Hanwell School of Boxing, a volunteer-led charity offering sports activities to young people of all backgrounds, moved to their current site in 2011. Tonight's task owner, Linda, had been one of the key players in making the move happen. She told us about the building’s history and the improvements made over the past fourteen years. But nothing lasts forever. The wooden posts that have stood at the entrance since 2011 were now rotten, and Linda thought it was time to replace them with five plastic bollards.

Five GoodGym runners who braved the drizzle on their 3 km run to Hanwell split into engineering and sweeping teams. The builders, Steph Ducat and Kash, had the job of removing the aged wooden posts and then digging a trench as per Linda's instructions. Paving blocks, no longer held in place by the poles, and tree roots were only minor challenges, solved by a mattock found by Linda and Steph's jigsaw puzzle skills. The real enemy was the stubborn old concrete, not easily removable to make space for the new bollards. The good news? Nothing is set in concrete at the GoodGym tasks, and there's always an option to change the approach.

After consulting Linda, the engineers agreed the best way forward was to set the new posts in place with minimal digging, then pour a mix of cement and water around them. Steph and Kash flattened the soil and laid the first layer of mixed cement - without a trowel! Who needs a trowel if you can use a random square piece of foam found on premises? The technique Linda suggested for the second layer was to scatter the cement around the poles, then pour water on top. The speed-engineering brought concrete results: maybe not the straightest poles, but certainly stable!

Meanwhile, Thaiza, Harvey and Sevan did what GoodGymers are best at in autumn: leaf sweeping. With rakes and brooms in hand, they set a goal to clear the whole tarmac surface leading to the boxing club. Ambitious! The leaves might not have been heavyweight, but there was an abundance of them. The sweeping team bagged as many leaves as they could fit in Linda's car, who would then distribute the green waste where it was needed. The rest of the fallen leaves had to be swept to the side - maybe for another time to bag. The result? A leaf-free driveway to the boxing school!

Before the team set off for another soggy 3km, Linda invited them inside the club and traditionally offered them hot chocolate and minced pies. The sweet treat was a lovely reward that powered the GoodGymers all the way back to Ealing Broadway.

Kash and Steph Ducat made their way to the church to find the crate of groceries already waiting for them to bring into the food cupboard. What an a peeling task to start the day and week. once all the crates were in, we went all bananas 🍌 as had to separate green and ripe ones in smaller crates. Loads of grapes today too. Once all the crates emptied, we packed them on a pallet ready for collection. last task was to sort out tinned food : soup, custard, loads of beans etc. Then it was time for the 2 minions to leave.

Ms L's large garden had once been a beautiful, exotic oasis, a home of many barbecues by the pond and palm trees. Since Ms L's husband had passed away five years ago, the place had become a run-down home of brambles, ivy and cats. Felines, Ms L didn't mind. She watched those nimble cousins of jaguars with affection in her eyes. But brambles and ivy? Ms L felt bad about the state of her garden, yet her health didn't allow her to maintain the place anymore without her husband.

The garden was like a full-time job for him. Evenings, weekends, there was always something to do here. - Ms L.

Sevan and Kash ran 5km from Dalston Junction to Upper Holloway to offer the lady their gardening support. With such a big garden overtaken by weeds, it was hard to tell where to start. Brambles and ivy, which had spread rapidly and encroached on neighbours' premises, seemed like a good choice to make a big difference.

In Ms L's husband's shed, Sevan found a slightly rusty pair of shears and a fork. He then cut down the ivy sprawling on the flower bed and climbing to the upstairs neighbour's window. His intervention recovered a family of ceramic rabbits and squirrels with an adopted baby elephant, bird and fox. Sevan also dug out some of the ivy roots to prevent the weeds from coming back and threatening the unity of the eclectic herd.

Meanwhile, Kash used loppers with a missing handle to tame the brambles that had grown onto the shed roof and into the neighbour's garden. She didn't get to dig any roots, but tidied the base of one of the palm trees, removing the dead leaves to reach the bramble stalks.

In the end, both GoodGymers ended up with equally large piles of cuttings. There is always time for a little bit of fun at every mission, so Sevan dressed up as Ned Stark with a vegan version of his furry overcoat made of ivy. When both stacks of trimmings were combined into a single monster heap, Kash jumped on it and surfed on it as if it were a sea beast emerging from the ocean.

Ms L was so grateful for the help that she thanked the GoodGymers cordially, and even gave Kash a hug!