Thursday evening is Achilles UK evenings. Guides and VI runners meet then run together with different goals for the day, but also to socialise and have a good chat. Despite the typical British weather loads turned up for another great session in Hyde Park. Goodgymers present as usual.

Cliff, the chief gardener at St Mary’s in South Ealing, told us that the cemetery behind the church was meant to be a pollinator-friendly wildflower space, and not an ostensively manicured garden. Yet, after the spring was in full bloom, the back of the churchyard started getting out of control: nettles, green alkanet and other weeds took over the graves, and even Cliff’s superhuman gardening capability wasn’t enough to keep on top of that expansion. That’s where the GoodGymers stepped in.

Sevan led a group of ten nettleslayers, hungry for an evening pull session in a local jungle. Among them were two new faces in GoodGym Ealing: Giovanni, who cycled to his very first task, and Diana, who, despite being active for a few months as an Achilles guide runner, hadn’t completed an Ealing session until today. She also brought a four-legged support, the pooch Padron (pardon me if I misspelt the name), who made all the hearts instantly melt. Welcome Giovanni and Diana - we hope you’ve enjoyed our collective weeding frenzy!

Steph Ducat, Giovanni, Andy and Cliff attacked the left-hand side of the overgrown churchyard back wall, while Anna, Kash, and Harvey started from the right. Sevan, Diana, A.B., and James worked in the middle and eventually met the other two teams, having pulled or cut all the weeds on their way. In an hour, the stretch of graves along the entire brick wall at the back was weed-free!

Every GoodGym session is an opportunity to learn something new. Harvey told us about soldiers who used to whip their arms with stinging nettles to stay awake during their night watches. Since I wore a short-sleeved top while pulling nettles today anyway, I decided to test that method. I am pleased to report that the nettle stings still work, and I haven’t fallen asleep writing this report on Tuesday night.

As the days are now so long that it is still bright outside when we complete an evening task, there’s no excuse not to take advantage of it and come to the Tuesday night session. The weather has been a sheer delight, too! The next opportunity for an evening experience with GoodGym is next week - don’t miss it and sign up now!