The third session with Clean Up River Brent this summer eventually brought us a new chapter in the river’s story: planting! After hacking the unwanted plants last month, Andrew, Steph Ducat, Sevan and Kash were back at the Gurnell / Sixty Trees Way in Greenford to prepare the riverbank soil for the plants that had finally been delivered to Ben from CURB. The Ealing GoodGymers were joined this time by Maxime from GoodGym Hounslow and balsam bashers Andres and Mark.

While the team was getting into wellies or waders on that hot July morning (it was already 30 degrees!), Ben lined up the boxes with plugs and a bag of reeds in rows. The plants were arranged in the order in which they would be placed on the riverbank:

• Juncus - their grass-looking plugs would be planted directly in the gravel, where the water was shallow; their superpower is to filter the junk out of water - they are amazing at fighting the river pollution!

• Iris - those flowering plants can tolerate either very dry or very damp environments (depending on the variety); their beautiful flowers easily attract both human and pollinator attention.

• Typha a.k.a. bullrush - according to Ben, those were the plants whose dark brown spikes looked like cigars; we couldn’t tell that from the appearance of the young plants yet, but could imagine them as a typical wetland inhabitant that is great at accumulating toxins from polluted water.

• Reeds - or Phragmites; those aquatic plants can easily grow taller than a person (maybe not taller than Ben); their roots are excellent at filtering out impurities from sewage water, which sadly enters the River Brent.

• Hemp agrimony - this herb’s fluffy florets are irresistible for pollinators; despite cannabinum in the name it’s not the cannabis you may be thinking about.

Ben was hoping for three outcomes of our successful planting session:

• Improvement of water quality

• Habitat creation

• Boosting the riverbank’s aesthetic appearance

Before we got to planting this Sunday, we had to spend some time preparing the soil, which, despite being so close to the water, was quite dry in the hot weather - and full of tangled bramble roots! That’s why we’ve left some of the planting fun for another session in two weeks. Fancy joining us in this biodiversity quest? Sign up now!

There were a few regular runners missing at Acton Junior parkrun this morning, which may have something to do with last night's England vs Norway game at the World Cup that finished late. A few tired eyed volunteers were seen with their sunnies on. The children, the parents or maybe both needed a lie in too, so there were only 40 finishers with a huge 19 volunteers!

After Kat led the warm up, the runners made their way around the course with the runner at the front storming away, finishing nearly a minute ahead of second place. They ran past Alan, Michelle, Steph and Sevan who were all marshaling, then through Kat (again) now as funnel manager to Divya scanning barcodes. The only GoodGymer which they wouldn't have noticed was Kash who was tail walking again at the back.

Well done to Kat for coming all the way from Uxbridge early this morning to keep her Community Mission streak going 👏👏👏! If you're as dedicated and motivated as that, we're back at Acton Juniors again next week, so check out which roles still need to filled and check out how to sign up here.

Early Sunday in Ealing with cooler weather conditions, two Goodgymers who were wide awake not like most of the residents went for a chatty run. As Ealing was waking up slowly due to the late Saturday night England football match, Kash and Steph Ducat went for a chatty run from Ealing Broadway station to Acton Junior parkrun to meet their fellow Goodgymers who for some stayed up late and were hiding their small eyes behind shades. On the run, the sun started to warm the atmosphere and we noticed several water streams in the streets of Ealing until we found a spray of water. Was Kash going to run through it to cool down?Water way to start a Sunday. After a 3.4 km run they both rejoined the GG Crew

Seven GoodGymers congregated at Watermans Park in Brentford with one mission: to transform the park into the hottest music venue in town for the Friends of Watermans Park’s Summer Bandstand Concert.

This free community event brings together local musicians, singers and DJs every saturday in July, and before the first note could be played, there was plenty of behind-the-scenes Goodgym helping hands to make it all happen.

Sevan and Maxime decided there is no such thing as too much bunting. Fence? Decorated. Another fence? Decorated. Pagoda? Obviously decorated.

Meanwhile, Kash somehow managed to squeeze a workout in while decorating yet more bunting on yet another pagoda.

Breda, Michelle, Kymm and Jacqui became unexpected experts in the delicate art of gazebo construction. Thanks to a combination of shifting plans, strategic repositioning and the occasional “mind your fingers”, they successfully assembled gazebos… not once… not twice… but three times! If there's such a thing as a world gazebo assembly championships they would stand every chance of making it through to the knockout stages.

The goodgym crew made such quick work of set up this week that it meant more time for ice lollies before the concert got underway. No goodgymers performed this week, so the local community may have missed out on pitch perfect singing from the backing singers in red t shirts