On a bright Saturday morning Chikako, Sevan and Kash joined Acton Litter Collective in their relentless fight to bring order to the streets of the Mill Hill area in Acton. The litter pickers' efforts pay off - we see less waste every time we show up to get involved in their clean-up. One day the litter collective may need to move to greener pastures to tackle the areas where more support is needed.

The GoodGymers met Elisabeth from Acton Litter Collective who handed them the equipment. Sevan, who couldn't stay for a full hour, running to another task far away, was deployed to clean up the alleyway leading to Acton Gardens. Chikako and Kash's task was to pick the litter from both sides of Avenue Road, then continue to the left along Gunnersbury Lane, towards Halfords.

It's always a mess there. - a key player in Acton Litter Collective

Chikako and Kash made it further than Halfords. They walked past Acton Town station and reached the Cultivate planters where GoodGym Ealing worked earlier in May. They went all the way there to realise the route wasn't too littered. Apart from a few plastic bottles, they kept finding small, unimpressive litter - mostly cigarette butts.

Sevan was more successful, finding a baby cot (the baby was not included). We were not sure whether that classifies as litter but we thought that it was a pretty remarkable find.

Another record-breaking turnout from GoodGym at the Mill Hill Park litterpick! Having six GoodGymers was quite impressive, especially when the community mission collided with the parkrun start time! Some of us, on the way to Acton, met our GoodGym friends heading out to run or volunteer at the Gunnersbury parkrun.

We were wondering if there would be enough litter for all of us but Elisabeth from Acton Litter Collective was very happy with our numbers because many of the 9 am regulars were away that week. She brought us additional litterpickers, welcomed new joiners, and tried to remember all the names.

We split into pairs and headed out into Acton backstreets to search for more interesting finds than the ubiquitous cigarette butts. We came back with artifacts from our not so distant past, from school accessories to technology from late 20th century.

Notable findings:

• Bike computer
• Sexual Healing CD case
• 3/4 of a VHS cassette
• J keyboard key
• Set square & ruler
• Sports shoes
• Dogs demanding treats
• A snail colony

We had 5 amazing GoodGymers come along this morning for the weekly Mill Hill litter pick with the Acton Litter Collective. With the weather improving, Madiha was able to cycle over to Acton too and it was great to see her again.

As we were in greater numbers than expected, the organiser, Elisabeth, had to go and find more equipment. Once we had our litter pickers and waste bags in hand, we headed off to find what the streets of Acton had to offer this morning.

Normally we find something unusual on the otherwise respectable streets around Mill Hill and today was no different. Kash and Jenni paired up to find some still packaged broccoli that was past its best and a marijuana grinder (or so we're told). Sevan and Chikako covered a different set of streets whose litter was no less odd, including a tyre and a laminated card containing the photo of a deity.

With the other volunteers we collected a total of 12 bags of litter, leaving Acton's streets a bit cleaner and more enjoyable for the residents.

Four GoodGymers met in Acton this morning, to help with a community litter pick. We all set off in different directions, targeting known local litter hotspots.

After an hour we re-grouped and shared our finds - Sevan had found some soul food packing and crescent moon jewellery amongst his haul, but tissues and wet wipes were common in everyone's pickings!

Between us and the rest of the volunteers, we collected 11 bags of litter, and just in time for the council collection van to take them away!

Then it was on to a quick refreshment break for Sevan, Kash and Jenni, before their next task at Cultivate.

A 9 am litter pick might not be the first thing you want to do on Saturday morning. The members of Acton Litter Collective think otherwise. They gather weekly at the same spot to fight waste on the streets of the Mill Hill Park area. Today GoodGymers joined them for the 4th time and were assigned to clean up a new location: the slope of Mill Hill Road going down and Mill Hill Terrace.

On the way to that site, Sevan and Kash covered Langley Drive, which was pretty clean, and the Pocket Garden - that one had its deep pockets full of unexpected and disgusting litter! The GoodGymers fearlessly stepped into the depths of the Pocket Garden to reach its back and find stuff like two dreadful nappies, bones and soggy pieces of an outfit.

Notable findings:

• an almost intact lolly 🍭

• two full nappies 🚼🚼

• a huge chunk of flatbread 🫓

• shoes, top and jacket - sadly, no bottoms 👟👕🧥

Do you know that today 10% of the 9 am Acton litter-busters group was GoodGym? This number was actually low compared to the previous two sessions - there was a fantastic turnout among the non-GoodGym regulars this time. That might have had something to do with coffee ☕ and cake 🍰 at Elisabeth's (she is the organiser)!

GoodGym's Kash and the litter-picking regular, Lynne, were tasked to clear the area leading to the small Sainsbury's in Acton Gardens. They headed South, chatting and collecting rubbish from the streets. Lynne was curious about GoodGym and pleased with the idea of fitness volunteering.

They split when they reached the Acton Gardens neighbourhood: Lynne went left, and Kash went right. Lynne has promised Kash a very filthy area around Sainsbury's, and it was indeed a litter-mageddon! ☄️ Kash got her waste bag full just by going to the street in front of the store!

After being warmed up by the run to the task, Kash haven't put her jacket on and worked as a GoodGym ad with her red t-shirt in plain sight. As a result, she was approached by a gentleman walking his dog 🐕, curious about joining volunteering efforts in the area. Kash filled him in about the weekly 9 am litter-pick and, of course, GoodGym, leaving him with our business (post)card to not forget to check us out.

On her way back Kash reunited with Lynne, scoring some good mornings and thank yous from the friendly locals passing by - how rewarding! Kash skipped the other reward - coffee and cake - and headed on to the next task. It was great to meet new people and spread the word about GoodGym around!

Notable findings:

🦪 an oyster (the real thing, not the card!)