After the HANGOT green task at Osterley Lock we wandered over to No. 6 Coffee for a well deserved break. We were slightly dubious of the choice to toast banana bread and the milkiness of the milkshake (they seemed to take the name quite literally) but a lovely time was had by all. It was great to properly welcome our newest Goodgymers, Shubham and Purva.

On another HANGOT day, the sun came out to play. That was good news for the team as they would find out later. With most of the group present, the HANGOT and GoodGym volunteers took a long walk along the Grand Union Canal to Osterley Lock Orchard, where the fruit trees needed a good mulch and dead plants needed to be cleared.

The team put their 4 wheelbarrows to work, with Ashley, Steph and Kash joining HANGOT volunteer Mas in filling wood chip into wheelbarrows and shuttling it to the orchard at Osterley Lock, where Iram, Sophie and Sevan were ready to remove weeds, spread the wood chip and chop back any dead plants.

"I have a small challenge if you'd like it."
"Can GoodGym take mulch to the terrace?"
"It's at the top of the hill, so we don't often go there." - Hillary

That did sound like a challenge. None of the GoodGymers had been to the terrace before though, so no one knew where the hill was how how difficult it would be to get to the top. At that moment, Shubham and Purva arrived for their first GoodGym task, joining the others to power wheelbarrows up the muddy path to the sun-drenched orchard up the hill. Welcome to you both! 👋

With mulching of the terrace trees complete, everyone gathered to celebrate 🎊 Iram's 50th good deed 🎊. The only snag was that Iram's epic battle with burdock had left her covered in burrs and she needed some emergency hairdressing, expertly performed by Ash. Iram achieved the "black belt" sash under a year since she started attending tasks, then writing creative reports, leading tasks and finally promoting GoodGym through the videos that she creates and shares online. That's some journey. The coveted black GoodGym t-shirt will be heading Iram's way soon. Congrats Iram! 🥳

Everyone returned to the main orchard for some speed mulching and chopping in the last few minutes of the session. Then, it was time for the group photo and a walk through Elthorne Park to a local coffee shop for social and some refreshments.

We'll be back helping HANGOT in April for our regular monthly session. Sign up here.

When nine GoodGymers stood on muddy crossroads in the middle of Grove Farm woodland, Mike, the leader of the regular volunteer group, asked an existential question.

Who wants to be a beaver today?

Ash, Melissa, Thaiza and Kash decided they would identify as beavers and use their natural talents to help Mike strengthen the dams, slowing the flow of the Grove Farm stream.

Find me some wood!

Big and small, half-rotten or three-quarters-rotten logs and branches were stacked on top or wedged against the existing two wooden dams to prevent the construction from falling apart. The aim was to extend the dams' lifespan and prevent water from leaking onto the paths. Pretty good for faux beavers, right? How effective the intervention was, time will tell, but it was lots of fun - particularly for those prepared and wearing wellies like Thaiza!

Meanwhile, Devi, Richard, Harvey, Steph and Sevan were up at the wood anemone battlefield, fending off a bramble attack. The thorny plants never knew when to stop, so the blackberries kept growing ahead of the anemones blooming season next month. The good news was that, within the last three years of helping Friends of Grove Farm, we weakened the brambles enough that they haven't grown back in full power since. That means less work for the new GoodGymers, but, hopefully, more wood anemones for everyone to see at next month's conservation day!

Skirting Ealing’s lower borders, the Grand Union Canal leisurely bends this way and that – like a discarded piece of Brit-boiled spaghetti, perhaps, or a generous dollop of blueberry jam dribbled onto the edge of a green Ealing-sized, Ealing-shaped plate. For sure, it’ll eventually deliver its watery wares to the Thames, but it’s got no deadline and it knows it. However, as it glides blithely past Hanwell, it passes a series of orchards where things are more urgent. The space was reclaimed from its gritty industrial aftermath in 2017 and is now used to grow fruit trees, an initiative started by Hanwell and Norwood Green Orchard Trail (HANGOT, and no, we can’t think how to get the ‘U’ in there either). But the trees grew a little too enthusiastically last year, threatening the local ecosphere with something of a hug of death. They need cutting back, and the soil’s nutrients could use a boost. So HANGOT teamed up with GoodGym’s Ealing division to make that happen.

Lead by Sevan, GoodGym offered help in the form of twelve keen folks (“A raker’s dozen”, Sevan quipped), each keen to grab a shovel, a wheelbarrow, secateurs or, indeed, a rake. Steph and Harvey were amongst a group focused on defibrillating the soil back into life with shovels and a pile of mulch the size of a small hill. “This is beautiful mulch. The things that GoodGym teaches you…” mentioned Harvey, just in case you assumed mulch was anything other than oversized soggy wooden breakfast cereal. The pile was distributed and the trees were grateful for it.

Time for surgery via secateurs. While Team Mulch were busy wheelbarrowing their chunks of Soggy Brown Wet, Max and Sevan assisted the HANGOT volunteers busy chewing away the tree’s overgrown branches. (Though with shears, not teeth. HANGOT has no giraffes on their team…yet.) Both, however, were mindful of the brutally impressive two inch thorns that hedgehogged off the branches. “Whoever said ‘Nature is kind’ never had to deal with it repeatedly stabbing you in the hand”, Max murmured. (Sevan offered him a pair of spare protective gloves, and all was well.) The resulting bundles were piled into wheelbarrows and moved to areas that West London fauna consider impressive real estate. With the area cleared and primed for a fresh fruit crop destined for the Nutri-bullets of health-conscious locals, we moved onto the piggeries.

Spoiler: there were no pigs. Or a wolf. Or houses built from straw or brick, though there were plenty of sticks had any construction-inclined swines been available. In truth, it was more of the same here – but towards the west end of the enclosure, the overgrowth took on an almost jungle-like tone. So as we continued our operation (Mulch, mulch, mulch. Dig, dig, dig. Thorn, in, hand, ow.) we moved all the chopped-off wooden goodness to this natural biodiversity sanctum. And in the mild sun of a pleasantly warm February, it felt positively glorious.

With the work wrapped up, we went on our way to a local coffee shop at a gentle walking pace not unlike that of the Grand Union Canal itself. “We couldn’t have done it without you,” assured HANGOT volunteer Magda. Which gave us a final reason why doing good really can feel it, too.

A sunny Saturday morning following a week of greyness. Ivy hanging from the tall trees of Grove Farm like a canopy. Yellow mushrooms against a pattern of brown bark. A carpet of moist leaves rolling down a muddy slope. Calmness filled with faint birdsong coming from above. And then a sudden whirr of hedge trimmers and clink of shears. What's happening?

A group of people, mostly wearing red, are chopping large patches of baby brambles with zeal and enthusiasm. Is that how woodland conservation is supposed to be? Well, yes! According to Mike, a friend of Grove Farm, blackberries, if not kept in check, are taking over green spaces and suppressing the growth of other species that should be part of the ecosystem. And we believe him, because we've seen that in the past two years of helping at Grove Farm. Without a little help from volunteers fighting off brambles, the wonderful wood anemones wouldn't be able to bloom in March and April! See how they looked in the past!

This January, volunteers Mike and Livio are joined by seven GoodGymers: runners Steph, Sevan, and Kash, walkers Ash and Thaiza, and cyclists James and Richard. Richard is actually a runner too, and he already did a parkrun in the morning. Now, swapping swimming for shearing makes a different kind of triathlon for him!

The results of our conservation work from previous years have made a visible difference. The 2026 brambles are much smaller and more spread, compared to what we've dealt with in the past. A single session of cutting back and raking today allows us to clear the entire slope alongside a woodland path, and give wood anemones a strong boost. With enough sunlight reaching the ground, their flowers will be stunning in the spring!

The brambles never stop growing, though, and we'll need regular visits to Grove Farm this winter to stay in control of the wood anemone territory. Our February session will be another opportunity to help biodiversity, while enjoying a forest-bathing session by absorbing nature’s sights, sounds, and smells. If boosting wellbeing by spending time in nature and doing something impactful sounds like something for you, sign up to join us!