I joined an extremely busy lunch shift at Ealing Soup Kitchen today. It was Chef Nigel’s first time being in charge in the kitchen - with over one hundred guests - and his meal was a massive hit. There was a paprika chicken dish with rice or vegetarian alternative - and the clients loved it. A shortage of volunteers meant I was moving between serving lunch, clearing tables and helping with the washing up. But it was all worth it to see the smiles and get such positive feedback from the clients 😊

It was great to back at Ealing Soup Kitchen after a couple of months away. There was a large queue when doors opened at 11am and it seemed that everyone wanted a drink. I helped out with the drinks service for a while then went into the kitchen when it got quieter. After their hot drinks, clients moved on to the Snow Cones machine which proved very popular. And of course I had to try it for myself - it was most welcome in a hot kitchen 😊

Not much to report on, I came to see if the Pokopia Garden needed any maintenance but it looks like the plants have been properly maintained. There was no vandalism, litter or dead plants so all is good with Pokopia.

When the golden evening sun casts long shadows of GoodGymers arriving at Elthorne Park armed with spades, you know exactly what time of year it is: burdock-hunting season.

While burdock is a useful food source for pollinators, it is also extremely invasive. A single burdock can produce up to 15,000 seeds, allowing it to spread rapidly across green spaces. Left unchecked, it can grow to an impressive 10 feet tall, competing with other plants for sunlight, water, and nutrients. Its large leaves can block the sunlight from reaching surrounding vegetation. Apart from making it harder for a variety of plants to survive, burdock produces spiky seed heads called burrs later in the year, which easily stick to dogs, wild animals, and people's clothing, helping the plant spread even further.

The Ealing Parks Rangers asked for our help in tackling this botanical giant by digging out its deep taproots wherever possible or cutting plants as close to the ground as we could. Six GoodGymers answered the call. Richard, Yonas, Steph Ducat, Sevan and Kash ran 3.5 km from Ealing Broadway through West Ealing and Hanwell to meet Conor at Elthorne Park.

Armed with spades and determination, these Aces of Spades set to work clearing burdock along the path leading to Elthorne Terraces Orchard. Before long, they reached a true burdock stronghold and spent the rest of the evening removing as many plants as possible before they had the chance to develop burrs and disperse their thousands of seeds.

It was a rewarding session that made a difference to protecting the biodiversity of this much-loved Hanwell park. However, having discovered such a significant burdock colony, our work is far from over. We'll need to return before the end of the month to stay ahead of the invasion.

Fancy joining the fight against the burdock army? Come along to our session on 30th June!

Sevan and Kash would have thought that a GoodGym intervention a year ago would discourage, or at least slow down, the bramble growth in Ms A's garden. They were wrong! This year, the blackberries behind the corner of the garden had grown even taller and thicker.

Not deterred by the return of the vicious spiky weeds, the two GoodGymers rolled up their sleeves and put on the thick, bramble-proof gloves. Kash decided not to use the shears that Ms A considered very blunt and instead chopped her way towards the house wall using a good pair of loppers.

Meanwhile, Sevan raked up the trimmings, cut them into smaller pieces with secateurs and packed them into green bags. He then had a round of strimming - with the same ominous strimmer as in 2025 - targeting the grass that had survived the competition with the brambles.

The three green waste bags could barely contain the volume of cuttings, so Sevan and Kash resorted to their usual stomping and dancing in the bags. Ms A was very grateful for the help, as she'd been in a lot of pain and hadn't been able to keep on top of her garden maintenance. Another Sunday afternoon well spent!

GoodGym Ealing's visit to Care4Calais today brought some pleasant surprises. There was a little more space in the stock room after clothes packs had been handed out and some less used items had gone to storage. That made it much easier to find and put away clothes.

The team today split into sorting donations and getting packs ready for new requests, with Kash focused on new women's donations. There were plenty of clothes to check and size. Kash also found some interesting and unusual items, including:

• Impressive and uncomfortable looking golden heels
• A large donation of clutch bags
• A portable DVD player, along with some holiday home videos

Sevan was working with task owner Tamzin to get packs ready for recipients. With no standard packs ready to add to, every request had to be started from scratch and this time there were a number of husband and wife requests.

As well as the usual men's clothing requests, Sevan was dispatched to find some summery women's clothes and was asked to be generous. Light trousers, dresses and skirts were easy to find. Every top he pulled from the boxes had long sleeves though. A legacy of donations from older, colder times. After a lot of rummaging, vests and cheerful short sleeves were discovered and used to complete the requests.

Another session with Care4Calais is planned for later this month, so sign up here to help out.