The story starts like a noir film, with the streets of Ealing pounded by pouring rain. Eleven figures approached the meeting point at Bodyline Studio and brightened up the scene with GoodGym red t-shirts. The narrative instantly turned into an action movie (and later into a comedy of errors)!

Despite the cloudburst, absolutely no one dropped from the session! It was a unique, once-in-a-year task: putting up the signs on lampposts and poles with parking signs for the fantastic Ealing Half Marathon happening on the 24th of September. The intention of the advance signs along the race route was to warn the drivers about the upcoming closure of the streets.

Each GoodGymer today not only showed up not bothered by the heavy rain but also brought something special to make the team strong:

• Parham, who came today for his very first task, brought something we were desperately seeking today - height! 📏
• Sevan and Mike brought step ladders to help us place the signs on a level safe for tall runners and pedestrians 🪜
• Arran and Madhan brought their usual enthusiasm and can-do attitude 💪
• Claire brought a wealth of knowledge of North Ealing 🤓
• Divya brought a bike to carry the Ikea bag with signs 🚲
• Steph brought the perspective of a runner and a biker who would look at the signs 🏍️
• Louise, the guest from GoodGym York, brought a cosmopolitan vibe into GoodGym Ealing
• Finally, Liv brought the signs and instructions ⚠️ - that made the task possible!

Before she had to leave, Liv gave us an overview of the task and the route, complimented by a live demo of the best sign-putting technique.

We split into Team Left and Team Right, each tackling one side of the road. Although we did our best to remain neutral, we couldn't get away from politics. A passerby asked Team Right about sourcing the signs and obtaining permission to put them up. She had some political agenda to share with Ealing drivers and pedestrians. We dodged the question by (rightfully) saying we are only volunteers and the Ealing Half Marathon team is responsible for making sure the signs are put up lawfully.

Do you know that Ealing Half Marathon is a CIC? That means that the profit from the event goes to the local community.

When it started getting dark, each team split into two sub-teams to improve the efficiency.

How many GoodGymers does it take to put up one sign?

The result? The pace increased but both teams got a little bit lost at some point. Eventually, the whole gang arrived at the finish of our section roughly at the same time 🤜🤛 We covered all streets we were assigned to and ended up with four extra signs. To celebrate the success of the task and dry our drenched clothes we headed to the nearest pub for a drink and chat.

We are not done with the Ealing Half Marathon, oh no!

Sign up for GoodGym activities to support runners on the day of the event:

• Join our seasoned performer Harvey as a backup dancer for the warm-up and give the runners the best experience at their start!
• Come to the cheer station to keep the runners going!

Our next week's group run will be a task for Cultivate London - sign up now!

It's officially September! As we found out tonight, it's probably the time to start bringing head torches to the group runs. Despite being caught by darkness by the end of the task, we can say it was a night of many highlights!

• Sevan was celebrating his 400th good deed 💯💯💯💯🔥 - what an achievement, so close to 500 now!
• We completed a task for a new community organisation: St Andrew's Church and Community Centre, thanks to Claire who recommended them
• Annabel made her comeback after recovering from an injury - we missed her a lot!

As usual, we set off from Bodyline, with Madhan, Milly and Annabel walking to the task, and Sevan, Steph Ducat and Kash setting off for a short hill running session. Divya cycled all the way from Hammersmith to meet us at St Andrew's. Together with Mike and Claire he appeared with perfect timing!

The task owners - John and John - were excited about our arrival and confident about our destruction skills. You've read that right: destruction 💥 The task involved a serious cutback of naughty shrubs and small trees that were inviting anti-social behaviour. In other words:

I want you to decimate that shrubbery - John

After the briefing, John and John offered us cold water as the day was hot and gave us a choice of sharp objects: saws, loppers, shears and secateurs. Our eyes lit up immediately, and we were ready for action. In less than an hour, despite meeting a couple of cute pups that were a lovely distraction, we've accomplished our work of destruction.

GROAD - Get Rid Of And Destroy! - Madhan

We picked up the litter excavated in the cutting process, chopped the big branches into pieces, then swept smaller trimmings and piled them against the wall. The area of dodgy activities turned into an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty! And no, that is not an overstatement for the stretch of leafless shrubs and tree stumps. We believe that the place looks much tidier now. Minister Sue from the church, who was out with her dog for a walk, stopped by and admired the transformation. John was very grateful for our work and hoped to see us again for another task.

Some of us headed to Haven Green where we treated ourselves to a Tabata-style fitness session and some stretching, while others went to treat themselves to well-deserved drinks. Eventually, we all ended up in the pub to raise our glasses to Sevan's 400 and nibble on some sweet and savoury snacks.

Next week we are involved in once-in-a-year task - helping Ealing Half Marathon put up signs ahead of the race! Don't miss it and sign up here!

Our GoodGym has a fantastic history of working with St Mary's Church in South Ealing. We haven't been to their church garden for a while. Someone had to make a move and make things happen. That person was Milly. She got back in touch with Vicar Steve and organised a gardening task for us. Result?

14 Ealing GoodGymers weeding, chopping, cutting and pulling trees - that's a 2023 record! 🥳

Today's session featured:

• A welcome to Arran and Louise 🎉 (the latter we had already met at Pitshanger junior parkrun) to GoodGym Ealing - a welcome with a twist! Both of them have been already doing group sessions in Ealing back in 2018, so they should be really welcoming the rest of us! 😆
• Comebacks of Ben and Cam who rushed to the group run so much that the GoodGym logo of his red t-shirt couldn't match his pace and was left behind. We are sure it will catch up with Cam before his next group run
• The usual suspects: Claire, Mike and Milly
• Cyclists: Emmanuella, Madiha and our Hammersmith friend, Divya
• Runners: Steph, Sevan, Kash and already mentioned Ben who all ran through Walpole Park and around Lammas Park to the church - it was a lovely run in the late afternoon sun 🌞
• Madhan who walked to the task which earned him his own category on this list!

Milly and Ben volunteered to help inside the church move boxes with documents. The task involved heights and climbing a ladder. Our heroes' skills could match the Horsenden mountain goats, so no one fell down. Steph and Mike were taken on a special expedition to cut back a large tree. The rest of the group stayed in the main garden area that was troubled by weeds.

Our main enemies were:

• Sycamore tree saplings - they grew from the seeds fallen from the nearby adult trees and covered the area like a carpet. We had to remove them with the roots while they were still young before they all turned into full-sized trees!
• Brambles - Ealing is already full of brambles. Why would they hesitate to enter the land of a holy building?
• Bindweed - there was surprisingly little of that bad boy but pulling it was satisfying as usual!

In an hour we transformed the area, making the weed blanket disappear and the clear ground reappear. We made space for the native perennial plants to thrive. Steve was pleased with our efforts and was sure our work will help the area's biodiversity.

After we transported all the garden waste to the back of the church garden, it was time to...

go to the pub!

...but then an alternative appeared:

who would like to do a fitness session first?

There were seven takers for the fitness. They were served an easygoing core workout with a focus on the lower back, followed by musical planks. The latter was a brutal survival game in which the players enter a grassy arena and run around cones accompanied by classical music. When the music stops, a person who cannot find a cone to plank in front of is out of the game. Did I mention burpees as the penalty? Ealing was by Hammersmith's plankiator Divya who earned the title of the King of Planks.

The fitness session was so absorbing that the group that exercised showed up a the pub too late to mingle with the original party crew. Nevertheless, they stayed for a quick one and enjoyed the still warm August night in the pub garden 🍻.

Next week we are running to Acton to flyer for the Reduce & Recycle Hub.

A week after, at the group run, we tackle a task similar to the one at St Mary's but for a new church - St Andrews Church and its community centre! It is 5 minutes walk from Ealing Broadway. Check it out here.

The Canvas 🖼️

Open Ealing Art Centre, wanted to paint their studio with a fresh coat of white paint so that they can open it up sooner for the next batch of art and education. Mandie, the operations manager of Open Ealing, explained the task. She had prepared everything that was needed for the task. We had rollers of different sizes, paint trays, two buckets of white paint, plastic wraps, clothes, and other materials to cover the floors, Latex gloves, plastic aprons, and paintbrushes.

Mandie said that we only needed to paint the walls up to a certain height and not the roofs which made things simpler for us.

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The Artists 🧑‍🎨

Sevan - Measured and poured the paint into the trays evenly and was the only one who used a paintbrush to cover the nooks and corners and touch-ups wherever needed.

Kash - Who has lots of experience with painting tasks, took a roller brush, and moved up and down against the walls.

Emmanuella - Who never painted before took a long roller brush and gained experience by the end of the day. She had paint on her face just a minute after her first stroke.

Emmanuella is on a roll and did 5 tasks in her first week of joining GoodGym

Divya - Our regular visitor from Hammersmith, owned a wall to his own and started painting aggressively.

Harvey - After completing the Gunnersbury park run and having tasted Liv's 250th park run celebration cake, arrived earlier to the task and was the well-prepped GoodGymer of the day. He put on his painting clothes before starting the mission.

Claire - Also joined us after completing her park run this morning and suggested the use of masking tape to cover the corners. She then come with up a bright idea to turn the lights on as it was a bit dark inside. She couldn't withstand the humidity and hotness after some rapid painting and cooled her down with cold water.

Madiha - Took a long roller brush and tried reaching the roof and covering as much as possible. She had previous experience with GoodGym painting as well. She couldn't stay for the group photo at the end.

Madhan - Took pictures at awkward angles for the reports and carefully painted to not spill paint on his GoodGym T-shirt. But ended up getting paint on his track pants instead.

GoodGym Ealing surprised Mandie and themselves by completing the painting task within an hour

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The Cleaners 🧼

As we had more than 30 minutes left in the task, Kash suggested that we would help wash the brushes and trays and the paint is water-based. But the washing area is a bit cramped and only one person can wash at a time.

Divya, Harvey, and Emmanuella started pouring the remaining paint back into the bucket.

Then Divya started washing the trays, while Kash was assisting him, and then Emmanuella joined Divya and left after cleaning the tray. Kash was explaining the process of cleaning paints from the roller to Emmanuella and after 20+ minutes of squeezing and scrubbing, they completed the cleanup process.

Claire was removing the masking tapes whereas Harvey after removing some paint off the floor set his eyes on a lovely chair and then couldn't stop posing as a 'Thinker'.

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Refreshment 🧉

Along with all the painting materials, we had some refreshments arranged for us. Ice cold water bottles, Elderflower sparking water, squash, biscuits, and brownies to name a few. Some of us treated ourselves to the refreshments. We also had the option of Tea/Coffee but we stick to cold water as it was humid and hot inside.

Sevan got engaged in a conversation with Mandie on how the Open Ealing operates. And Claire was doing her stretches supervised by Harvey. Madiha left earlier so she couldn't be part of the group picture. After the successful completion of the mission, everyone parted ways and half the team met after two hours for another mission in Acton Central.