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!

Tuesday evening group run : small group but we still made it happen and seized the day. Sevan met Steph Ducat at the meeting point where he was busy doing a DBS document check with Elle a new starter at GG Ealing. Then the 2 runners went running to meet Linda at the Blondin Park Pavillon for some mulching. 2 wheelbarrows, 2 spades and a pile of woodchip were awaiting for some night action. Linda said that 12 trees were planted and need some woodchip around each of them. Both runners started at the woodchip pile, but Sevanwas having one of these days like Steph Ducat had yesterday. He forgot his gloves at home as he added some GG posters for Steph, then when put his head torch on, no lights and he forgot to put batteries. Steph had his torch which was bright enough for both. As 12 trees and 2 goodgymers with a barrow each, the task would be done in no time. We brought the woodchip and were careful to leave the water pipes visible. But then we said, there is only 10 trees!Where did the other go? The missing trees did not disappear, but were just hidden near the gate at the entrance - mystery resolved. The sky was a bit cloudy and the moon was out - looked like a warewolf evening!!!Task was done quickly, all missing trees were found and no one was attacked by the warewolf. Linda then made some nice hot chocolate which we enjoyed inside the pavillon. Kash appeared at the pavillon as thought we might need a hand, but as all and dusted no extra help needed and joined the group for a nice chat.

A third task in 5 days at Blondin Park saw Steph, Mohamed and Sevan run from Ealing Broadway, followed by Jules, who joined us for her first task with GoodGym Ealing. Welcome Jules! 👏🎉 We look forward to seeing you at another task soon.

The team were supposed to be mulching the snips that were planted by volunteers over the weekend, including some of our own GoodGym members. While the threatened storm this evening had held off, the group were thwarted from their intended task by darkness. Task owner Linda thought it was too risky for the GoodGymers to hulk wheelbarrows between the fragile snips in the dark, so a substitute task was ready. They would be mulching trees at the entrance of the park to turn them into an attractive feature for park goers.

Blondin Park's ever present wood chip pile was waiting for the team. Wheelbarrows, shovels and a rake were at the ready and the barrows began whizzing between the wood chip pile and trees, with Steph and Mohamed creating a neat ring of mulch around each trunk. The mulching was finished in super quick time, so everyone moved on to wood chipping a nearby bed to round out the task.

After the big impact that they made in the park, as always, Linda offered everyone a warm space and a cup of hot chocolate along with updates on her big plans for the park. What a tasty way to prepare for the run home ☕.

Blondin Park, as one of the southernmost green spaces in Ealing Borough, can easily attract GoodGymers from other areas. At today's session, Kash welcomed Michelle from GoodGym Hounslow and Chris from GoodGym Richmond, who both cycled to Northfields. Blondin Nature Area features a community orchard, a wildflower meadow and a pond. It was the pond that was the site of today's GoodGymming. Was it swimming? Not quite.

Ranger Jon led the GoodGymers and other volunteers to the fenced area around the pond and explained the task. It was a pleasure to get comprehensive instructions and a demo from a ranger - everyone had a good understanding of the background information and planting technique - a luxury the GoodGymers don't always get on the nighttime sessions!

Today's task was to fill the gaps in previously planted native hedging surrounding the pond. Jon produced snips of trees like hawthorn, blackthorn, dog rose and beech and showed the team the fastest planting technique: notch planting. Before the trees could be planted, some areas had to be cleared of invasive brambles. Michelle chopped the bramble stems off to make digging the roots easier. Among the digging tools, there were two mattocks. Kash made sure to secure one of them to aid her destructive power. Chris was the only GoodGymer today to do some planting. His weapon of choice was a spade, so he prepared the soil and planted a number of trees inside and outside the fenced area. The last job to do was to cut back the height of the existing hedging. Michelle got her loppers to work and made sure no cheeky tree was taller than her!

A session at Blondin Park cannot be complete without Linda's complimentary hot chocolate at the Community Pavilion café. If you missed the fun and hot chocolate (and bonus biscuits!) today, not all is lost! There are two more sessions in the next few days at Blondin Park: more planting on Saturday and mulching the trees on Tuesday evening!

Gloomy and dark Tuesday evening : Steph Ducat was the lead runner today in absence of the usual suspects. Today welcomed Mohamed on his 1st run and community mission with Goodgym. As a duo, both runners set off in the city of light to reach the dark parks of Ealing. Welcome to the dark side : we reached Walpole Park and surprised that on the other side we could see the light at the end of the tunnel but we could not get out as they closed the gate, so a small run back to the next one, which was also locked. U Turn and over the fence as they were locked in :nevertheless the run carried on and reached Blondin Park on time to meet Beata who ran from her side and Augustin joined as he cycled from home. Linda welcomed us and we got the wheelbarrows, shovels, a broom or massive brush, a rack and some plastic bags. Mission in the dark was to clear the leaves off the main path so that the lights on the ground were visible. The 2nd task was to move wood chip from the pile that never seems to disappear to the side of the paths and cover the mud. Head torches on and the team scoped all the leaves and moved quite a lot of wood chip. At the end of the mission, they all went to the pavilion where Linda served nice hot chocolate drinks before disappearing in the darkness of Ealing. Welcome Mohamed to Goodgym.