Seven months have passed since GoodGym last supported Walpole Park, making it clear that sessions in this beloved green space in the heart of Ealing are very much an autumn-winter thing. The temperatures, however, did little to signal the changing season. GoodGymers still happily sported short sleeves and shorts, while the park, despite being pitch black, teemed with nightlife, wildlife and parklife. Frolicking people and foxes alike were seen – or smelled!

The park welcomed back some seasoned Walpolers: Chris, Harvey, Steph Ducat, Sevan and Kash. Amy and Scott, who joined GoodGym over the spring and summer months, got their first taste of a nighttime Walpole Park session. Breda also visited from GoodGym Hounslow and was amazed by the abundance of tools sourced by our friend Richard.

Yes, Richard! The long-missed Ealing Greenwayer, best known to us from Pear Tree Park, made a comeback wearing his kitchen garden volunteer hat. He also hosted a historic session: the first time a task owner was actually present in Walpole Park during one of our activities!

Richard showed us a secret pocket of leafy compost, which we were tasked with moving to the kitchen garden's compost bins. The mulch was very well concealed indeed. Even when led to this obscure (but surprisingly well-lit, thanks to Ealing Studios) spot, the compost was hiding in plain sight.

"We are actually standing on a layer of composted leaves" – Richard.

To get to the mulch, we first had to excavate it. And it wasn't as quick and easy as simply shovelling: the compressed leaves were intertwined with roots. Some of us relished the challenge of seemingly endless digging and the accompanying upper-body workout.

"It's like a canoeing trip. After the first half an hour your arms are dead, but then you're numbed and just carry on." – Amy.

Supplied by Richard with barrows in addition to two larger trolleys, we managed to fill one of the compost bins almost to the brim. It was a successful first Walpole Park session of the season, but surely not the last one. So watch this space for more night-park-life coming up this autumn and winter!

The Monday morning food bank setup at St Mary’s was briefly at risk due to the late arrival of the delivery van with supplies from the central warehouse in Ealing.

Anna, Martin and JP (visiting from Richmond) were on hand and chatted with the other volunteers as we heard occasional updates on the van’s location and progress.

Eventually a cheer went up as the van arrived and we got to work rapidly unloading a bumper load of fresh and packaged food, including mango pieces, bananas, ready to eat meals and a huge load of coriander.

We quickly packed up the now-empty van with reusable boxes and plastic crates and sent the driver on his way, relieved that the food bank slot would go ahead as usual - and raced off to our next activities.

Forget box breath! Jason, the task owner, taught us pilates breathing techniques to help us engage our core and more effectively use the fork to break up the ground for weeding.

We meticulously weeded a number of beds, ready for brassicas to be planted and then watered the other areas which are already full of plants, on their way to becoming a food forest!

There had been much chatter about the friendly foxes who frequent the allotment and as we were packing up they came over to bid use thank you and farewell. A lovely way to spend a sunny autumn afternoon!

A year after their last volunteering session at Our Lady of the Visitation Primary School in Greenford, a chance encounter in central Ealing brought Team GoodGym back to find out what had happened to the planned wildlife reserve. Last year a veg patch and the pond were well established, with the rest of the space still needing to be cleared and planted.

Returning today, Rachel and her keen pupils had been busy. They had:

• Completed the woodchip path
• Grown some beautiful sunflowers
• Planted wildflower seeds to create a Nectar Highway
• Created a hedge-y area to attract hedgehogs
• Been studying the lifecycle of hundreds of newts in their pond

Lots of discoveries for curious minds.

Other things hadn't changed from last year. The path through the wildlife reserve had again become a bramble highway. This was not the type of highway the school wanted to encourage. Most of the brambles were rooted in the flowerbeds off the path, so while some of the team got chopping, others dove into the dried out beds to dig out any roots that they could.

Therese, Maria, Kash and Steph chopped and dug their way through the whole session, clearing the space. As the bramble levels dropped off, Amy, Scott and Sevan moved onto task 2, emptying the soil from giant planters. Task owner Rachel saved the plants that had survived the summer, then the planters were dragged across the playground. The soil was dug out and placed in ton bags until they were light enough to lift and tip what was left. Six planters later, they were done.

Everyone enjoyed their session at the school, with some marvelling at how much space the school had available. Rachel was really impressed with what the large team achieved and she still has big plans and projects in the pipeline, so we could be back again, sooner rather than later.

"Thank you so much. Huge difference." - Rachel

For the second week in a row, GoodGym Ealing were volunteering at Acton Junior parkrun. Today was bright, sunny and chilly compared to the mist of last week when Steph was here.

Unusually, all 5 of the volunteers this week had chosen to marshal. It was Breda's first time here and everyone was too busy chatting to explain the course to her, except to point to the "crazy shapes" dodecahedrons that would be her marshal point, leaving her a bit unprepared.

It was another bumper number of finishers. Not as many as last week. 96 is a lot for Acton Juniors recently though and those numbers have gone up a lot since we've been volunteering there.

There were lots of happy children today and one enjoyed themself so much that 2km wasn't enough. They wanted to head back to the roundabout and go around the course again. They were really having fun, which was great to see.

Chilly but sunny Saturday and I cycled 9km to Mr T for our weekly chat. I was greeted by Mr Skeleton in the lounge 😂😂. Mr T is still waiting for his other Halloween items and hopefully they will arrive next week as he can't wait to decorate his flat.

We had our usual 60 minute chat before I cycled again in the streets of Ealing.