“Seek, and ye shall find”, says a quote from the Bible - but it doesn’t specify whether the sought and the found are necessarily the same thing. The November Grove Farm conservation day was all about searching and discovering. Mike treated us today to a unique quest, equipped with a treasure map from an unlikely source: Thames Water. More precisely, the map wasn’t really a map, but a clue: “that amuse adults”.

On the way to the presumed treasure location, we followed a golden, shiny trail, distracted by the lustre of beer cans scattered along the path. We diligently collected the spoils, packed them in a bag, and cunningly hid our riches inside a rubbish bin. Next to the bin, we made an amusing discovery: a couple of pieces of illustrated literature for the enthusiasts of bottom-heavy ladies. Was that what amuses adults?

Five GoodGymers and three Friends of Grove Farm pressed on, venturing off the path into the wilderness, where Mike stopped and revealed what sort of treasures we were after. The treasure had been buried on the grounds of Grove Farm a century ago, under a manhole owned by Thames Water. But the riches it contained were not of a material kind - that would have been, of course, rather desirable, as we could have funded Friends of Grove Farm efforts to maintain the nature reserve. However, there was more at stake. The beautiful wood anemone patch up the hill was threatened by an underground water blockage, which only Thames Water could fix. But first, we had to find the manhole and clear the access.

After three people pointed out that it would have been great to have a metal detector, we accepted the reality (in which there was no metal detector) and got stuck into hacking the brambles and branches, raking cuttings and leaves, and poking the ground with a fork or a spade. After a few false alarms, resulting in digging out bricks, pipes, pots, and tyres, we tightened our search area to more accurately match the what3words phrase “what.amuses.adults” - to no avail. One of us came up with a hypothesis that a tree with many stems growing in the middle of the patch we scoured might have easily grown right from the manhole within the hundred years - an idea we feared to accept.

It would have been a privilege to report to my dear readers that the mission ended with great success. Alas, we haven’t found the manhole. All we discovered was rubbish hiding in the undergrowth. That had to suffice for a treasure at the end of a worthy quest. We will continue our search in December, so wrap yourself warmly, Dear Explorers, and let us know if you want to put your name down for another adventure here!

On a November morning, Ash, Sevan and Kash ran and walked up Sudbury Hill to bring some GoodGym red into Grove Farm, otherwise dominated by the LAGER Can blue hi-viz vests and rubbish sacks. It was the day of the regular monthly litter pick, and, as usual, the battle with rubbish at Grove Farm seemed never-ending!

Among the ubiquitous drinks cans and bottles, the volunteers found:

• Household flytips
• Construction site flytips
• Fake braid
• Bluetooth speaker
• Half a Halloween or Carnival mask

Today, LAGER Can was the subject of a film student's assignment, so Kash happened to make a cameo in a scene of picking a particularly disgusting Rubicon carton! Who knows what sludgy substance came out of it, but the young filmmaker reckoned it was fantastic material for his film!

Despite the joint LAGER Can & GoodGym team leaving the lane between Sudbury Hill station and David Lloyd spotless, Grove Farm still needs help to clear large flytips. We'll have the opportunity to help the local volunteers, Friends of Grove Farm, keep the place well-maintained at the next conservation day in two weeks. Sign up now!

In October 1985, Marty McFly jumped into Doc Brown's DeLorean and travelled 40 years into the future. He jumped not only in time, but in space too. Marty found himself in 2025 London, although it didn't look like London at all. Grassy meadows, pine trees, blue skies, uninterrupted by unsightly skyscrapers. But there was something else...

Instead of flying hoverboards, so ubiquitous in 2015, the meadow was full of fly-tipped boards - parts of beds, drawers, cupboards. If Marty went back to 2023, he'd have seen that volunteers from Friends of Grove Farm, LAGER Can, and GoodGym have cleared the fly-tipped bulky rubbish from the Ealing Northern meadow. Now the flytips were back!

GoodGymers Max, Sevan and Kash joined a group of Friends of Grove Farm for the usual monthly conservation day, but the need to keep the place clear of rubbish was more pressing. Mike, the lead of Friends of Grove Farm, gave the team a choice of two projects: picking up small litter or removing bulky trash: pieces of furniture, pipes, buckets, barbecues, mowers. The team decided to tackle the large-scale rubbish and cleared two big patches of flytips.

After the initial shock, Marty McFly was so inspired that he travelled in time to the next Grove Farm conservation day in November 2025. There is still time to sign up for those who don't have a DeLorean time machine. We are hoping to see you and Marty there!

The September Grove Farm conservation day was a little bit like a rock star arriving late at the stage. The sense of anticipation started to build up when the GoodGymers received a message that Mike, the Grove Farm task leader, was running late.

The suspense didn't last long as Mike showed up only 2-3 minutes after his set time. But the support band was still playing! David Lloyd's forklift was dancing around the Friends of Grove Farm container after we had pointed out that pallets with cement had been blocking the entrance to the tool store.

When Afshin, Steph, Sevan, Mike, and Deborah set off to the top of the lane, near the Sudbury Hill tube station, Kash and her bass guitar (guess what tool was that) disappeared backstage (in David Lloyd's bathrooms). Later, she claimed something nasty had stuck to her backpack and hand, and the delay wasn't a case of fixing the stage makeup.

The Saturday's gig was all about chopping and raking the brambles and other weeds that (again!) overtook the patch that we had been preparing for the wildflower seeding last year. The clearance of the green stuff was quick, so the next part of our set was a litterpick. Among the ubiquitous beer cans and vodka bottles, we found three boxes of cereals of unknown provenance and known best-before date: the past. No one dared to claim the shady Cheerios and Coco Pops, so sadly, they went to the bin.

The next opportunity to get involved in the conservation work at Grove Farm will be next month - sign up now!

The August conservation day at Grove Farm felt like a proper summer day, after a bit chillier week. Four GoodGymers: Steph, Sevan, Maxime and Kash, were back to continue cutting back the thorny shrubs alongside the lane dividing the woodlands from the meadows at Grove Farm. They met Friends of Grove Farm: Mike, Bharti, Fred and Olena, who was back after a study break. The team of eight started where some of them had finished at the July session.

Ninety minutes of intense trimming, raking and litter picking made a significant difference and left the lane looking tidy and refreshed. As per Mike's suggestion, we have left the plants with berries not cut to make sure the woodland animals would have enough food for the winter months.

We will be back at Grove Farm in September for more conservation work - save the date and sign up now!

A mild July morning saw seven volunteers assembling for a conservation day in beautiful woodlands near Sudbury Hill tube station. There were four GoodGymers and four Friends of Grove Farm. Wait, where are my maths skills? Here’s a secret: the leader of the Grove Farm volunteer group, Mike, is also secretly a GoodGymer! And with his determination and skills, we can count him as two people!

Sevan and Steph warmed up for the session with uphill runs ranging from 8 to 10km, while Kash did a 30 minutes walk and hopped on the picturesque part of the Piccadilly line.

Today's task was to clear brambles, bushes and even trees that had started to overtake the pavement along the lane leading from the Sudbury Hill tube station to David Lloyd sports centre.

Loppers, shears, hedge trimmers, a saw, a litter picker, and 14 eager hands were all that was needed to clear the excess vegetation and rubbish and throw the cuttings (not the litter!) on the existing dead hedge. But was it all the clearance that the GoodGymers did that day? Well, with warm, summer weather encouraging our team to wear shorts and t-shirts, Steph, Sevan and Kash ended up pulling out the thorns from their shoes, socks, knees, toes, hands and arms throughout the rest of the day!

Despite a few scratches, the session was very satisfying. We are already looking forward to the next conservation day at Grove Farm in August - sign up with us now.