On a Thursday evening, Acton Town station was the scene of many disappointed passengers facing the disrupted Piccadilly line and the end of their westbound journeys. It was also the meeting point for three GoodGymers, who had beaten the unreliable Tube by choosing to run (like Harvey) or walk (like Steph Ducat and Kash).

The day was hot and dry, but not as bad as a couple of days earlier, when the GoodGymers had almost melted on their way to the group run task. The breeze gently cooled the team on their brief jog to the Wildflower Trail to pick up watering cans. During such hot weeks, it seemed like everything was thirsty: the GoodGymers, the grass, trees, pigeons, and even the pavements. But nothing was as thirsty as the Monster of Acton.

To save the people of Acton from the tyranny of the beast, the brave trio, armed only with watering cans, walked to the Pokopia Garden sprawling in front of St Mary's Church and Morrisons. The monstrous garden was actually quite a handsome beast, with plenty of greenery and pictures of cute Pokémon dotted around. It was popular with children and their parents, who visited to explore the planters and take photos. Little did they know how much that garden could drink! Neither did the GoodGymers — so they filled their cans and started watering it.

The garden drank and drank and drank. The trio watered the planters and the Poké Ball terrariums. Then they poured even more water on them, watching how quickly the liquid soaked into the soil. And the garden drank and drank and drank. A lady appeared out of nowhere (or perhaps out of Morrisons) with a bucket of water, then quickly backed off, happy and relieved that the GoodGymers were on watering duty. The trio wouldn't have minded turning into a quartet, as the garden drank and drank and drank...

Harvey, Steph, and Kash eventually moved on to watering the "living wall" structure, which, despite still looking pretty cool, wasn't so lively anymore. Some of the plants had unfortunately dried out, and some trays no longer had any soil in them. But when the GoodGymers poured the water, the wall drank and drank and drank. The GoodGymers must have used 180 litres of water on the living wall alone, having to top up the trays that the water poured from the top couldn't reach. It was literally thirsty work.

After a good 50 minutes of hauling three cans between the water source and the dried-out planters, the monster was eventually satisfied — at least for the day — and calm enough to leave the people of Acton alone. The blissful residents could once again marvel at the wonders of the Pokopia Garden, totally unaware that the pretty beast could have sucked all the moisture out of them. Thank goodness we had GoodGym on duty! And what a Thirsty Thursday it has been!

Do you remember the story from the most recent session at Popesfield Allotments, where I noted that GoodGym Ealing hadn't visited Cultivate London's plant nursery for two years? Well, such a gap didn't happen this time! Our team was back within three weeks since the April 2026 session, as we had left a job unfinished, and we don't like that.

So, what do we like? The sound of weeds' roots being seamlessly pulled through a membrane, oh yes! This Tuesday evening task was filled with satisfying ambient noises and a sense of achievement.

Conor, Sevan, Steph Ducat and Kash ran from Ealing Broadway to meet another runner - Harvey, cyclist James and walker Anna.

Anna arrived for her first GoodGym session after being recruited by our mutual friend from LAGER Can - what a brilliant turn of events! Anna likes a good litter pick, but nothing beats a green task closer to nature. She arrived ready with small weeding tools and even offered others her spare gloves, which astonished the regulars - usually it's the other way around with the newbies! Neither gloves nor tools were really necessary as the weeds were extremely easy to pull by hand, and that was an utterly satisfying sensation.

With a team of seven and an hour of pulling, sweeping, bagging and pallet-lifting, we finished clearing the entire membrane area, filling two tonne bags with garden waste. Minus a few holes (made by weeds, not us!), the membrane looked like new.

"You could eat dinner from that!" - Harvey.
"Is it dinner time?"

Next Tuesday, we'll have more gardening to do as we'll be helping gardener Cliff maintain the peaceful space for church-goers and residents of South Ealing at St Mary's churchyard. Sign up now!

It's been two years since GoodGym Ealing popped up at Popesfield Allotment for a task - can you believe it? While we supported Cultivate London at their projects in Acton and Hanwell, it was high time to revisit the plant nursery at the youngest allotment site in Ealing. And what did we see? The plant nursery has been doing well, but the membrane underneath the pallets with plant pots needed some TLC.

Steph, Sevan and Kash ran a short distance to Popesfield, but for Steph, the difficulty didn't decrease with the mileage as he carried a huge work backpack, worthy of standing for a military training rucksack. The three met Harvey and Maxime, the latter recently having led his first session as TaskForce - congratulations, Maxime! Maxime had led a weekend task nowhere else but in Popesfield, so everyone was hoping to use his know-how about opening all the locks to get to the site and the tools. Fortunately, the instructions were clear, and the team didn't need to rely on specialist knowledge.

The job was simple: pull out the weeds creeping out from the black membrane in front of the sheds, sweep debris, and place all the waste in a tonne bag. Five GoodGymers approached the big job with zeal and thoroughness, pulling the grass from the membrane like there was no tomorrow. In an hour, they cleared the weeds and gravel from the whole open area of the membrane, leaving only parts of the paths between pallets unfinished.

What a thorough job! I am truly impressed, and you say you are not gardeners? - Romina, task owner from Cultivate London.

Next week, GoodGym Ealing opts for an indoor task at the Tuesday group run (just about when it starts getting lighter and warmer in the evenings!). We will be helping to clean and organise a children’s activity space at St Mary's in South Ealing. Sign up now!

Anita and Iram dropped in to join Auberon, Dani, and the Cultivate London team to help bring a splash of colour to the green spaces around Ealing Hospital. Anita arrived first, while Iram joined later, so the pair passed each other like ships in the daylight! Cultivate London supplied some very fetching hi-vis jackets and all the tools we needed to get planting.

Cultivate London is a charity that provides horticultural services using sustainable, organic and biodiverse methods. They work with communities, businesses and local government to create and maintain enjoyable and sustainable urban green spaces and give local people the opportunity to learn and engage in food growing. This session was in partnership with London North West Healthcare Charity.

The team introduced us to the “lasagne technique” which involved layering different bulbs in the soil like lasagne sheets. A good deep hole was dug, and layers of tulips and crocuses were stacked between layers of ~~sauce~~ soil before being firmly stomped down to deter the local squirrel population. The squirrels were keeping a watchful eye from the sidelines as they planned their next raid for a tasty treat!

There’s still plenty to do, so we’ll likely be back to lend a hand again soon. It was a brilliant session full of teamwork, fresh air and the promise of a colourful spring around Ealing Hospital.

The last group run of August 2025 took GoodGym runners Sevan, Harvey, Freya and Steph Ducat to South Acton in a pursuit of perfection in the art of leaf mulch making. At Berrymede School, they met Kash and Chris, and, of course, Romina from Cultivate London, who would guide them in preparing the finest 2024 leaf compost, continuing their work started in July.

Last year's leaves were well-marinated: dark, moist and rich - easy to tell apart from golden, crispy 2025 leaves that already started falling onto the schoolyard. We had to do our best to finish the 2024 batch before it got contaminated by this season's additions. Chris, Freya, Sevan and Kash positioned themselves at the leaves deposit to dig out the damp organic gold. The lowest layers already had some growth in them. The GoodGymers found peculiar white sprouts and even apples: one edible (presumably, as no one actually tried it), and another - an Apple device! Cultivate London charity could grow rich by growing more iPhones rather than selling leaf mulch to raise funds!

Harvey, in breaks from shovelling leaves, was driving the trolley with half-full tonne bags to Bay 2024, where Steph was performing leaf stomping: an ancient tradition of treading the mulch by feet to release the juices and initiate fermentation. As the time went on, the half-full bags in the bay, topped up with Harvey's deliveries and compressed by Steph, grew fatter and denser. Romina was delighted to see what outstanding results a small team could achieve and gave the GoodGymers a round of high-fives.

Next week, our Tuesday session will take place near Ealing Broadway. We will be pruning and watering at the much-loved Lammas Orchard. Sign up now to join us!

Mid-August Tuesday night group run to Acton’s Wildflower Trail was a sequel to a similar session in July. Another heatwave prompted Romina from horticultural charity Cultivate London to deploy the GoodGymers for another treasure hunt involving finding hand tools and watering cans - with a twist! This time, the task was extended to sowing wildflower seeds. What would the seed mix look like? How would the GoodGymers sow them?

Kash cheated the system by walking straight to South Acton early and unintentionally catching Romina before she left the Cultivate HQ. Kash received instructions directly from Romina and even remembered some of the plants from the seed mix: hollyhock, calendula, poppy, and sweet pea.

Steph and Sevan ran from Ealing Broadway to meet Kash and Gaby at the cutest little shed ever: the Acton BID's self-service station at the Wildflower Trail. Kash had already filled two watering cans at the tank and was working on the last one - rightly so, as everyone found out that filling the can takes time.

Gaby, Steph, and Sevan set off to water twelve trees - some more obvious than others - in six wildflower beds. Waiting for the water to fill the cans offered an opportunity for lively water cooler conversations, but also for a call to action: the GoodGymers don’t like standing still with nothing to do, so they decided to take turns at spot litter picking while waiting. Kash, in the meantime, started weeding the bed with wild hedging.

The team used up all the water (and most of the task time) to come to the rescue of the thirsty trees. Before leaving the last five minutes for a weeding blitz, each GoodGymer had a go at sowing the seeds of love (according to Steph and Tears for Fears) or at the Wildflower Trail Mix (according to Sevan), with a crunchy insect insert. With sowing completed, the GoodGymers finished filling three Greener Ealing bags with weeds and carried them to the Cultivate HQ. Another rescue mission at Wildflower Trail completed!

Next week we are supporting the William Hobbayne charity with the maintenance of their outdoor space - sign up now!. In two weeks, we are back in Acton to work with Cultivate London collect leaves from the local school grounds.