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!

On their twenty-minute walk between the cafes in Pitshanger Park and the old Perivale Golf Course, a trio of GoodGymers encountered a sign announcing the opening of a new green space in Ealing: Pear Tree Park. Did the new park have anything to do with where they were heading? Sevan, Steph and Kash, following last month's session with Ealing Greenwayers, were on a mission to rejuvenate the grounds surrounding the Perivale Golf Course Cafe.

Today's session was a loose interpretation of the rock-paper-scissors game:

• Rocks were the key part of an overgrown rockery the Greenwayers and GoodGymers were supposed to reveal by pulling out weeds, especially thistle. Thistle beats rock.

• Paper was a weapon against thistle. Richard, the chief Greenwayer and a dedicated first-aider warned the GoodGym folk about the nastiness of the thistle thorns and recommended crumpled newspaper as the remedy. Our volunteers couldn't believe the thorns would pierce through their thick gloves - but they did! Kash adapted the newspaper method and became the GoodGymer with the least number of ouches shouted. Paper beats thistle.

• Scissors were absent in this game as the weeds could be pulled from between the rocks by the sheer force of gloved (and newspapered) hands. Sadly, scissors didn't beat anything in today's episode.

The ultimate objective was to conquer the mound of rocks and free it from the reign of thistles. The strategy was to besiege the rockery with an army of three Greenwayers and three GoodGymers and climb the mountain, continuously pushing the thistles back.

During the one-hour session, the GoodGymers were attacked by the thistles' allies, the insects, from the ground and the sky. Sevan disturbed a couple of ant nests in the rockery and had to retreat from the battlefield, finding his new purpose in wheelbarrowing the green waste out of the scene. Steph unsettled the pollinators visiting the thistle flowers. Bumblebees seemed to be forgiving, but the sight of bees forced Steph to change tactics and attack the mound from a different side.

There is always one more weed

That should be the gardening GoodGymers' motto. It was no different this time. Despite the crushing victory over the thistles, the thorny weed persevered at its last stand. Had the team started 30 minutes earlier or had one more pair of hands, the scores might have been different. Nonetheless, the vast majority of the vegetation was successfully removed, and the volunteers were able to marvel at the shape of the rockery.

Sevan, Steph and Kash finished the session with a 3 km run to Dean Gardens in West Ealing, where they parted ways. They will reunite at the Tuesday's group run to help St Andrew's.

Steph had arrived early for this morning's Pitshanger Junior parkrun and done a quick recce of the course. He found the same thing as the official course checker, that there was a crater in the middle of the course.

Recent downpours combined with Greener Ealing trucks had carved out a couple of big grooves smack in the centre of the path. It wasn't quite large enough to lose a child in. Injuries were a worry though, which is why Steph, Kash, Jacquie and Sevan were deployed as marshals around the course to keep the runners safe and serve out a few high fives to power the kids on.

The GoodGymers and other volunteers were able to shepherd 74 runners around the course without injury. The only mishap that they saw was a runner discovering a hole to trip over while running on the grass off-path 🩼

Join us again next month at Pitshanger Junior parkrun to see if the crater has been filled in!