The William Hobbayne Centre is where the magic happens! The wild Burns Night, the fun Quiz Night, and the artsy Christmas Fair - GoodGym Ealing knows all those fantastic community events where Hanwell folk enjoy themselves in the most relaxed atmosphere you can imagine while taking part in fundraising for local causes. We support running those parties, after all! But a different kind of magic happens behind the scenes, or should I say, behind the wall. Tucked behind the centre is an unassuming backyard covered by concrete where the weeds keep growing endlessly. On many occasions, that backyard has been an arena for Ealing GoodGymers to test the weapons of moss destruction: hoes, brushes and even snow shovels! It was no different tonight.

Sue from the Hobbayne Charity welcomed five GoodGymers to the centre and equipped them with tools, gloves and waste bags. We were ready to show the weeds and moss where their place was! A side quest included removing obstructions: moving bricks from the fence to the centre's wall. That task was handled by Freya and Lenka - the latter returning to GoodGym after a few years of hiatus. Great to have you back, Lenka!

Lenka made sure the bricks were cleaned before being stacked again as they were covered in dirt, cobwebs, leaves and snails. The more layers of bricks Freya and Lenka moved, the more wildlife they uncovered: spiders, slugs and even earthworms that must have felt very well in the rotten leaves turned into compost. At the destination, the pristine bricks formed the Great Wall of Hobbayne or the Hanwellian's wall - maybe not as much of a landmark as the Hanwell Viaduct or the Clock Tower, but we were proud of it anyway!

Steph Ducat and Sevan scraped and swept the moss from the ground, accompanied by the sound of violence: the doleful song of a hoe against the concrete. Despite the sun finally coming out in the late afternoon, the snow shovels came in handy - to scoop the waste into the bin bags. In about 45 minutes we were done! If the weather permits, the charity will be able to do a nice send-off for one of their retiring trustees in the back garden.

Next Tuesday we will be supporting the William Hobbayne Charity again - but in their community gardens! We will free as much of the overgrown area as possible to make it accessible again! Sign up now!

This week 12 GoodGym-ers ran 4km to shift sawdust and sweep leaves in a local park.

We started with intros at the Phoenix as always. I mentioned that there are 10 coaches in waiting for runners - so if you're interested in visiting one of those people, please do complete your coach runner training so you can get the ball rolling!

Shout out to our two new Task Forcers: Nicola and Paul – Give 'em a cheer!

Damian lead us to the Northway Gardens while Graham was our trusty back-marker.

Brian was waiting for us with two cars full of tools and leaves, ready for shifting. We split into teams to grab all the things and head through the park to our drop off point. Luckily, there were many of us with lights, as the gardens had no lights. We are now running in full-blown darkness, so I really recommend getting yourself a head torch. My fancy hand light was from Morrisons - £7. My head torch from Poundland no longer stays on my head – but still makes light and fits in my palm.

We shifted many wheelbarrows full of sawdust from the chopped down trees from around their stumps so the people could come back and finish the job. We also swept many leaves into buckets for compost.

We'll be back on 7 November to do the next bit. Be sure to sign up!

We then played Duck Tag and Squat Runs on the tennis courts, where we discovered Paul and Nicola are incredibly spry.

We soon ran home, with a little sprint finish UP the hill. Props to Graham and Jack for being so speedy!

Next week we've had a change of plan - We'll be running to the WDP not Community Focus. 3km each way.