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!

Sevan and Steph Ducat completed a early mission at Pitshanger Park and went for a coffee in the sun before hitting the road to meet Richard from Ealing Greenwayers. The pair were joined by Penny at the meeting point. Richard and his crew set off with the Goodgymers to the woodlands below the bridge near the newest park in Ealing which was converted from a golf course : Pear Tree Park!! Debrief from Richard and was it Mission Impossible??We were looking at the woodlands and the intention was to create or restore a natural path towards the new park. The slashers would have to face the evil brambles, nettles and other nasty creatures that would discourage the volunteers to create the highway to Pear Tree park!! So we ended up slashing a way through the woodland, followed by some heavy shearing and raking. Sevan said to Steph that there was a spaghetti junction on our motorway!! The brambles, nettles and bindweed created twisty paths around the woodland items which were trapped and true it looked like long thin twisty spaghetti!! We also had some road blocages created by fallen trees and branches but this did not stop the highway contractors to finish a new natural path or motorway to the Pear Tree park.

On their twenty-minute walk between the cafes in Pitshanger Park and the old Perivale Golf Course, a trio of GoodGymers encountered a sign announcing the opening of a new green space in Ealing: Pear Tree Park. Did the new park have anything to do with where they were heading? Sevan, Steph and Kash, following last month's session with Ealing Greenwayers, were on a mission to rejuvenate the grounds surrounding the Perivale Golf Course Cafe.

Today's session was a loose interpretation of the rock-paper-scissors game:

• Rocks were the key part of an overgrown rockery the Greenwayers and GoodGymers were supposed to reveal by pulling out weeds, especially thistle. Thistle beats rock.

• Paper was a weapon against thistle. Richard, the chief Greenwayer and a dedicated first-aider warned the GoodGym folk about the nastiness of the thistle thorns and recommended crumpled newspaper as the remedy. Our volunteers couldn't believe the thorns would pierce through their thick gloves - but they did! Kash adapted the newspaper method and became the GoodGymer with the least number of ouches shouted. Paper beats thistle.

• Scissors were absent in this game as the weeds could be pulled from between the rocks by the sheer force of gloved (and newspapered) hands. Sadly, scissors didn't beat anything in today's episode.

The ultimate objective was to conquer the mound of rocks and free it from the reign of thistles. The strategy was to besiege the rockery with an army of three Greenwayers and three GoodGymers and climb the mountain, continuously pushing the thistles back.

During the one-hour session, the GoodGymers were attacked by the thistles' allies, the insects, from the ground and the sky. Sevan disturbed a couple of ant nests in the rockery and had to retreat from the battlefield, finding his new purpose in wheelbarrowing the green waste out of the scene. Steph unsettled the pollinators visiting the thistle flowers. Bumblebees seemed to be forgiving, but the sight of bees forced Steph to change tactics and attack the mound from a different side.

There is always one more weed

That should be the gardening GoodGymers' motto. It was no different this time. Despite the crushing victory over the thistles, the thorny weed persevered at its last stand. Had the team started 30 minutes earlier or had one more pair of hands, the scores might have been different. Nonetheless, the vast majority of the vegetation was successfully removed, and the volunteers were able to marvel at the shape of the rockery.

Sevan, Steph and Kash finished the session with a 3 km run to Dean Gardens in West Ealing, where they parted ways. They will reunite at the Tuesday's group run to help St Andrew's.

It's been three weeks since the closure of Perivale Park Golf Club to repurpose the area for rewilding and expand Perivale Park into a larger public space. When Harvey and Kash took a 15-minute walk from their earlier task, they stepped into what was to become the first regional park in West London. As they strolled off-track through the grass, they marvelled at fields of daisies and dandelions that had appeared when the golfers departed the site.

"I've been living in Ealing for twenty-odd years and never walked across this golf course." - Harvey

It seemed as if the exciting idea of the regional park started becoming true. The challenging part of pursuing the dream was maintenance. Jamie, the Ranger from the Ealing Council Parks and Open Spaces team, was hoping for some volunteer help to manage the summer growth at the newly opened park. Richard from Ealing Greenwayers was keen to make it happen, organising a task with a group of eager GoodGymers.

After Harvey and Kash arrived at the Perivale Park Cafe, they reunited with Sevan and Steph Ducat who opted for a run between tasks, and Richard who drove to the location with the tools. He had a selection of brand-new loppers and a thick rope with him. The team used two discarded trash bins and the rope to mark the desired height of a pyracantha hedge that needed trimming down. Their task was to cut enough of the hedge to reveal the view of the new Perivale Park from the old golf club cafe. It was a challenging job as the hedge was pretty long and thorny.

"This is nasty stuff!" - Harvey
"It is a rottweiler of hedges." - Richard

Undeterred by the spikiness of pyracantha and armed with thick gloves, the GoodGymers kept chopping and pulling the branches, while Richard was collecting and taking away the trimmings. One hour later, the magnificent view of the meadow was revealed.

Two older gentlemen, the former golf club members - although unhappy about losing their local space for activity - thanked Richard and GoodGymers for their work at the hedge.

"I liked to sit at the cafe and watch the golfers. Now I can sit and watch... the walkers!" - one of the golfers.

Having cleared all the cuttings, the team of five sat down at one of the cafe tables in the sun for a chat and cold drinks, and then the GoodGymers ran or walked to enjoy the rest of their Sunday afternoon - be it a training run, a late lunch out or a shower!

Join us for another session with Richard and Ealing Greenwayers in July - sign up here. The tasks are short, rewarding and in a friendly atmosphere - and running is not a requirement!