Sevan and Kash were already in Southall, after a midday mission, and only a short 2km run away from Featherstone High School, where they reunited with Steph, who squeezed more running and a pit stop at home into the day.

The day was hot, and despite being only a group of three, the GoodGymers made up a half of today's volunteers, alongside Alex, Andrew and Gurpal. It was a sweaty workout in the scorching sun, and we couldn't blame anyone for staying at home in such heath. Alex kindly brought us water, and our job in return was to water the plants. But there was more.

We started ambitiously, helping Gurpal from Southall Transition dig the "bad soil", contaminated with plastic, out of the area where Gurpal had planted berries for children. The planting had been done in a rush and Gurpal was not entirely happy with the soil quality, so the blueberries, strawberries and others had to be re-planted. While Kash came across a couple of bin bags buried in the soil, Steph encountered a drain cover under the layer of dirt, so that area was out of the planting plans.

While Steph and Kash helped Gurpal wheelbarrow the "good soil" to the berry bed, relocate the plants and scatter the compost around, Sevan was on the watering duty, carrying heavy canisters from the school to the thirsty plants. He was later joined by Steph, who loved the opportunity to splash a little bit in the cold, running water. Kash in the meantime removed some big weeds from a tiny raised bed.

The highlight of the community mission was the sight of a majestic dragonfly hanging over the pond. Steph managed to capture the view with his phone camera just before finishing the session.

We are looking to organise the next session at Featherstone late in July, so watch this space!

The second appearance GoodGym Ealing made at Featherstone High School Learnscape was all about woodchipping a path running through the length of the garden, connecting its two gates. Volunteers Alex, Gurpal, Andrew and Ki were very eager to get the task going as five heavy bags of woodchip were awaiting to be spread. The only missing part was more hands!

Luckily, GoodGym came with a strong team again:

• Jags, who regularly engages in Southall's community work, within or outside GoodGym
• Sevan, Steph and Kash returning to Featherstone School after the fierce log moving last month
• Rainu and Roberta coming back for more GoodGymming after joining the team recently

We had three wheelbarrows for ten people to complete the woodchipping task. How many did we use? None! Dragging and tipping bags proved to be more effective, both as a full-body workout and as a way of distributing woodchip. But that's not all! Between moving bags and spreading the chips, we had to lay a membrane on the entire length of the path and pin it to hard, dry soil. We had one mallet for the pins, so we had to get creative!

Having 90 minutes for the task, we knew we had to get focussed. Did we? Driven by our desire for a challenge, we allowed ourselves to get distracted by a side mini landscaping project. We fulfilled Alex's and Jags' vision of an outdoor classroom, having a mound of soil, spare woodchip, heavy logs and donated rubber mats as materials. See the outcome in the photos!

Although we have not started woodchipping until about 20 minutes before the end of the task - believe it or not - we've made it: the new path was laid!

"Thank you so much for all your time, advice and work - I can't believe how much we achieved in the time!" - Alex, the task owner.

With another satisfying session under the belt that Sunday, we split: running, walking or cycling, back home or for yet another task in the day.

About a year ago, the kids from Featherstone High School approached Alex, today's task owner, asking about an overgrown space hidden behind the school's football pitches. Was that a garden? Could it become a garden? That's how the idea of the Garden Learnscape started. The students' initiative needed some support from the grown-ups. Gurpal from Southall Transition, who was involved in the project, introduced Alex to GoodGym. Fast forward a few weeks - and here they were!

Steph, Sevan and Kash ran to the school in Southall from their previous task in Pear Tree Park, with a break for lunch on the way. How surprised they were to see Jules, who had joined them at the previous session, turning up at the destination! Jules ran-walked all the way to the Featherstone School to make another spontaneous appearance. Her hands would definitely make the work lighter! Michelle, who walked to the task, completed the GoodGym crew. There were three more volunteers, including Alex and Gurpal and Hishaam from Southall Transition. Teamwork was the greatest strength needed at the first GoodGym session at Featherstone.

Probably the most spectacular achievement of the afternoon was moving the logs from a local park through a secret gate to the garden to create a sitting area. The timber pieces were enormous and we were not sure how to even approach them! The answer was: problem-solving and cooperation. Without those ingredients, the strongest of us wouldn't have dreamt of transporting that garden furniture!

Although everyone was up for the log challenge, there were plenty of other jobs we undertook when not getting physical with the timber: Jules reassumed her pruning trade, which she had proven to be an ace in, Michelle, Alex and Hishaam were weeding and turning the soil in beds, Sevan busied himself with plenty of various odd jobs, including carrying water, and Steph, Kash and Gurpal were working on flattening a giant mound of soil.

The team made fantastic progress on the development of the Garden Learnscape. We are looking forward to the next session in May to spread woodchip on the path and do more weeding. Sign up to join us!