Tonight GG Ealing were back in St Mary's churchyard for the first time since their new vicar had taken up residence and since the mammoth churchyard tidy that led up to it. With autumn in full swing, it was time for a last round of weed removal before everything goes into hibernation over the winter.

As well as some Ealing regulars, Sarah, who'd ventured across London on the Elizabeth Line from Greenwich, joined the group of runners and took some atmospheric photos to boot! At the church, tools were taken from storage, head torches were turned on and the team were ready to go. At that moment, a runner came around the corner and was scared that they'd be impaled on Steph's fork!

"Oh, that's dangerous!" - Runner

Forking averted, it was time to start the hunt for brambles and nettles. On one side of the churchyard, there was a path with a few specimens that were dug out or pulled. As they worked their way further along and between the Victorian graves, a plot full of nettles was found, which kept everyone busy for the rest of the session as they were dug out by the roots.

As is the way at St Mary's, one wheelbarrow full of cuttings was stacked around a trunk to compost down and feed the tree, while the rest were left on other conveniently placed compost piles. Next Tuesday, join us to move compost into the Walled Garden in Walpole Park, which'll be a great workout.

What a beautiful morning to start the week! Kash joined Roger, Gary, and Wayne at 8 am to unpack a neatly stacked pallet of exotic produce and fill the shelves of the Community Food Cupboard at St Mary’s Church. Fairly familiar chillies and okra from today's delivery were accompanied by mysterious fruit and leaves from Spitalfields Market. The volunteers identified from the labels on the boxes that the extraordinary goods were cherimoyas and aloe vera.

Aloe vera - not sure if anyone will take those. Isn’t that for skincare? To put on a face?
Do the Food Cupboard clients need a beauty treatment?

Were the customers beautiful enough without aloe vera, or in need of food in the first place? Maybe both. One lady started queuing at 8:20 am for the 1 pm distribution of donated surplus food! Kash spotted her when carrying out the old crates outside the church and stacking them by the road for collection. The next stage was flattening empty cardboard boxes into more flattering shapes.

The last bonus task Wayne gave Kash was to clean mouldy dust off the skin of perfectly good oranges that were in a box with spoiled fruit. Those citruses certainly received their beauty treatment and were ready to dazzle the clients! Having contributed her little bit to one of the most beautiful initiatives in South Ealing, Kash wrapped up and was back to start work just in time!

How did a rosy start of the mission go down the toilet?

On a sunny Sunday afternoon, Sevan and Kash rolled their slightly battered bodies from Ealing to West Kensington. After a 9km run, none of them had fallen apart, which was a good sign, especially for Kash, who hadn’t done that distance in one go since late June.

Mrs J had two types of gardening tasks for GoodGymers: one at high altitude and another at ground level. Sevan, who took the first kind of the job as the taller person, was unsure how he was going to reach the rose bushes - or should I say trees - to deadhead them, four metres or so above the ground. Mrs J had an answer for that: a long-reach telescopic pruner, which she couldn’t wield herself. Kash, on the other hand, started spot weeding flower beds, then moved onto quite a peculiar task of kneading forget-me-nots. According to Mrs J, the carpet of forget-me-not plants kept a little fence around the beds up and kept the neighbours’ cats away from the flower beds. It made sense to Kash that soil obscured by creeping greenery wouldn’t resemble a litter tray anymore. That was a first hint of the toilet coming later into the picture.

After the first round of deadheading roses in the sky, Sevan swapped with Kash and helped her locate more flowers to prune. They worked just like a spotter and a sniper, taking down one rose after another. Quickly, they moved into trimming a tree, whose branches ventured into the neighbour’s territory despite a very tall fence. Kash, usually averse to precision work in a garden, enjoyed long-distance pruning so much she didn’t notice when Sevan cleared all the remaining weeds she had left behind and started bagging the trimmings.

Just when almost all the green waste was packed up, Mrs J surprised the GoodGymers with a question:

Would you be able to install a toilet seat?

The query was primarily aimed at Sevan, as Mrs J seemed to associate masculinity with the loo know-how. Sevan accepted the challenge and learned about Mrs J’s reckless relative after whose visit the toilet seat lost its structural integrity. While Kash entertained herself by stroking Mrs J’s cat and viewing the photos of Mrs J’s late beloved dog, Sevan quickly swapped the old, broken seat with a new one. Mrs J was very grateful for all the help in the garden and restroom.

Thank you so much for your help today - Mrs J
You can think about us while sitting comfortably on the new seat! - Sevan

Today's session for HANGOT had a surprisingly good start. There were 10 GoodGymers registered for the task, which was amazing in itself, including Will who made this is first GoodGym session. Welcome 👋🥳! Everyone also made it to HANGOT's secret undercover base on time and without getting lost. Amazing!

Once assembled, they walked to BlackBerry Corner, one of HANGOT's earliest orchards, with 20 apple trees and a long history of brambles, hence the name. As it was coming to the end of the growing season - for fruit and weeds - it was time to tidy up the orchard. Today's priorities were to:

1. Clear a ring around each apple tree to be free of weeds
2. Remove brambles and nettles from the paths
3. For completeness, cut down the open spaces too

The goal was to starve the ground of nutrients year after year to stunt and then eventually stop the weeds from growing back.

Work was divided up between the team with everyone grabbing a tool for their task. Shears, rakes, wheelbarrows, a pitchfork and a slasher were passed around. Working together, they made quick work of the most important jobs around the paths and trees.

At the same time, some of HANGOT's team were scything the open spaces, leaving lots to be raked up and moved to the distant compost heap. Will did a great job of raking throughout the task, which gave him a solid workout at his first session. A few others felt the fatigue in their muscles too by the end from chopping and slashing.

HANGOT were incredibly grateful that the huge GoodGym turnout had helped them complete all of the planned work. Their compost heap had also gone from zero to humongous, which will be really useful next year. There was even time for some to see their first quince tree fruiting and taking a chance on eating what they'd hand picked.