Ten Goodgymers donated their pre-loved items to different local charities. Thanks all for participating in this task :)!

A mild January sunday afternoon saw a large group of volunteers meet by the Pear Tree Park cafe for some tree planting. The trees were, you guessed it, different varieties of pear trees.

A lot of work had already been done in an earlier session, but that still left digging, pile driving fence posts into the ground, spreading compost and mulch and finally applying a protective cover. There were a couple of unfortunate mishaps, including someone who planted 6 trees in one hole and a bucket that didnt survive the attentions of an excited dog. But overall it was a very successful and satisfying bit of community action - one that will hopefully bear plenty of fruit for years to come.

The recently established Pear Tree Park was named by children from a local school, drawing inspiration from Perivale, where the green space is located. Perivale, in turn, can be loosely interpreted as “a valley of pear trees”. Wouldn’t it be appropriate then to have some eponymous fruit trees in Pear Tree Park - let’s say, fifty of them?

On a Sunday morning, five GoodGymers met in a café in Pitshanger for a 2km run or walk to the place that had once been a golf course, now transforming into a vibrant, green space for everyone. Steph Ducat, Zuzanna, and Kash ran through Pitshanger Park, past St Mary’s Church, while Devi and Sevan walked a different route, with the Brent Viaduct and Sixty Trees Lane as the main landmarks. Harvey ran directly to the task and met the rest of the team at the Pear Tree Bistro.

In the afternoon, Pear Tree Park was going to host a family-friendly pear tree planting volunteering session, and the organisers grew in confidence, seeing six pairs of GoodGym hands, keen to help with digging ahead of the event. Richard from Ealing Greenwayers and Diana, the bistro owner, brought spades and wheelbarrows, and marked on the grass where the holes were expected to appear.

Digging techniques and hole shapes varied from person to person. From Harvey’s perfect squares, through Steph's pizza slices, to Sevan’s and Kash’s whole round-style pizzas. Topsoil with the grass was systematically wheelbarrowed away, in case it contained traces of weed killer, thanks to its golf course past. The deeper the spades went, the more rocks they encountered, and digging became tougher.

Devi, who chose Pear Tree Park as her first GoodGym session, faced the demanding task head-on, excavating and wheelbarrowing soil like a pro, and even choosing more digging over a coffee break. What a determination! That said, we can safely report that Devi had been socialising and caffeinating with us earlier on, and is great to have around for a chat. Welcome Devi!

In 90 minutes, we got just a bit less than half of the required holes dug, which proved to be a great advantage as a starting point for the afternoon event!