Our third visit to St Andrew's Church and Community Centre had a fabulous balance between runners, walkers and cyclists. Harvey, Sevan, Steph and Kash practised their hill running skills, setting off from Bodyline to conquer Hanger Hill, then finish with an easy downhill that took them to the church, where Christos and Alex awaited. Yes, you read that right - Alex made a surprise return to GoodGymming. Welcome back, Alex!

Seeing the transformed Pocket Allotment, where GoodGym had helped with clearing the shrubs and laying gravel, we marvelled at the lush flowers and vegetables ready to harvest. Indeed, harvest was underway as Carol, the designer behind the Pocket Allotment success, reaped the crops: kale, mangetout, beans, spinach and edible flowers, and shared them with us as a thank-you - such a lovely gesture!

The Pocket Garden appeared very well looked after and didn't need GoodGym's intervention. It was the area around the corner which needed our expertise in decimating shrubs. That's where we met John, the task owner, and cyclists: Paul from GoodGym Hounslow and Penny, who came for her 25th good deed. Well done - keep it up, Penny!

Tonight's group session had a martial arts undertone. Firstly, at the time of our task, in the community centre, young students were practising aikido. Secondly, the GoodGymers, under the watchful eye of Master John were practising choppido. Just like Mr Miyagi's students performed seemingly humble chores to unlock their karate skills, the GoodGym folk were developing muscle memory of chopping movements - so useful at our summer community missions to clear overgrown community spaces!

Unlike Daniel in Karate Kid, not convinced by his master's teaching techniques, our team jumped into action so eagerly that Kash didn't even get to take the before pictures of intact shrubs - Steph had to hold upright a little tree he had already chopped down! John had split the training session into phases:

1) chopping / trimming / pruning the hedges and trees
2) chopping the trimmings into smaller pieces
3) bagging and putting aside the green waste

Through the repetition of the chopping moves, each of us became one with their shears, loppers and secateurs. Steph earned his black belt by patiently combating a stubborn root stuck in the ground with a pickaxe. By the end of the practice, all Master John's students felt an immense sense of satisfaction when looking at the visible results of the less-than-an-hour exercise. The people inside the centre, in the room used for arts workshops, must have also seen the change as the daylight finally was back at their studio. Fingers crossed we will visit St Andrew's again soon to help with the following stage of the new green space project and see the longer-term impact, just like in the fabulous Pocket Allotment.

Next week, we are back to Lammas Orchard to keep this special community garden accessible to and usable by all. Sign up now!

You may have heard about the Ealing Summer Festivals hosted each year in Walpole Park. Beer Festival? Jazz Festival? Blues? Comedy? Tonight, the popular park in the heart of the borough was the venue for the alternative Bramble Bash Festival organised by GoodGym Ealing, who luckily just missed the worst rain that evening.

The festoon lights lit up when runners Sevan and Kash finished their loops around Lammas and Walpole Park and met Christos who walked to the task. Penny cycled for her first Walpole Park x GoodGym experience and was happy to learn she could lock her bike in a safe place. Having left Penny's bike as a pawn in the Rickyard's tool store, we borrowed loppers, shears, secateurs, two pairs of extra-thick gloves, a rake, and a trolley.

Even such a refined historic park as Walpole is not 100% bramble-free. In several locations, the thorny stems encroached on the pathways, so Ranger Jon gave us a map showing the bramble sites in need of a GoodGym intervention.

While cutting our way through the bramble jungle, we questioned whether the nettles and thistles needed to be removed too - not because they were equally unpleasant to touch - they were on the way to the brambles. We started discussions about the future of the Earth, where the weeds are left to their own devices, undisturbed by the likes of GoodGymers and Greener Ealing. Our collective imagination painted a dystopian world dominated by brambles and bindweed. We had to prevent that turn of events!

One hour and two fully loaded trolleys later, most of the brambles disappeared and retreated far away from the pedestrian path.

Next week our team of overgrowth shredders is running, walking or cycling towards North Ealing to decimate shrubs at St Andrew's Church and Community Centre. Sign up now to join us!

Do you know what happens with the contents of your food waste bin - provided a fox hasn't knocked it over? Ealing Council takes the food waste to a processing plant, where it is used to make fertiliser. Elsa from Horsenden Farm told us that the compost piled up at the farm car park was produced that way. So, if you live in Ealing and recycle your food, maybe our intrepid team of farm-gymers was shovelling the product of your egg shells, banana skins and that leftover at the back of your fridge you discovered after two months, thriving with fungal civilisation. Hopefully not the latter! If you don't recycle your food, you can read about it here and order your free food waste bin. It really makes a difference to the environment.

Today's session was all about compost. Penny, Roberta, Sevan and Kash, not scared by the pouring rain, made it to Horsenden Farm to transport the fertiliser from the car park to our favourite potato patch up the hill. Elsa advised us not to overfill the wheelbarrows as the journey to the plot was challenging enough. The tactical approach was to load the barrow with the lighter dry compost from the middle of the heap. Can you imagine? The fertiliser inside the mound was extremely dehydrated despite all the heavy rain flooding streets and paths since yesterday!

Sevan was fascinated by the compost journey in the circle of life. He filmed a documentary, starting with the fertiliser shovelling scene. The action then moved up to the plot where - believe me or not - we saw potatoes being grown and harvested. They are not a myth! Our manure exploits at the farm in the winter finally paid off. Potatoes that had been already harvested were being sold at the farm shop at the Hayloft.

It was a pretty tough workout and everyone gave their best effort, so we decided to cut on breaks but finish the shovelling ahead of time. Now, the rewards awaited! It was too early to order the pizza, so we were hanging out with the farm animals. Chickens, pigs and goats could be found in their usual spots, while the calves were out for grazing and nowhere to be seen. We offered cuddles to the fluffy farm cat and the cute dog, Nalla just before noon, then queued for the coffee and pizza order. Both treats were delicious and warmed us up after the morning in the rain and the wind. It was a well-deserved break!

If you missed animals, pizza and the great company today, worry not! Horsenden events are running each month throughout the year, so join us for the next one in August! Oh, and there will be a proper volunteering workout too, of course!