A group of 10 GoodGymers, including first timer Kate, descended to Lammas Orchard tonight by piloting their intergalactic wheelbarrows through the atmosphere, steered by rakes and shovels. When they arrived, they found piles of small organic pieces (woodchip) and larger organic chunks (aka chopped logs) in the grounds. Looking at the different forms of matter and their tools, the group wondered if they could be used to improve the planet they'd landed on.

Moving into the garden, the group found that the paths were part woodchipped and a strange wooden log circle was placed in the middle of it. Out of the bushes emerged a being holding something called Strongbow. Much of what he said didn't make sense until their translators managed to interpret:

"Each of these logs was a person. This one here with a hole in it was John" - Strange being

Clearly this was a local burial ground and the beings were somehow transformed into inanimate objects. What a strange place this was. The group's thoughts went back to the pile of logs at the entrance and how those ex-beings must have been unceremoniously placed on top of each other. What about the chips of wood. Were they mini beings?! The GoodGymers decided that they all deserved better than laying around in mounds.

The group split into two, with one part focused on honouring those big beings who'd been woodened. They set out to create a memorial circle like the one that honoured John's memory. The wooden beings were carefully transported to the newly created shrine.

The second group focused on what they thought must be the little beings. Their destination was less orderly. They meandered through the garden like a river, curving and threading themselves between the trees. The path was never taking the direct route from point to point. How curious.

After an hour, the mothership called. It was time to report back on what the GoodGymers had found on the planet. They grouped in the wooden circle they'd created and waited to be sucked back into orbit where they'd tell stories of the unusual culture that they had encountered and update their guide to the galaxy to include this planet, Earth.

On a dark Tuesday night, a couple of officers from Ealing Patrol Service sat in their car, watching hypnotising flashes of the lights mounted on top of their vehicle. It was the most exciting sight they could hope for in the tranquillity of nighttime Walpole Park.

Suddenly, three wheelbarrows rolled in front of their car. The officers blinked in disbelief.

Are those wheelbarrows?!

We are a volunteer group called GoodGym. We borrowed some tools from ranger Jon to help in the community garden across the road. We know it's dark and that it looks weird.

The people with wheelbarrows disappeared into the darkness. The officers weren't sure whether they were hallucinating or not.

In the neighbouring Lammas Park Enclosure, fairies were having a party at the wooden circle in the middle of the community orchard. When they heard loud wailing, they hid in the holes of the trees and under the bark of old logs surrounding the party area. No one would tell that the pixies were having a good time there a few seconds ago. Only a blue plastic carrier bag with an empty beer can inside rolled through the orchard like tumbleweed.

The wailing noises were coming from a wheelbarrow borrowed from Trevor of Ealing Transition, the mastermind behind tonight's movements in the Enclosure. And there were quite a lot of movements happening! First, the GoodGymers, the people who brought the haunted wheelbarrow and three well-behaved barrows, moved the old, rotting logs from the fairies' circle into a dedicated log decomposition zone. They replaced the decommissioned logs with new ones that would make nice seats for the fairies. The GoodGymers even built a coffee table in case Tinker Bell and her mates needed some caffeine to pick them up the next day after the night out. Finally, they spread woodchip from a nearby pile onto the ground at entrances to the Enclosure. Fairies didn't need it to avoid walking on muddy paths. They can fly over the mud after all! The woodchip carpet was made of milled thuja that brought an irresistible forest scent into the Transition Garden.

Once the GoodGymers were gone, the fairies resumed the party, wrecking the new wooden furniture in their magic circle and rolling in thuja chips.

Next week, the GoodGym crew will be wheelbarrowing a different cargo - check out the session in Acton here. We hope to see you there!

Steph earned his wings at today's task in the Transition Garden. Less than 5 months in to his GoodGym life, he'd completed 100 Good Deeds and seen the garden's hillock of wood chip reduced to nothing. Steph had done a fair bit of that shovelling himself and today was no different 💯

4 runners, Steph, Kash, Christos and Sevan started off the evening with a quick run around Walpole Park, followed by the usual breaking in to the storage at the Rickyard, then escaping with wheelbarrowfuls of tools. Tonight, the 4 GoodGymers startled the park goers who were relaxing on benches by running past them in the dark, head torches ablaze, with plastic wheels rumbling and tools dancing around the bed of the barrow.

They met Milly and Jenni who suspected that some people were loitering in the darkness. The others turned their head torches on to full power and ventured in, finding some young folk hiding at the back. The approaching light seemed to scare them off, so the garden was quiet again!

Divya arrived soon after and today's job was described as:

1. Chop brambles from around the fruit trees
2. Placing wood chip around the base of the now freed trees

There weren't enough cutting tools, nor shovels for the 7 people who came, but they made do. Kash and Jenni used their expertise to identify the fruit trees. Everyone got down to either chopping brambles or filling up the wheelbarrows.

By the end of the task, the main objectives were complete and also: 1. The wood chip pile was completely decimated 2. The team was mentally prepared for a new fir scented hill in January created from this year's Xmas trees.

All that was left to do was to celebrate Steph's acheivement in the pub with a tasty slice of cake or two 🍰

We had a lot to cheer and celebrate today at GoodGym Ealing as it was Milly's 300th Good Deed! 💯💯💯 We also had 2 returnees that we hadn't seen recently, Madiha and Liv, who it was great to have back at a task.

We were unsupervised today at Lammas Community Orchard as the task owner Trevor wasn't around. In his place, another local resident appeared to help us out of the blue. We had been asked to finish off woodchipping the walkways in the orchard that we'd started on before and also cutting back the brambles and blackberries that were expanding onto the paths.

With so many GoodGymers, we quickly finished woodchipping and de-brambling. So much so that we spent 30 minutes trying to play with another local, Smokey the cat, who was curious about what the GoodGymers were up to and came to observe - or distract - us.

We finished the task by taking our tools back to the Rickyard and heading to the pub to celebrate Milly's amazing achievement. Well done! 👏👏👏

You know the summer's coming when we hit double-digits of GoodGymers for a Group Run! We were really pleased to welcome Saehee for her first Good Deed and also the return of Callum from the wilderness of Edinburgh. We also had Mark, who a few of us met at a LAGER Can event on Sunday, come along to help us too.

Steph and Sevan ran to the task from Bodyline and arrived ahead of the rest of the group, meeting Trevor, his wheelbarrow and tools outside the Community Orchard. Soon the troop of walkers arrived from the Rickyard with more equipment and we were ready to go.

Trevor had 4 tasks lined up for us:

• Continuing to move woodchip from the pile outside the orchard onto the paths inside
• Tidying up the woodchip pile, so it didn't spill onto a nearby pavement
• Moving some logs to become seating in the fairy circle
• A bonus task of returning a wheelbarrow, now filled with mulch, to its owner

Most of us rotated around shovelling, moving loaded wheelbarrows into the orchard and raking to create level paths. Sevan dug out the hunks of logs hiding in the woodchip pile and these were transported in the wheelbarrows too.

By the end of the task, we'd managed to cover the whole of a hidden path at the back of the orchard with woodchip and the fairy circle too. We'd also moved some suitably sized logs to act as chairs, plus completed the bonus mulch delivery task. A great result!

After the task, we had a quick fitness blast back at the Rickyard and we surprised some unexpectedly passing workmen with our plank technique. We then decided that we'd burned off enough calories to treat ourselves at the social.

Madhan and Kash met early at Bodyline Studios, knowing that GoodGym Ealing is going to welcome a new member today. He materialised in no time and introduced himself as Stephane. Stephane came all the way from Hayes to our area which was the closest GoodGym to him. Soon, a runner in red appeared on the horizon. It was Sevan who was going to lead today's running group. Sevan's and Stephane's names sounded somewhat similar, so Stephane became Steph for us.

Steph, an avid runner himself (we're talking ultra distances here!), decided to join Madhan and Kash as one of the walkers. He had a race lined up the following day and didn't mind skipping the running tonight. Sevan set off for a run via an extended route and still made it first to the task.

Meanwhile, the walking group opened the Rickyard treasury in Walpole Park. Madhan, Steph and Kash borrowed 3 wheelbarrows, 4 shovels and 2 rakes. The equipment was perfect for using woodchips to cover up our tracks. It felt somewhat disappointing that we haven't set off Rickyard's alarm this time!

Emily and Mike arrived just in time to take the wheelbarrows to Lammas Park Enclosure where Trevor, who looks after the community orchard, awaited us with extra tools and barrows. He gave us a briefing about the task which was to cover the bare earth in the orchard with woodchips. The bonus assignment was to fill up the pond in the orchard and water the flower beds in the park. Milly, who felt that water was her element today, volunteered to do the bonus tasks. Claire, who arrived after the water tasks were already booked, joined the rest of the team shovelling, wheelbarrowing and raking woodchips.

The shovelling activity released hidden powers stored in the pile of woodchips. An abundance of warm, smoky steam filled the air.

It smells like toothpaste. - Madhan

We transported the aromatic ash-enriched woodchips to the orchard, rising clouds of dust when offloading them. The air was warm and dry, and the golden sun was passing through the lush greenery of Lammas Enclosure. Quite a different experience when we visited the orchard on a chilly and soggy April evening!

We concentrated on creating lovely paths in the orchard, leaving the work to woodchip under the hedges still to be finished on another day. When it was time to put away the tools, we had to do our due diligence. Because Trevor could meet us only at the beginning of the session, we had to return the wheelbarrows and tools to two nearby addresses - and Rickyard of course! Luckily, the equipment was labelled, so we didn't mix them up. Milly, Mike and Sevan strategically volunteered to return the barrows borrowed by Trevor which made their way to a pub in South Ealing much shorter. Madhan, Steph and Kash went the opposite way, to Rickyard, and joined the rest later.

It was a gorgeous evening and a real pleasure to be outdoors for a task. We look forward to more summer vibes on our future group runs!