Since last year's cutback session at Hobbayne's Half Acre Woodland, the GoodGymers doubled in numbers, while the brambles, nettles, hawthorn and other nasties encroaching the public paths seemed to weaken. Our task owner, Dee, believed the drought was the reason and that a bit of rain would make the overgrowth explode as it had in the previous years.

Six GoodGym runners met in front of Ealing Broadway station for a 3.5km run to Hanwell and the same distance back. Among them was a new joiner, Kristian, who had thought the 7km would be a good challenge for him. While running in a group with Steph Ducat, Conor, Sevan, Chris and Kash, the distance turned out not to be such a challenge after all - Kristian kept a good, consistent pace all the way. Welcome, Kristian, and congratulations on your first GoodGym run!

Maria, Scott and Amy cycled, and Harvey walked to meet Dee and the runners under the Wharncliffe Viaduct near the Hanwell station. You may not know that the viaduct is quite a big thing in British industrial history - constructed in 1837, it was the first major design by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the engineer responsible for the rest of the Great Western Railway and the iconic Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol.

I couldn't resist that bridge tangent. Let's get back to Hanwell.

After a short ice-cream themed icebreaker, Dee handed the GoodGymers shears and suggested the best section of the path to tackle would be the tarmac way closest to Station Road. Doomed were all the brambles, nettles, hawthorns, ivy, and, surprisingly, bamboo plants that dared to grow through or over the fence. The most ambitious GoodGymers even cut tree branches with shears (and some solid willpower) alone! A sackful of rubbish was uncovered while cutting back the unruly plants, bagged, and diligently binned before the end of the session.

Shortly after 8pm, most of the team disbanded to make their way home. Conor, Kristian, Sevan and Kash decided to run back to Ealing Broadway. Little did they know, they were racing the Elizabeth line, which Chris decided to take. And they won! Was it a testament to GoodGymers' prowess, Hanwell station being underserved, or Lizzy's unreliability? I'll let you decide.

Next week, we are off for a similar route to reach the Stables in Brent Lodge Park and help sort the festival equipment after the Hanwell Hootie fever finally settled down. Sign up now to join us!

The Sunday mid-July session for Care4Calais brought together regulars Sevan and Kash, plus two new faces: Iram, who has already established herself as part of the GoodGym Ealing TaskForce but hadn't tried the Care4Calais sessions yet, and Emma, new to both GoodGym and West London. Welcome both!

At today's session, task owner Tamzin took all four GoodGymers from her secret HQ to an equally secret storage location near Ealing Broadway. Thoughtfully, Tamzin offered everyone sunscreen, as the usual easy-going indoor session had been turned into an easygoing outdoor session. With the recent heatwaves, she was worried about people working in the full sun.

As it turned out, the space in front of the storage unit had its own special microclimate. Between the shade from the trees and a cool breeze, Iram and Kash even got goosebumps! Emma had cleverly brought a second layer with her.

Our task was to carry out quality checks and sort donated shoes, from size 5 to 12 and beyond, or, for those who prefer European sizing, from 38 to 44 and beyond.

There was quite a variety of footwear, from fashionable trainers with tall, airy soles to branded Hello Kitty shoes. Luckily, the latter were mostly in smaller sizes, so unlikely to be offered to the male asylum seekers, who don't always appreciate that particular style. We also found a pair of bright red Haribo-branded shoes in size 44 and hoped there might still be a niche for those.

While sorting, we also tried to come up with a portmanteau for something between sandals and trainers, but didn't come up with anything spectacular. Any ideas?

As well as sorting the shoes into boxes, we built up a pile of questionable pairs: some in mismatched sizes, others slightly discoloured or a bit worn. Tamzin is going to go through them later to see whether anything can be salvaged or offered to asylum seekers as a second pair.

The two hours flew by. Some volunteers headed off to the next thing in their day, while others stayed for a lovely barbecue hosted by Tamzin. She had invited volunteers from across Care4Calais: people sorting donations like us, drivers, volunteers supporting refugees directly in the hotels, and even asylum seekers turned Care4Calais volunteers. It was a wonderful gesture and very much appreciated.

Our latest visit to Acton Junior parkrun aligned with the start of the school holidays. There was lots of chat between the parents and also the volunteers about their summer plans and again, fewer children than normal.

The roster was surprisingly full, until a space opened up as a warm up leader. The Run Director was advised how to handle this by other volunteers:

"I need someone to lead the warm up."
"I've been told that the GoodGym woman is very good." - Run Director
"That GoodGym woman is not here" - Kash

Neither Kash not Sevan were keen to stand in for Maria or Kat, recent GoodGym warm up leaders, in front of the children and run through the routine. Instead they stuck to their more familar and comfortable roles as tailwalker for Kash and barcode scanner for Sevan.

All of today's runners completed the course quickly. Even at the tail, so everything was packed up in record time.

On a sunny late afternoon, our GoodGym crew came along to support Collective Light, a pop-up community event built around an interactive glowing park furniture - powered by touch and movement. As people gather, connect and play, the space comes alive with light, turning everyday moments into something magical and helping to create a park that feels safer and more welcoming. A busy park is a safe park.

At today's festival, there was art, storytelling, yoga, nature workshops and community conversations. GoodGym gathered together a small group of willing festival goers to play our part in keeping the space litter free ahead of a tea party, chatting all the way! We split into small teams - two teams finding one sock each. Sadly they didn't form a pair. But that's okay, they still went in the bin bags!

Five GoodGymers were on hand to help set up the third of four free summer events at Watermans Park.

Kai, Kash, Michelle and Breda took on the now-familiar challenge of erecting three gazebos. By this point, you’d think we’d have cracked it. Not quite, but Philippe came to the rescue and normal service was resumed.

Next came the bunting. As we discovered the last two saturday's there seemed to be enough of it to decorate the Thames towpath all the way to Kew. Before a single flag was tied, Breda opened early negotiations with Sevan and Kash over the optimal bunting locations, with one eye firmly on making the evening pack down as painless as possible… more on whether that strategy paid off later!

With gazebos standing, bunting fluttering and the bandstand looking suitably festive, the whole set-up was wrapped up in around half an hour. That left plenty of time for what is now becoming a Watermans tradition: the pre-performance pilgrimage in search of ice lollies.

Goods secured, we had our hydration break before Kai Sevan and Kash headed back closer to home and Breda and I returned to the park to watch the local acts.

Another hot Saturday in Southall offered everyone a bit of relief from the heatwave, with a gentle breeze reaching Western Road Urban Garden.

Four GoodGymers and Janpal from Southall Community Alliance were the only participants at the community day until one of SCA's trustees and a member of the Southall community joined them.

Before getting to work, Janpal showed the GoodGymers the recent developments in the orchard and the polytunnel. The dwarf fruit trees, planted less than three years ago, were already bearing copious amounts of fruit. In the polytunnel, exotic plants like karela and snake gourd, and more familiar ones like aubergines, cucumbers, watermelon and bell peppers, had started producing crops as well - and we'd only watered them last month when the plants were still small. What an incredible growth!

Today's task was simple: remove weeds from three sections of a vegetable plot to free up space for more food to grow. Sevan, Amy, Freya and Kash tackled thistles, nettles and bathua, which Janpal described as a staple green in North Indian cuisine. The plant, although healthy and tasty, had completely taken over the veg plot, so it had to be removed. Luckily, it was easy to pull out. We cleared the whole patch with ease, leaving only two rogue tomato plants that had introduced themselves from the neighbouring plot.

After a break to grab some water, fruit and samosas that Janpal had brought for us, we continued by clearing the plot closest to the fence - removing not just weeds! The amount of broken glass we keep finding in the soil never ceases to amaze us, even though we've dug that area several times and many of us know Western Road's past as a derelict allotment and a fly-tipping hotspot.

Time flew by. We chatted not only about football, but also about Southall Community Alliance, which recently celebrated its 25th anniversary. Janpal has been with the organisation almost from the beginning and told us the story behind the charity, its focus on bringing community groups together in Southall, and tackling important local issues such as inequality, poverty, mental health and social isolation.

We entered the woodchipping phase and covered all the soil and the remaining broken glass we hadn't been able to remove. We're sure we'll find it again at the next opportunity to dig that section!

The highlight of the session was tasting the delicious apricots from the orchard. Janpal had covered the little tree with a net to save some of the fruit for the volunteers. The method had proved a successful defence against the fox, who loves to steal the fruit before it gets ripe.

"He won't be getting his one of five a day now," said Janpal.

Thanks to that, we could get a little closer to our fruit and veg quota, munching on sweet, juicy apricots straight from the tree. You won't get that kind of taste from the supermarket!

If you want to help out at the urban garden and find out what will be ready to harvest in August, join us for the session next month. Sign up here!