Thursday 3rd July
Report written by Sevan
St Mary's churchyard had undergone big changes since GoodGym's last visit 3 weeks ago. Human power to remove weeds [last time] had been replaced with the electric power of a hedge trimmer that task owner Cliff was using like a strimmer, at ground level. There was still plenty left for today's GoodGym group to help out with and they weren't being replaced by power tools just yet.
Some GoodGymers had been expecting to be battling nettles, so wore leggings or running tights. The main job for today turned out to be covering the cleared area with wood chip to stop the weeds from springing back, so in the warm weather, the shorts wearing duo had chosen well.
The wood chip piles to relocate had been left in front of the vicar's house, so tidying that space would put Cliff - and GoodGym - in the new vicar's good books. Andrew, Michelle, Kash and Sevan got shovelling, ferrying wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow into the churchyard and tipping them out to cover the areas that had been cleared of weeds. Andrew in particular was having great fun powerfully flipping his wheelbarrow over to empty it.
While the group worked away, they kept themselves amused talking about holidays, imposter syndrome and the "Ealing Feeling" that was wafting over from one of the churchyard's visitors. Meanwhile, Cliff was continuing to cut away at anything green that shouldn't be in the garden. By the end of the session, there was great coverage of wood chip and a whole new area to be cleared. There were more weeds to be wiped out too in other parts of the garden, so keep an eye out for another session later this month.
Ealing
Enjoy the outdoors by the canal and planting bulbs, lavender. Outdoors helps your mental health.