On the hottest day of the year so far, and with many people enjoying a relaxing Bank Holiday Monday, a hardy crew of GoodGymers headed to Lark Hall Park for a mission to rejuvenate a long-neglected pétanque court.

The aim is to bring the space back to life so that people of all ages in the community can once again enjoy using it. With temperatures soaring, we made sure to take things steadily: plenty of water, sun cream, and caps were the order of the day before we got stuck in.

We soon began clearing and restoring the court. Our efforts didn’t go unnoticed — passers-by stopped to ask what we were up to, and the local publican was so thankful that he kindly offered us free pints of lemonade when we were finished!

We took a much-needed ice cream break, giving everyone a chance to cool off but despite the heat, we managed to complete around a quarter of the work, with plenty more planned in the coming weeks — including another session this Saturday

After a hot run back and some stretches, we headed off to enjoy the rest of the Bank Holiday feeling good about having done something positive for the local community.

Next week we’ll be back at Doddington, followed by our monthly pub quiz — hope you can make it!

Alan, Tom and Steph Ducat tackled the new edition of the Queen of the Suburbs. Not an easy one today due to the heat but they managed to conquer the heat. This couldn't of happened without all the volunteers on the course who kept them hydrated. Great aid station in Southall with the GG Ealing crew

Hot day and arrived at Mrs P house to cut the grass. Knocked and rang the bell - no answer. Rang her landline - no answer. Waited a few minutes and there she appeared from the road behind me. We went through the house to the back garden. Found the Flymo, but small challenge as the plugs on the side were not working so had to find a working plug in the house leading to the garden. Found one, but then could not find an extension lead so had to search for another plug that would allow the mower to reach the end of the grass section. Eventually found a working socket as seems that an electrician is coming around to sort some of the sockets in the house. I was Flying with the Flymo and discovered a frog....a concrete frog that was hidden in the long grass. As I had some time, I got rid of the weeds on the side of the grass and had a chat with Mrs P as she came and sat in the shade. She has been living in this house for 60 years and worked for Guinness for most of her life. She was super delighted to have someone cut her grass as her husband is no longer and her brother who usually comes to help her has not been around for months as looking after his wife who is poorly. Shifting blades, shifting smiles.

On a very hot Saturday, four GoodGymers who had been staying locally for the bank holiday weekend made their way to Grove Farm Nature Reserve. Some of them walked, and others used the opportunity to complete their main run of the day - a rather brutal 8km up three hills in the scorching sun!

Everyone was happy to find out that the task would be carried out in the shade. Giovanni, who came for his second GoodGym session, Sevan, Steph Ducat and Kash, together with Livio and Portia, followed the leader, Mike, to the Whitton Avenue entrance to the park, where they took a turn into the wilder part of the green space.

The job could be summarised as "explorers in the service of biodiversity". The group was tasked with clearing the thick overgrowth to provide park rangers with access to the Japanese knotweed spotted deep in the wilderness. Japanese knotweed is a highly invasive, non-native plant in the UK that was introduced to Europe in the 19th century as an ornamental. Knotweed, commonly found along rivers and streams, where it easily disperses, poses significant problems to native ecosystems if left uncontrolled.

Our explorers ventured upstream the totally dried at this time of the year, Costons Brook, clearing the vegetation along the ditch. The victims of relentless trimming, lopping and sawing were brambles, nettles, ivy and hawthorn - all the aggressively growing plants that would come back in no time. The joint forces of Friends of Grove Farm and GoodGym were up against an invasive, non-native plant, so the sacrifices were necessary.

On the way, the volunteers spotted interesting species of fungi, which the LAGER Can member Sue identified as King Alfred's cake. If you ask me, it looked nothing like a cake, but King Alfred had lived long enough ago for the bakery standards to change completely.

Another intriguing and somewhat creepy find was a Sainsbury's bag, discovered by Giovanni, filled with discarded Barbie dolls. Had someone made a statement by rejecting the symbol of an unattainable female physique or just grown out of their toys, we'll never know!

We made tremendous progress clearing the overgrown ditch, removing larger logs and entire trees on the way, and safely navigating between two old trees that posed the risk of falling. However, the road to the knotweed is long and bumpy, so we'll need to come back in June to cut through the rest of the vegetation. Join us for the conservation day in June!