To ask why we do good is to ask why the brambles grow - it is in their nature. Brambles and nettles swallow old paths, woodchip gets washed out by rain and trampled by walkers, and mud comes back to obscure trails. And so GoodGymers and Greenwayers come back to keep the paths alive.

Speaking of great comebacks, Bryon and Christos both found time for some GoodGymming today between the joys of being dads. The award for the most unexpected return goes to Jules, who signed up while the other GoodGymmers were sipping their pre-task coffee at Oscars and still made it to the café herself. Well done Jules - that's the sort of surprise we like the most!

The team walked from Pitshanger to Brent Viaduct to meet Ealing Greenwayers: Richard, Sam and Jim. The objective was similar to those at many previous sessions at the banks of Brent River: make the riverwalk safe and enjoyable to all visitors. Were the activities repetitive then? By no means!

We were up to a lot of diverse jobs:

• Security - Jules and Richard cut through the wilderness to open the sides of the path and remove all the potential dodginess,
• Diving - Richard, Jim, Kash and Christos went skip diving to rescue a few paving slabs,
• Jigsaw puzzles - Steph Ducat, Sevan and a few others laid out additional slabs on the path to prevent people and dogs from walking on the mud,
• Bottomless barrow - Bryon and Sam kept topping up our wheelbarrows and buckets with fresh woodchip like there was no tomorrow!

There was, of course, wheelbarrowing and raking like at any other woodchip-focussed task. If you've done woodchipping in the past, you know the drill. If you haven't - maybe it's time to give it a try? Why not lend us a hand at the nearest opportunity in May?

In 90 minutes our 9-people team has completed revitalising the path - such a rewarding feeling to see it rejuvenated (and improved) at the whole length! We also got some shoutouts from the park visitors!

Next month we are up for another adventure in Pear Tree Park - bramble and nettle bash by the river. Sign up now!

A sunny yet windy Sunday had three GoodGymers rubbing their chilly hands against warm coffee cups at a cafe on Pitshanger Lane. After volunteering at Pitshanger Junior parkrun, the team was regrouping ahead of a walk to Pear Tree Park to help Ealing Greenwayers take care of the area around the now-closed park cafe.

For those Greenwayers who couldn't squeeze a run, walk, or cycle on their way to the session, Kash conducted a full-body warm-up involving many gentle joint rotations ahead of 80 minutes of edging, shovelling, wheelbarrowing, and raking.

Richard, the Greenwayers leader, outlined the task of improving the looks of the park's north border. First, the grass' appetite to spread had to be curbed, so the Greenwayers Sue and Ian were on the edging duty until one of the edging tools broke. Oops. That wasn't the GoodGymers this time! The other Greenwayers, Yi Shwei and David, initially joined the GoodGymers Steph Ducat, Sevan and Kash in the woodchip transport department.

Everyone had a go with both shovelling and wheelbarrowing, apart from Kash, who had injured her foot the day before and decided to stay away from any attempts to increase her step count. But did she miss her workout? It couldn't be further from the truth. Kash was on endurance shovelling duty for the entire task and was the main cause of the erosion of a woodchip coast that day. Richard's endeavour was a reverse of Dubai's Palm Islands project. The team have been mercilessly reducing the woodchip pile coastline. Steph and Sevan served as heavy-duty trucks carrying woodchip away from the coast to create desert-like patches under the hedge. Initially, the dunes appeared, that later had to be raked to create a flatter landscape. By noon, a chain of beautiful oases was created of woodchip spread neatly between palm-like bushes. Or was it just a mirage?

We have two new Pear Tree Park sessions already scheduled for spring in April and May! We are hoping for temperatures a little bit closer to those in Dubai - but not too much! Join us next time for a fun and rewarding Sunday morning workout.

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!