan or others regularly used to buy in the physical Sainsbury's, but there were also items Mr G wouldn't always have on his weekly list. Chicken korma ready meals turned out to be a huge disappointment, as there were no such products available without a ton of rice in the portion, no matter whether one looked in a store aisle or on Sainsbury's website. There were difficult words like quiche to type and important choices to be made about the toilet paper.

"Cheap, but not just the cheapest one - that looks abrasive!"

Mr G was quick to make decisions about the product alternatives.

"I don't want the Taste the Difference - I cannot taste the difference!"

Eventually, the trio arrived at the checkout. The checkout had even more distractions than the product pages and countless screens to click through, evading the retailer's attempts to sell Mr G even more stuff.

The last hurdle, after selecting the delivery slot, was entering the payment details and navigating the credit card’s two-factor verification, expertly guided by Sevan. In the end, an order confirmation page appeared, resulting in an explosion of cheer entirely unrelated to the World Cup.

The delivery slot was diligently noted down. It was a successful "dry run", as Mr G put it - hopefully just the beginning of an era of greater independence. The gentleman felt much more confident about online shopping after going through the process once, but would love to have someone beside him one or two more times to become more familiar with the flow.