We were back at Blondin Park tonight to do some mulching around the trees that we prepared recently with digging around. Despite the damp, wet and dark evening a small group of 5 people took their courage and braved the weather. In no time, the team mulched around 12 trees with trips back and forth. Wheel barrows guided by head torches 🔦. Yes its head torch season!! Then we made our way back to the cafe where Linda welcomed us back with some lovely hot chocolates. The conversation went around music tonight and what we listened to when younger or now. Tonight we were a small team of 5 but achieved alot. Was it Girl Power as 4 ladies and 1 man tonight? All I wannabe is a Goodgymer !! 🎶 🎵

Four Ealing GoodGymers, having stopped for a coffee after a morning session at one of the HANGOT community orchards, walked to Blondin Park to tackle... another orchard! Two guests from other West London areas joined the task. Maxime made the trip to Ealing from GoodGym Hounslow, while JP cycled all the way from Richmond.

The team continued working in the park's orchard, using pickaxes, spades and rakes to remove a circle of grass around the fruit trees, making space for a layer of woodchip to be spread at our future Tuesday night session.

Saturday afternoon turned out to be a great time for wildlife spotting at Blondin Park! We uncovered an underground wasp nest between tree roots — and quickly retreated! At the base of another fruit tree, we discovered something even more exciting: a slow worm, also known as a deaf adder! Despite its name, it was neither a worm nor a snake, but a pretty harmless legless lizard — way more amicable than those feisty wasps!

While focusing on grass removal around the trees, we also dealt with a few tree suckers and blackthorn shoots — removing only those that were in the way of the fruit trees and leaving any sloes untouched. We haven't saved the sloes for gin, but left them for the animals looking for food over the winter.

The Blondin Park session traditionally finished with a round of delicious hot chocolate in the pavilion, kindly provided on the house by our fantastic task owner, Linda! We're looking forward to more hot chocolate as the evenings get colder — and, of course, to mulching the fruit trees we've been preparing! Sign up now to join Steph on that adventure!

On an exceptionally warm Tuesday night, eight GoodGymers reprised their roles as rake and spade wielders and wheelbarrow drivers in the sequel to the magnificent fruit tree mulching task in Blondin Park. Dora even made it into the permanent cast after her debut at the same location last month! The task owner, Linda, wasn't around this time to welcome us, but she had arranged for volunteer David to support us and provide everything we needed - apart from Linda's famed hot chocolate!

The soft, golden-hour light was replaced this time by a darker backdrop, punctuated by flashing headlamps and work lights that helped the team find the apple trees in need of mulching. A few trees had been waiting for a dose of woodchip, with their bases exposed, since the beginning of August. These were prioritised for mulching by most of the team, while Richard and Giles made a start on digging the grass out from around a tree that wasn't quite ready for woodchipping yet.

Despite the late hour and the time of year making for less-than-bright conditions, everyone enjoyed the mild night-time temperature, with only a few drops of rain falling from the sky. The team achieved an impressive amount in such dim conditions, leaving only a few larger trees still awaiting their turn for mulching.

When I think of Blondin Park, I picture a vast space shrouded in darkness, with a tarmac path lit by evenly spaced ground lights like an airport runway. Above it, a bunch of lights hover five or six feet in the air. They move forward with a slight jitter, so they're clearly not drones. What are they? GoodGymers in head torches, running to meet Linda at Blondin Park Pavilion!

For the last three years, our sessions at Blondin Park have mostly been a winter thing. Linda is one of those task owners who doesn't mind us hanging around the park after dark, doesn't mind seeing us through the coldest months of the year and, most importantly, Linda has hot chocolate. Really good hot chocolate.

But today was different. Picture this: the sun setting over the park's community orchard, its rays giving the burnt yellow grass a golden glow. Fallen apples, tree leaves, people's hair, everything catches the light. If only the massive pile of woodchip we're digging into could turn into gold too! But in a way, it already is gold. It's gold for the fruit trees, protecting their roots and providing nutrients. And it's gold for us too, putting our energy into something worthwhile.

We scrape away the dried grass around each tree as far as the drip line. We load woodchip into wheelbarrows, tip it around the trees, then rake it carefully so it doesn't touch the trunks. There are quite a few of us today: some arrive by bike, others walk or run individually, while four of us run together through three parks to get here. Maria, Amy, Jo, Richard, Kristian and Sevan scrape away the hard, sun-baked surface to reveal the earth beneath. Steph Ducat and Giles tirelessly load the wheelbarrows. Scott arrives straight from work, having battled everything TfL could throw at him, determined to make it - and immediately starts wheeling the queued barrows to empty them. Dora takes charge of raking the mulch spread by Scott, and later by Jo and Kash, neatly around each tree.

The team finishes just before dusk. The golden hour is gone. There'll be no golden glow in our hair or long shadows for the group photo. But that's ok. Ten fruit trees now have a solid layer of mulch around them. Great work, team – especially Giles, who joined his first GoodGym session today, and Dora, who came along thanks to Linda's persuasive skills.

What is no different from the winter version of this picture is the teamwork, the smiles, the satisfaction, and the woodchip, of course. And there is hot chocolate. Linda invites us into the pavilion café for refreshments. Only Steph accepts the hot chocolate offer, Richard opts for tea, and everyone else chooses cold drinks on such a warm evening. The head torches will be back soon enough. Until then, let's enjoy the summer sunshine!

GoodGym Ealing already cemented their position as speedy and resourceful engineers when they replaced a row of rotting wooden posts with new bollards within a short group run task at the Hanwell School of Boxing last year. Impressed by the concrete evidence of solid delivery, Linda, the task owner for both the boxing club and Blondin Park, rehired them for another construction-type task. This time, the job was to erect two new boot scrubbers in front of the Blondin Pavilion and lay woodchip on a muddy area serving as an overflow car park for the pavilion.

On a chilly Tuesday night, one walker, one cyclist, four runners, and one late runner landed on Blondin Park’s tarmac path, famously lit like a runway. In front of the pavilion stood a wheelbarrow with spades and shovels prepared by Linda. It was time for everyone to choose the tasks. Our close neighbour from GoodGym Hounslow, Breda, for her first Ealing group run, decided on the shovel+wheelbarrow action, accompanied by Sevan. James, Conor, Harvey, Steph Ducat and Kash were more in the mood for DIY and opted for the unique boot scrubbers installation experience.

Linda, experienced with larger construction projects, knew that for quick jobs involving securing fences or posts, there was nothing better than GoodGymers and Postcrete. We all know how GoodGymers work - but what’s postcrete, you may ask. It’s a rapid-setting cement solution that requires only the addition of water, and no mixing, making it ideal for occasions when you’re short on time.

The five GoodGym builders first dug four narrow and knee-deep holes, then tried the boot scrubbers on them, testing their evenness with a spirit level. The levels turned out to be perfect, and the GoodGym spirits were pretty high, so the team enthusiastically poured generous amounts of postcrete and water into the holes. And waited. And waited. To be frank, the mixture was set within 10-15 minutes, which may seem like no time in the grand scheme of things. On the other hand, seeing Sevan and Breda still racing their wheelbarrows and raking like there was no tomorrow, made the builders' team feel pretty idle.

With the scrubbers literally set in concrete, there was not much else to do on the night than claim the delicious refreshment Linda prepared: sweet and dense hot chocolate! After warming up in the pavilion with a hot beverage, the runners set off for the run back to Ealing Broadway, which was the location of our following week’s group run: a gardening session in Walpole Park.

It's been three weeks since minced pies were a thing. Now, it's minced Christmas trees that are trending. And what do you do if you have a pile of ex-Christmas trees dropped in your park in the form of woodchip and a sizeable puddle at the edge of a path? You call GoodGym!

Linda from Blondin Consortium knew exactly what to do and arranged for a team of eight GoodGymers to come and help spread woodchip along a regularly flooded path to the community pavilion in Blondin Park.

Steph, Conor, Sevan and Kash ran to the park from Ealing Broadway, Freya walked, and Andy and James cycled. Ash was determined to come all the way from a distant part of the neighbouring borough, which was not an easy route, but he still made it to the session!

In less than 40 minutes, a small crowd of people, equipped with head torches, wheelbarrows, spades, shovels, and a rake, dealt with the entire woodchip pile and covered the problematic path edge with a moisture-soaking layer.

Traditionally, after the session, Linda invited the GoodGymers for a short break in the pavilion to recharge their energy with a cup of hot chocolate before their run back. Just as if there wasn't enough sweetness in the hot beverage, Steph brought a double treat to share! Ms F, an older lady whom Steph supports with groceries, donated pink champagne truffles to GoodGymers. What a lovely gesture!