On a chilly Sunday morning, a group of daredevils wearing red walked out from a coffee shop on Pitshanger Lane. Who would have stayed in a warm, cosy place sipping hot beverages and munching on pastry while adventure awaited in Perivale? The adventurers met a young man wearing shorts in February - just like Steph Ducat does - and they knew right away, he was one of them! Daniel, our newest addition to the GoodGym Ealing team, was not intimidated by the freezing temperature and joined us for a walk to Pear Tree Park, where Richard and three other Ealing Greenwayers awaited with a task.

While the Greenwayers provided the tools and expertise for today's job, the GoodGym run leaders brought their own know-how to the session. Since everyone felt it was a bit too nippy to start the task, Kash conducted a warm-up for everyone and raised the temperature to sub-tropical levels. Getting the muscles and joints warmed up helped the participants to stay injury-free today. Of course, let's not forget Richard's obligatory health and safety briefing!

"In short, don't chop each other's heads off." - Richard
"Don't worry about the limbs. Richard is a qualified first aider. Ha can sort those out." - Kash

Both teams grabbed forks and trowels, then attacked the rockery near the old, now closed, park cafe. The weeds were much weaker than in the summer, so the big team removed the most of undesirable greenery within the first hour. Sevan, Mohamed, Steph and Kash then moved on to the GoodGymer's favourite winter pastime: woodchipping, while Daniel faithfully stuck to the original task to do it wholly and properly.

Five minutes before the task finish time, Steph and Kash heard someone saying brute force and were all ears. Richard casually mentioned a side quest - something about a stubborn tree stump near the green waste dumping area. The two walked there to investigate, then returned a few minutes later.

"No, there is no tree stump over there."

Richard glanced towards the bothersome tree trunk, which indeed disappeared. Or was he only dreaming about it?

Before leaving, the GoodGymers treated everyone to a short series of cooldown stretches, which Richard later asked to become - along with the warm-up - a standard part of the Pear Tree Park sessions!

Join us for next month's task with Ealing Greenwayers - and if you cannot wait to see us earlier, pop in for another weekend green task at Grove Farm next Saturday.

The first 2025 session with Ealing Greenwayers required an extra shot of energy, so the GoodGymers who signed up for the Pear Tree Park run or walk met up with the junior parkrun GoodGymers for a coffee at Pitsahnger Lane. Properly caffeinated, Liuba, Mohamed, Steph, Sevan and Kash set off for an extended 4km run, zigzagging through Pitsahnger and Cleveland parks to make it to Pear Tree Park. On the way, they bumped into Harvey, Tom and others from the We Run Ealing crew training for the Queen of the Suburbs ultra.

The Greenwayers' leader, Richard, is always fond of GoodGymers' prowess and keeps finding impactful jobs in Pear Tree Park that test our team's power and endurance. Today's activity was about moving things from one place to another - but what was it this time? Woodchip, logs, hedge trimmings? None of those things! Richard went level up and found us a formidable challenge: paving slabs.

Today's task's objective was twofold:

1) Release the roots of a tree surrounded tightly by flagstones near the old (now closed) golf club cafe;
2) Cover the muddy patches on the path GoodGymers and Greenwayers created (and recreated) during a couple of sessions last year.

If the nearly suffocated tree by the park's cafe could breathe like humans, we would hear a sigh of relief from it when Liuba, Richard and Yi Shwei (an Ealing Greenwayer and Walpole Park Kitchen Garden Volunteer) loosened and lifted the paving slabs around it. The flagstones were then loaded either onto wheelbarrows driven by Sevan and Kash or Richard's trolley operated by Mohamed and Steph.

The weight of the load didn't allow any of those cargo machines to speed on the off-road track. As everyone took it slowly, no GoodGymer or Greenwayer was hurt during transport. We cannot say the same about the paving stones. In a truly slab-stick attempt, one of the slabs hurled off the trolley on a bump. That stone eventually made it to the muddy path to rest in pieces rather than in peace.

While the four slab couriers worked on their arm muscles and step count, Liuba and the Greenwayers excavated more flagstones and sand from around the tree to reconnect its roots with the air and moisture it had been denied for years.

Liuba delivered the final 19th slab to the muddy path. Richard also came to inspect the site and found out that the GoodGymers' vision of arranging the stones was not exactly the same as his. The Head Greenwayer was trusted to know best which parts of the trail get the most flooded during heavy rainfall, so after a few minor corrections, the paved path was ready to be tested by the visitors. Just like deus ex-machina, three humans and three dogs materialised and attested that the new infrastructure was suitable for those who were not fans of muddy soles (the dog walkers) and those who loved to run alongside their people on a stretch of soggy dirt (doggies).

Here is what our task owner said about our session today:

"A million thanks once again for partnering up with the Greenwayers! The task was superbly accomplished by your fantastic warriors and met with immediate praise from the dog-walking denizens of Pear Tree Park." - Richard

Although today's session was quite challenging physically, at Pear Tree Park, there are always jobs for those less comfortable with lifting. You also do not need to be a runner to join our February session! You can walk with us to the park from Pitshanger Lane - you won't be alone. Sign up for the next month's adventure at the park!

On a December Sunday morning, GoodGymers Mohamed, Steph and Kash met Greenwayers Richard, Sue and Alex near Brent Viaduct to continue their quest of shaping the Pear Tree Park paths. To say that the recent storms and floods spared the riverside trail that our teams had been working on would be too optimistic. Luckily, the woodchip we had spread last month survived, after being covered by water, so today we had to walk through only a few muddy sections.

Further down the path, the situation didn't look so well as part of the trail suffered from what is bread and butter for the White Cliffs of Dover: erosion. There was also a large fallen tree arching over the walkway, which didn't look particularly safe. Richard brought us to that location so that we could fix that. Removing the fallen tree didn't seem like a job for six people with saws and loppers. Our options were:

• creating a diversion closer to the water and hoping that the river would not swallow it anytime soon
• creating a diversion towards the park, additionally allowing visitors to enter the pathway at that spot

The second choice was more sensible and we immediately set off for lopping, sawing, breaking, hacking, pulling and forking. Richard, as usual, gave us a very comprehensive health and safety briefing ahead of time, so everyone was careful when performing all the feats of strength and wit required to remove dead trees and brambles on the way. Minute after minute, the visionary path was becoming a reality and we saw the light at the end of our way towards the park.

It took us only an hour to create a passage, so we spent the rest of the allocated time making it wider and safer. We said goodbye to a few extra rotten trunks at the sides of the new route and cut off all the overhanging branches we could reach. If someone tells me that the activity was not satisfying, then they may as well repeat after Mick Jagger that they can't get no satisfaction.

Key achievements:

• The dangerous path under the fallen tree has been blocked
• A new, safe path towards the park has been created
• No one lost an eye

Last month saw GoodGym Ealing and Ealing Greenwayers teaming up to hack their way through the overgrown jungle of brambles, nettles and fallen trees to the heart of Pear Tree Park. The goal was to create a riverside walkway for the visitors entering the park from the southeast corner.

Just like the Romans paved their way through Britain by laying roads made of stone, the GoodGymers created many paths in Ealing by spreading woodchip on walkways across the borough. Even though the GoodGym ways are not the ones to survive for generations, they do the job by letting you enjoy the parks without getting muddy shoes in the winter.

Today's session had a record number of volunteers, including a group of Walpole Park volunteer gardeners recruited by Richard, the Greenwayers' leader. GoodGymers came in strong too: a team of six with a guest from Greenwich Khay, a neighbour from Hounslow Gus and a new starter introduced to us by Richard.

With slashers and shears to raze any pesky nettles sticking out, shovels and barrows to transport the woodchip and rakes to make the path surface smooth, we used up all the material in less than 90 minutes to cover the walkway and bring civilisation into Pear Tree Park. Let the words of a dog walker passing by be the testimony of our joint achievement:

This is going to be revolutionary!

The Autumn season of GoodGymming is certainly open! On an October Sunday morning, it brought us rain, mud and a kaleidoscopic display of leaves in Pear Tree Park. Three GoodGymers: Sevan, Steph Ducat and Kash met Greenwayers: Richard, Sue and Phillip to plunge into the depths of the park's overgrowth. The group had the pleasure of entering Pear Tree Park using the new path they had created in August.

At the safety briefing, Richard treated us to a new three-letter acronym, rather than recycling EYE he had taught us in June. The new acronym spelled AHA:

A-bove - watch out for overhanging branches
H-ernia - don't lift ridiculously heavy things
A-ss over tits - you'll end up in this configuration if you won't look for trip hazards

Today's objective was to create another path - alongside River Brent. Apart from the usual brambles and nettles to chop down, the obstacles included trees. For those specimens, we needed a larger calibre - what about a saw? Richard and Sevan wielded those comfortably, while Steph and Kash found their happy place in hacking the stingy and prickly plants with slashers. Sue did a bit of litter picking and lopping at the start, then uncovered her calling: hauling the cut-down tree branches (or shall I say: logs!) to the side of the path. Phillip, the new Greenwayers recruit, made the pathway spotless by collecting all the litter found under the summer growth.

Two hours of sawing, lopping, slashing and rolling the chunkiest logs aside made a stunning difference. The 70 metres (according to Richard and Phillip's estimations) of the overgrown track has been restored to a stage where it resembles a path again.

Richard and Ben from Clean Up River Brent have grand plans to restore the riverside trail to its former glory and ordered woodchip to spread on the path. We will be back to Pear Tree Park again next month to woodchip the new path with the Greenwayers.

Richard from Ealing Greenwayers had prepared 2 missions in Pear Tree Park for the enforcers from GoodGym Ealing, Steph, Kash and Sevan on Sunday morning. Richard brought with him a second Greenwayer, Jim, who was inducted into the group and sworn to silence.

The first duty for the Goodgymers was to fell the new growth of the pyracantha hedge, which was also a feature of another task in the park 3 months ago. The aim was to keep the hedge around the cafe seating area tidy to attract a new cafe owner to the site. The spikes on the cuttings would also have a secondary use, to be piled up behind a large bush and used to roll unruly locals in, both golfers and demanding park users. This would become the first level of intimidation by the Ealing Mob.

One such group appeared during the task to ask about creating a new path around the perimeter of the park. To keep dogs and children apart, claimed the requester. Richard humoured them and gave them the contact details of a park ranger who would know how to deal with their request. Soon after the dog walker and her dog were nowhere to be seen. They'd vanished or had been vanished 🤔

Once the thorny hedge cuttings had been deposited in the hidden torture pit, Kash and Jim went on to weed the cafe seating area, while Steph and Sevan were given a mysterious task. A concrete slab sat just beyond the hedge they'd trimmed and no one knew why it was there. The pair were asked to excavate the block to find out what it was for and how big it was.

Shovels were grabbed and dirt was removed from the surface of the stone. Was it the structure to hold up a flag pole as Richard claimed or was there a more nefarious purpose? A pipe was found, so could it be a breathing hole? Steph and Sevan kept removing more dirt and widening the hole to find the edge of the slab. Maybe it was a grave stone?

Finally, one edge of the stone was found, allowing it to be prised up. Steph, Sevan and Richard were able to peer underneath. Their eyes opened wide and mouths dropped open. They immediately dropped the stone back down, not saying a word. Then, Steph decided to cover the slab with earth again.

What was under there? If they told you, you'd end up in the River Brent with a fresh pair of pyracantha filled concrete boots. Ouch!