With temperatures in Ealing reaching 33 degrees, Sevan, Steph and Kash showed up in the evening at Bodyline Studios equipped with bottles full of water. Some were wearing vests, others caps - anything to fend off either heat or UV.

The GoodGymers decided on a walk to Lammas Orchard through Walpole Park - quite a different place than the one remembered from the January's evening group runs! The sun was still high up, so adults and children enjoyed walks, bike rides or relaxing on the grass.

On arrival at the orchard, Sevan, who led the task, passed to Steph and Kash the instructions from Trevor from Ealing Transition. Since there was only three teammates, they had to prioritise. According to Sevan, Trevor was really keen on GoodGym taking care of the thorny brambles that grew in the hedgehog enclosure and were stealing minerals and water from the young trees planted there this year. That was the job the trio tackled first, stepping into the fenced area and working with utmost precision.

"Look for primroses and don't trample them. Don't chop them. Don't chop the trees." - Sevan.

With those restrictions in mind, the chopping machines like Steph and Kash opted for using loppers rather than shears to tame their destructive tendencies. They didn't find any hedgehogs hiding under the brambles, but discovered planted saplings, 3 or 4 tennis balls and a winter hat - the latter two not particularly useful at the time.

When the brambles became sufficiently pushed back, Sevan grabbed a watering can to water the flower bed and top up the water level in the frog pond. The GoodGymers, despite low in numbers, left the orchard having made a visible difference and having set up the young trees for success.

The brambles and other undesirable plants virtually explode in the summer months, so next week we're on the chopping duty again - this time in Half Acre Woods in Hanwell to cut back the summer growth and keep the paths accessible to public. Sign up now to give our team an extra pair of hands!

On a cloudy, yet no longer rainy Tuesday evening, Sevan took Ealing GoodGymers for a run through Walpole Park to Lammas Enclosure. Surprisingly, we went past the Transition Orchard, not stopping there this time, then past the tennis courts. Did our run leader miss the task location? Today we met Trevor from Ealing Transition at a new woodchip pile. He challenged us to fill our wheelbarrows first before he would take us to the area in need of GoodGym hands.

"You are filling these wheelbarrows six times faster than I would!" - Trevor.

Trevor showed us a patch of tiny trees planted last year. During the late spring, the snips were having a tough time, bullied by the brambles that grew much quicker. Trevor had already started rescuing the saplings to prevent the bullies from completely taking over, and we could see piles of thorny cuttings around. Our job was to free all the remaining tiny trees and cover the ground with woodchip to suppress further growth of weeds.

At first, the whole team focused on taking down the brambles, with A.B. and Freya at the forefront. Gradually, the chopping team started losing its members to the woodchipping job: first Steph Ducat, then Harvey, and finally Kash. Sevan stayed in the small forest area to rake and coordinate the woodchip operations.

As the cuttings heap grew, the woodchip pile shrunk, eventually running out completely. Just 45 minutes of GoodGymming transformed a sad, overgrown thicket into a little forest of happy saplings, thriving surrounded by a thick layer of mulch.

"On behalf of the trees - thank you!" - Trevor.

We are keeping our fingers crossed for the trees that had been now set for a fresh start in their long life - but we will be back to check in on them later in the summer and fight back the thorny bullies if needed!

Next week we have a totally different type of task: we'll be teaming up with Ealing Repair Café again to reduce fabric waste and create goods for the community! Sign up now. It's an indoor task, so the weather is not an excuse 😉

On the last group run in March, and before the clocks changed to British Summer Time, Sevan took Liuba, Steph and Kash for a run around Walpole Park. The Walpole Park gates were closing around 7 pm, and the GoodGymers made it inside the park just before the cutoff time. They picked up the barrows and tools and headed towards Lammas Enclosure. Now, how would they get out? Maybe they would build a catapult, a mighty trebuchet, to hurl themselves out of the park? One of the GoodGymers, entrusted with a key, unlocked the gate, letting the GoodGymers and two other visitors stuck in the park out.

Trevor from Ealing Transition could not join the task at the Lammas Orchard but left Sevan the instructions. Firstly, the compacted soil in the beds at the back of the enclosure had to be turned, which was masterfully accomplished by Steph.

Secondly, there was woodchip to be spread, as usual. Or maybe not so usual? This time the chips had to be laid in a newly enclosed area - a new hedgehog habitat. It was a real future hedgehog city with urban planning involving lots of trees. Those trees had to be mulched with a thick layer of woodchip, but the hedgehog city was fenced with a thorny barrier! The humans were advised to keep out, so the only sensible way to get the chips inside was to make them fly! The GoodGymers used the shovels as catapults and threw confetti of woodchips into the dark sky.

Despite the darkness, at the end of the task, everyone could see that the mulch cover in the hedgehog city increased significantly and the woodchip pile outside the enclosure almost disappeared. Well done everyone!

Join us next week on the run to Acton to team up again with Ealing Repair Cafe to create crafts to be used by the community. Sign up now!

"Welcome to the local branch of the Garden of Eden" - said Trevor of the Ealing Transition initiative at the sight of seven GoodGymers.

Trevor's community group takes on the challenge of climate change on a local level by installing solar panels at schools, beekeeping and planting orchards. One such orchard was located in Lammas Enclosure, not far from Ealing Broadway, and was amongst the favourite spots for GoodGym Ealing group runs. Last Sunday, the orchard saw a different group of volunteers, including children, at the working party. The residents who joined the event left the place with more cardboard and mulch under the trees and fewer brambles around them. Would that mean there was nothing to do for GoodGymers? No way!

Sevan led tonight's run to the task and helped Trevor oversee and support the GoodGymers in activities that needed an extra pair of hands at a time. Milly, as usual, could be seen with a watering can, at the raised beds inside and outside the orchards and at the frog pond. It was a scorching day, so plants needed urgent watering. Chris and Mike had a good chance to catch up and chat while enjoying a shovel-and-mulch workout. Who needs an indoor gym to do that? Beata and Steph were driving the wheelbarrows filled by Chris and Mike into the orchard and dropping the mulch around the fruit trees, which the Sunday group hadn't got the time to tackle. One of the trees needed extra attention - its branches were tangled by unforgiving brambles. Kash dived under the tree and snipped away the thorny stems at the bottom.

"Never walk past a bramble without snipping it. I may go for your neck!" - Trevor.

Steph, who made a wise decision to bring his thick gardening gloves, collected the prickly trimmings and ended up avoiding the scratches pretty well, despite wearing a running vest.

The last task to address was turning the soil in the raised bed, which was taken care of by Beata and Sevan. The gang finished off ahead of time, making Trevor very happy about the state of the orchard. When outside the enclosed area, the GoodGymers started looking around for the candidates for future tasks. Someone suggested trimming the hedge at the boundary of the orchard, however, Trevor was reluctant to make any drastic cuts.

"A hedge is a multi-storey space for living things" - Trevor.

We left the orchard ensured by Trevor that the brambles would inevitably grow back and generate more maintenance work for us in the future months.

While we are waiting for the brambles to strike back, next week we are running to help the William Hobbayne Community Centre in Hanwell, where we are going to stay for a GoodGym Ealing birthday party. 🎂🥳🎊

A last minute change of task brought GoodGym Ealing back to Lammas Orchard, where task owner Trevor had prepared a giant new pile of woodchip for the team's wheelbarrowing pleasure. In addition, there were raised beds to water and an explosion of invasive plants to trim back.

Claire, Kash and Steph Ducat started by moving woodchip onto the untreated paths and managed to complete the main routes through the orchard. Meanwhile, Clare, Alaa, Milly and Sevan were chopping away at brambles, pulling sticky weeds and taking down anything else spiky and likely to put people off from walking through the orchard. There was a lot of cat talk going on in the group and no mention at all of current affairs, with everyone sticking to furrier ground.

Milly took on the final task of looking after the raised beds that sit outside the orchard. The roses in the raised beds were already in bloom, while the strawberries and redcurrants were still working on being juicy enough to be eaten. Milly tended to their affairs, watering the redcurrants to make sure they achieve their destiny this summer.

Satisfied with their work, the GoodGymers returned their tools to the storage area in the Rickyard with some elegant formation wheelbarrowing.

There is a lot of mystery shrouding the history of the Lammas Snail Worshippers. Some academics trace their origins to the Rickyard in Walpole Park, while other historical records associate them with the cult of Bodyline Druids known for their weekly rituals performed in a circle close to the sacred grounds of Haven Green.

Their places of worship are often described as quiet, secluded areas, like clearings in woods and forests, and circles of wooden logs. One such site is preserved in modern Britain and appears to be maintained by the local druids: the Lammas Enclosure. Today's druids' reverence for Nature encourages them to plant trees in sacred groves, remove invasive species like brambles and create holy paths with woodchip.

The primary philosophical posture of the Lammas Snail Worshippers is one of love and respect towards all of life – towards fellow human beings, but primarily snails. That love is often expressed in constructing snail temples inside wooden log circles. Probably the most famous log circle in Britain is a megalithic monument in Lammas Park dating back to May 2024. Its alignment with the solar and lunar cycles suggests the importance of harmonising human activities with the natural and cosmic cycles. Most importantly, the circle contains a sacred hollow log, believed to be a temple.

This unique site embodies the druidic fascination with slugs, the homeless deities without a shell who need a sacred dwelling. The hollow log serves as the slug home and gives the druids a sense of serving Nature and connecting the people with the snails.

The mysticism of snail temples often intersects with various other traditions and practices such as the harvesting of burdock in Elthorne Park. This ceremonial act, performed with great reverence, before the summer solstice, can be observed on the 28th of May.