The usual Friday evening 7km run and shop for Mr G, this time with extra weight training to help the gentleman stock up on heavy tins of beans and tuna.

On a very hot Saturday, four GoodGymers who had been staying locally for the bank holiday weekend made their way to Grove Farm Nature Reserve. Some of them walked, and others used the opportunity to complete their main run of the day - a rather brutal 8km up three hills in the scorching sun!

Everyone was happy to find out that the task would be carried out in the shade. Giovanni, who came for his second GoodGym session, Sevan, Steph Ducat and Kash, together with Livio and Portia, followed the leader, Mike, to the Whitton Avenue entrance to the park, where they took a turn into the wilder part of the green space.

The job could be summarised as "explorers in the service of biodiversity". The group was tasked with clearing the thick overgrowth to provide park rangers with access to the Japanese knotweed spotted deep in the wilderness. Japanese knotweed is a highly invasive, non-native plant in the UK that was introduced to Europe in the 19th century as an ornamental. Knotweed, commonly found along rivers and streams, where it easily disperses, poses significant problems to native ecosystems if left uncontrolled.

Our explorers ventured upstream the totally dried at this time of the year, Costons Brook, clearing the vegetation along the ditch. The victims of relentless trimming, lopping and sawing were brambles, nettles, ivy and hawthorn - all the aggressively growing plants that would come back in no time. The joint forces of Friends of Grove Farm and GoodGym were up against an invasive, non-native plant, so the sacrifices were necessary.

On the way, the volunteers spotted interesting species of fungi, which the LAGER Can member Sue identified as King Alfred's cake. If you ask me, it looked nothing like a cake, but King Alfred had lived long enough ago for the bakery standards to change completely.

Another intriguing and somewhat creepy find was a Sainsbury's bag, discovered by Giovanni, filled with discarded Barbie dolls. Had someone made a statement by rejecting the symbol of an unattainable female physique or just grown out of their toys, we'll never know!

We made tremendous progress clearing the overgrown ditch, removing larger logs and entire trees on the way, and safely navigating between two old trees that posed the risk of falling. However, the road to the knotweed is long and bumpy, so we'll need to come back in June to cut through the rest of the vegetation. Join us for the conservation day in June!

Hot day and arrived at Mrs P house to cut the grass. Knocked and rang the bell - no answer. Rang her landline - no answer. Waited a few minutes and there she appeared from the road behind me. We went through the house to the back garden. Found the Flymo, but small challenge as the plugs on the side were not working so had to find a working plug in the house leading to the garden. Found one, but then could not find an extension lead so had to search for another plug that would allow the mower to reach the end of the grass section. Eventually found a working socket as seems that an electrician is coming around to sort some of the sockets in the house. I was Flying with the Flymo and discovered a frog....a concrete frog that was hidden in the long grass. As I had some time, I got rid of the weeds on the side of the grass and had a chat with Mrs P as she came and sat in the shade. She has been living in this house for 60 years and worked for Guinness for most of her life. She was super delighted to have someone cut her grass as her husband is no longer and her brother who usually comes to help her has not been around for months as looking after his wife who is poorly. Shifting blades, shifting smiles.

On this gardening mission, assistance was provided to an elderly resident in W5 to help improve and maintain her garden. The tasks completed included weeding garden beds to remove unwanted plants and clear space for new growth. Flower bulbs were then planted carefully in prepared areas to encourage seasonal blooms and improve the appearance of the garden.

In addition, all newly planted bulbs and surrounding plants were watered thoroughly to help them establish and maintain healthy growth. The work helped tidy the garden and create a more pleasant outdoor space for Ms C in W5.

After burning through an impressive pile of woodchip in a single session in March at Lammas Enclosure Community Orchard, the bar was raised for GoodGymers: the woodchip delivery that followed almost doubled the size of the heap! We’d like to say that the number of GoodGymers at the Tuesday sessions also doubled. Well, we are not there yet, but last night we came with a strong team of eight to destroy the new pile, and - more importantly - refresh the path in the enclosure and the Forest School seating area by spreading fresh woodchip.

A range of runners, cyclists and walkers made their way to Walpole Park to help pick up the tools for the task. Sevan, who led the task, Conor and Kash ran from Ealing Broadway, Jo and James cycled, and Marie, Chris and Anna walked to the task. Marie made a big comeback after a break from GoodGym, combining the woodchipping session with plenty of walking for her step challenge - we’re sure she’ll smash it!

While pushing wheelbarrows offered a perfect way to get more steps in the day, raking and loading woodchip into barrows targeted different muscle groups.

”The shovelling is a proper upper body workout!”

With a dedicated team of GoodGymers hungry for an impactful activity, only the number of wheelbarrows available stood in the way of finishing off the woodchip pile. In less than an hour, a thick layer of woodchip was covering the path from the orchard gate to the circle of logs in the Forest School, which was also neatly surrounded by woodchip. Great work, everyone!

Next week, we’re heading 2km East of Ealing Broadway to tackle the litter haunting an alleyway between West Acton and Park Royal. Sign up now!

There were a lot of children at Acton Junior parkrun this morning. It was a surprise to most people, including the Run Director, who hadn't planned for it. Only one of the regulars told Sevan:

"I forgot when the school were coming" 🤫

Yep, a school had encouraged their students to come along today and it had doubled the usual number of runners. Acton Juniors had gained 60 extra participants. Most GoodGymers reported that it was either "busy" or "chaos" with Maria reporting lots of corner cutters, Steph's high fiving hands were working overtime and in the funnel, children and parents were backing up as Sevan tried to scan all of their barcodes. Chaos reigned until reinforcements were put in place.

Kash was tail walking on her 100th parkrun volunteer and to her, everything was pretty normal. The extra numbers didn't make any difference to what was happening at the back of the field.

It took longer than usual to wrap everything up. Most of the new children looked to have a good experience and with any luck will become regulars in the coming weeks and months.