After meeting at the morning community mission at Acton junior parkrun and going opposite ways to help different areas, Harvey and Kash reunited at Bixley Allotments for their last task this week.

The mound of hidden rubbish where the GoodGymers dug out bikes last month still needed attention. While Harvey and Kash worked their shovels to excavate ancient litter, "The Boss" arrived.

Here comes trouble...

Matwinder enthusiastically wheeled onto the narrow path to the allotment and brought some fresh perspective to the Bixley plot.

Did you see the tulips? They are beautiful!

The GoodGymers looked around. Indeed, Bixley was not reduced to the rubbish mound behind the shed after all. The flowers looked gorgeous!

Mani took Harvey, Kash and the least flat-tyred of the wheelbarrows on a side quest outside the boundaries of the allotment. They ventured to Southall to pick up a nano polytunnel parts and deliver it to Bixley. Once back on site, Mani shoved it inside the mini polytunnel. Hopefully, no parts were missing. That was a surprisingly quick and easy job after all the work on building the macro polytunnel at Western Road!

Harvey and Kash finished the session, taking out the bags with collected litter to dispose of in the bins nearby, then had an excellent walk back in the sun towards Hanwell along the canal towpath.

GoodGym Team had been previously hired by Mani for all sorts of jobs: construction, kung-fu training, filmmaking and dirty jobs you don't want to know about! This time GoodGymers came to Bixley Field Allotments for excavation work.

Instead of a team of expert archaeologists, GoodGym sent a gang of treasure hunters, including GoodGym versions of Indiana Jones, Nathan Drake and Lara Croft.

With spades, forks and ploughs, the trio dug into an antique pile of soil and rubbish behind the fig tree and found all sorts of treasures:

• ancient aliens' weapons
• unidentified rusty metal pieces
• buckets with organic-smelling substances
• a very long hose
• an engine

This is what we'll need when we have to rebuild the civilisation

• footwear

Oh, a Roman shoe! - Luis That's a Cinderella shoe! - Steph

• a handlebar

The handlebar-shaped thing sticking out from the soil looked interesting, so the team kept digging. After some more unearthing work, Luis realised he was standing on a bike wheel!

Maybe it is a bike cemetery. This is where bikes come to die. - Luis

Kash soon dug out the top part of the frame and the saddle. In the soil near the seat, the group kept uncovering quite large bones.

It is the rider! - Steph
It was a very, very huge chicken! - Luis

After locating the chain and one of the pedals, the GoodGymers attempted to pull the bicycle out of the soil, but it wouldn't move. Steph decided on a more radical approach and devastated the earth covered with roots on the top of the bike's rear wheel with a plough. All three treasure hunters pulled the frame once again, and this time, the whole bike raised from its grave - and not just one...

There are two bikes tangled together!

Now Steph and Kash had bikes and could go on a ride with the cyclist, Luis, along the canal! Or maybe to a repair shop first.

That was an impressive find and an achievement that desired a break. The GoodGymers, and the regular volunteers Shaz and Julia, gathered by the shed, and Mani fetched snacks. The refreshments included water and hot, fresh samosas Mani promised Kash on Thursday. Julia brought more of her mum's crab apple jelly and distributed it among the group.

The session ended early, with Kash walking back to Southall centre for a mission, Luis riding back home, glad he dodged the forecasted rain, and Steph taking it easy on the way home after his morning 10km race and a run to the task.

Despite best efforts to finish the manure-move-manoeuvre at Western Road Urban Garden a.k.a. filming the Poopa's Delight documentary, the GoodGym team was low in numbers and seemed slightly overwhelmed by a massive pile of... manure.

Mani, the manager of Feeding Ealing, and the mastermind behind today's project to secure a plastic sheet of a polytunnel and then move the horse dung inside the construction, had to make a tough decision. He called his regular volunteers from Bixley Allotments and said he was cancelling today's session, redirecting all hands to Western Road. Three GoodGymers: Miriam, Steph and Kash, were already there, shovelling and whellbarrowing like crazy.

Mani hands make light work

Mani rolled up the sleeves himself and got to work. Small shovels, flat tyres of the barrows - nothing could stop the combined power of GoodGym Ealing and Mani. Except for the time. Because the GoodGym gang had been working non-stop at the 2-hour task before, seamlessly blending themselves into the replacement Bixley session, Kash made a deal with Mani to drop the tools at 3 pm. After all even GoodGymers need to eat and rest. Sometimes.

The manure pile shrunk significantly after the relentless effort of the team, and the ground inside the polytunnel had a decent fertiliser coverage. Mani was grateful for the help he received from GoodGym today and offered the volunteers samosas, pub lunch or at least chocolates as thank you. The last option was taken. Yet another determined effort to make the community food-growing vision a reality!

Western Road is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.

GoodGym Ealing presents
a Feeding Ealing production

POOPA'S DELIGHT

CAST
Miriam as Female GoodGymer in Red
Harvey as Male GoodGymer in Red
Steph as Male GoodGymer in Black
Kash as Female GoodGymer in Black
Mani as Mani

Casting Director: Kash
Music Composer: Wind & Sirens
Costume Designer: GoodGym
Associate Producer: StephDucat
Director of Photography: Kash
Producer: GoodGym
Writers: Life
Director: Mani

The Sunday's task at Western Road promised an easy way to stardom. Apart from being a part of the Feeding Ealing project to finish setting up a community polytunnel in Southall, four GoodGymers who joined the session were daring enough to come and claim some small-screen fame! A one-person film crew was supposed to come to the site and film the exploits of the mighty GoodGym Ealing! Sadly, the professional filmmaker was defeated by the broken Elizabeth Line and didn't make it to Southall.

With no cinematographer in sight, Kash decided to take an opportunity and become the Director of Photography and camera operator. Mani, the lead of Feeding Ealing and Southall Transition, took the role of the Director. He briefed the actors about what was going to happen. There was a polytunnel job, of course. Steph quickly volunteered to be the male lead in that feature film, citing his height as his advantage. The rest of the cast ended up deep in... manure.

A brown carpet, rather than a red carpet, unfolded in front of Miriam and Harvey, who bravely picked up the tools and got to work like real farm people. They performed with passion and authenticity, ignoring the fact that the tools they got were... well, props. Tiny spades in place of shovels and three flat-tyred wheelbarrows didn't deter them at all as they kept digging and moving the horse poo inside the polytunnel. Kash became a part-time manure shoveller too, dividing her attention between filmmaking and the task. Harvey, also wanting to contribute more to the production, took the initiative in directing by adding eclectic elements of a pirate movie: GoodGymers walking the plank when entering a polytunnel!

After Steph and Mani fixed the tape protecting the polytunnel's plastic sheet from metal poles (that can get very hot in the summer), the climax of the movie ensued. Mani drilled holes in wooden planks that would become the polytunnel's doorframe. Then, four GoodGymers had to pull the plastic sheet inside the construction, so that Mani could attach the planks to a maximally extended sheet. That isometric hold exercise seemed to take forever as Mani's electric screwdriver was... well, a prop. Finally, the doorframe was in place, and the GoodGymers were released. That was the most difficult scene to act.

There was still the epilogue to perform, in which the bottom of the polytunnel sheet had to be secured with the weight of soil. A prison-style scene was enacted, with Miriam and Steph digging a trench before wheelbarrowing the soil and unloading it onto the sheet.

After two hours of filming work, the cast started losing their hopes for the Academy Award, but they felt that the real reward was in the service to the community.

You start off thinking you're gonna give something, you're gonna help out, you're gonna volunteer, but actually, you'll soon realise you'll get more back than you put in, and that's a really unexpected surprise. - Harvey

GoodGymers are some of the best volunteers I work with. Unwavering, spirit to serve, tireless, and I can't seem to praise you enough! - Mani

Sunny Sunday afternoon and 3 Goodgymers met at Bixley Triangle : would they disappear in the triangle? Mani greeted us and we wished each other a Happy New Year as we have not seen Mani this year. It was a day of clearing areas, moving compost, picking up litter and putting rubbish away. Mario(Sevan), Luigi(Steph) and Princess Peach(Kash) were in Mario Bros world where the Go karts were replaced by wheel barrows. The track was alleys of the allotment, the main path and the canal area leading to the massive bins. The 3 tried to avoid items on the track such as rubbish, logs, chairs, gates and pavements. No banana skins but just flat tyres which made the wheelbarrows go in zigzags as if we were drunk or oil was on the track. Rubbish was collected from the compost pile and dropped in the local bins. Compost pile was moved and also spread on the allotment to give place to a maybe future chicken area. Then massive logs were moved to an area where we were told could become the mushroom plantation...yes super powers for Mario, Luigi and Princess Peach. for their next adventure. Did Steph find and eat a massive peppermint cookie? After a great race or adventure the 3 garden buddies left : Sevan went his separate way as meeting his mom. Kash and Steph had a easy run along the canal with a beautiful sunset in the background.

GoodGym's first visit in 6 weeks to Bixley Field wasn't as muddy as expected. Mani was happy to see them as he had jobs lined up that the regular volunteers needed some young GoodGym muscle to help with.

Kash and Sevan were first asked to clear out the area between the shed and the back fence. This was an area that none of the volunteers had ventured into before.

"I don't think I've ever seen the back of the shed" - Julia

"No one has. Lots of junk and weeds!" - Shaz

Shaz was right, there were lots of weeds and other assorted junk for Kash and Sevan to rake, chop and dig out. With some help from Shaz, they were able to pile 6 wheelbarrows high with plant waste as well as uncovering plastic piping, a disintegrating rug and a couple of coat hangers lined up as if it had been someone's walk-in wardrobe.

Part way through, priorities changed and another GoodGym speciality was requested. Destruction of wooden structures. Divy and Christos weren't around with the Cultivate sledgehammer today, so Kash and Sevan made do with their lethal hands and feet. The compost heap was moving elsewhere on the allotment site, which is another part of Matwinder's master plan to plant a fruit forest at Bixley.

The components of the composter were relocated, with the good wood stacked up and the rotting pieces were set aside to create a bug hotel, which Matwinder said would be really exciting for children to see. There were a few mishaps along the way, but soon enough the composter was gone.

"I just stepped in a leak" - Kash

"The vegetable?" - Sevan

"No, a puddle" - Kash

Thankfully marrow season is over, so when the day's harvest was shared at the end of the session, potatoes, kale and brussel sprouts were on offer.