Equipped with head torches, working lights and a secret key to the park gates, the GoodGymers ran the streets surrounding Walpole Park and stopped in front of Pitzhanger Manor to regroup. At Rickyard's tool storage, they collected spades, mattocks, loppers, shears, thick gloves and additional assets: park volunteer hi-viz. Although no one should walk in the locked park after dark, the GoodGymers wanted to be perceived as... well, volunteers!

Chris, Sevan, Steph Ducat, and Kash returned to one of the spots where GoodGym fought off brambles last year. Some of the blackberry bushes grew back but seemed small and vulnerable in the winter, which made it a perfect time for a counterattack. Steph and Kash used their favoured weapon, the Mighty Mattock, while Sevan wielded his favourite Spartan Spade with a long shaft and an ample blade. Chris was paving the way to dig out the bramble roots, chopping the stems with Shadowy Shears. He has been very meticulous in giving the blackberries a proper trim.

"It's like I could be a barber in my other life."

The night was calm, windless and dark, with a crescent moon shining against the black, cloudless sky. Although serene, the night was not quiet. As the team worked right next to a pond, quacks and shrieks of water birds counterpointed the sounds of digging and pulling out the roots with effort. Suddenly, the GoodGymers heard the voices of strangers from the street behind the fence.

Chris walked up to a couple on their nighttime stroll. The pair was asking what on earth the GoodGymers were during at this time in the park. Chris used his diplomatic skills and years of GoodGym expertise to describe who we were and what activity we were engaged with. Kash came over and explained that Ealing GoodGymers at today's session were helping with park maintenance after dusk as they had day jobs and couldn't come earlier, then assured that their Tuesday evening sessions get less awkward in the summer. The passers-by turned out to be daily visitors to the park and thanked our team for helping keep their favoured park beautiful and safe.

With a small team we removed nearly 40% of the brambles covering selected patch and did our best to extract the roots, which in some places ran deep and were extremely stubborn. One area looked particularly wrecked, just like after a visit from a wild boar digging for his dinner!

Next week we are visiting a different park in our borough, Blondin Park, where a pile of woodchip waits to be moved. Sign up and join Steph in helping the park. Rewards? Feeling great (and hot chocolate)!

Foreman Michelle's head torch cast a strong beam of light that cut through the darkness in Walpole Park. Her team of four plunged their shovels into bottomless piles of woodchip. The woodchip was to be spread evenly around the bases of oak trees along a path - or at least that was what the team believed in.

Two floodlights and five head torches seemed like a glimmer against the pitch-black night. But Foreman Michelle could see very well whether Alan and Sevan covered the tree roots with the standard 20 cm layer of mulch and whether the amount of woodchip that Steph and Kash loaded each time into the wheelbarrow didn't exceed the acceptable health & safety regulations.

After hitting the target of 8 trees mulched, Michelle decided it was knocking-off time. The team returned the tools to the storage, cleaned the wheelbarrows and set off to their homes for rest as the next day another work shift awaited at Gunnersbury Park.

The first task after Christmas was surprisingly popular among Ealing GoodGymers. Was the Magnificent Seven, who showed up on Saturday morning, already bored with the "take-it-easy" approach to the festive end of December? The seemingly quiet air was growing tense with a silent "bring it on!" cry. A small crowd gathered near Walpole Park's cafe. Were they thirsty for a cup of coffee or for a challenge? Maybe both!

A suitable challenge awaited outside the walled garden gate: the remainder of a woodchip pile that the GoodGymers had attacked last week. All the Rickyard tool storage could offer the eager team was five wheelbarrows, four shovels and a few buckets. Oh, and - of course - the usual puzzle of opening the Fort Knox of gardening tools!

When Diana and Kash worked together to break the tool store security, Sevan spotted a new face to GoodGym Ealing. Roxy chose a perfect task for joining our crew for her first GoodGym session: a prominent location, a good crowd and a classic winter task: shovelling woodchip! Welcome to GoodGym, Roxy!

I attended my first volunteering session today, met some lovely people and we worked so well as a team to smash through the community mission! Can't wait to do more - Roxy

After picking up the tools, the team of four met the rest of the Magnificent Seven at the walled garden gate: Lena, Marta and Mohamed, who was bringing a wealth of experience from last week's session. Would the skilled shovellers, a larger team, more time for the task and Kash's constant promises of coffee make the woodchip pile disappear this time?

The eager shovels plunged into the heap, the woodchip flew into the sky, and the clangour of speeding metal wheelbarrows filled the air. The GoodGymers were on it, determined to finish off the job. There's a wealth of woodchip waiting in Ealing to be moved this winter, and the gang wouldn't have left the Walpole Park pile for yet another session! In about 40 minutes the woodchip heap was gone, and another compost bin was filled to the brim. All that was left was clearing the wheelbarrows (and shoes!) of woodchips.

With spare time earned thanks to teamwork, the gang headed for a coffee as the reward for helping the Walpole Park Ranger today.

Next Saturday morning we are heading to Horsenden Farm for the volunteering day, followed by a pizza lunch at the farm's bakery - sign up now!

When a woodchip pile gets dropped somewhere in Ealing, there is a 56.74% chance GoodGymers will find out about it. In the winter the likelihood rises to 68.5%. Just a few days before the winter solstice, the woodchipping season was in full bloom! But spreading the woodchips for mulching or creating paths was not the objective for today.

Jon, the ranger of Walpole Park, contacted us about a heap of shredded ex-trees at the park gate, next to Soane's Kitchen. Although rangers were generally happy to have the woodchip delivered, they would very much prefer to have it inside compost bins. Here is where GoodGym Ealing gets involved.

Four keen GoodGymers met after dark on Tuesday at Bodyline Fitness to make their way to Walpole Park. Sevan and Sudha decided to walk to the task destination and they made it to the gate before Mohamed and Kash who opted for a 2 km run around outside Walpole Park. Well done, walking team! Next, the crew had to clear the obstacles to reach the tools Jon had left for them: two locked gates, a lockbox and a locked door.

"This is like an escape room!" - Sudha.

It turned out that despite diligent planning, the code to one of the padlocks was not working. Kash had to use a Phone-a-Ranger Lifeline, which saved the day. Having collected the tools, the team put some flood lights on the way between the woodchip pile and the compost bins. That prevented not only walking into the glass walls of Soane's Kitchen in the dark but also helped find accidentally dropped gloves and hats.

In less than an hour, the GoodGymers filled to the brim one of three compost bins and enjoyed a good workout to shake off the winter sloth: shovelling, wheelbarrowing and lifting. The only additional thing to shake off was the woodchips caught in various layers of clothing - but that was homework.

The team did a fantastic job. The woodchip pile is still not cleared yet, so watch this space for another adventure at Walpole Park! We are pausing the Tuesday group runs until January, but look out for December tasks on other days of the week. The group runs will resume on the 7th of January - sign up now for a session to support the Reduce & Recycle Hub in Acton.

Last Tuesday, Walpole Park was an arena for a foot-orienteering race, an unforgiving bramble bashing and unrestricted cake munching. Steph, Sevan and Kash met Hounslow GoodGymer Gus, who came for his first session in Ealing and astonished us with his Houn-fast pace on the run to the task! Feeling that we were ahead of time, we added an extra half-loop around the park to the distance, running past confused Ijo and Milly, who were waiting for us at Rickyard.

Jon the Ranger asked us to tackle three rogue bramble colonies, and we decided to take on the big one, closest to the northeastern entrance to the park. That is where we met Claire and Clare, the latter with her trusty hand secateurs. Undeterred by the sight of thorns, we pressed on, encircling the cluster of brambles from all directions. We decided to leave the wheelbarrows at the tool store and bring a proper siege machine: the big trolley. We meant business.

Long loppers, thick gloves and bear claws were good protection against the brambles. The biggest challenge was... signing Steph's birthday card in secret! Yes, that's right - the Ealing group run night coincided with Steph's birthday.

Well-timed birthday, Steph. Joyeux anniversaire!

Having cleared the whole patch of brambles in one location, we sent Steph to dispose of the last full trolley of cuttings, so that we bought ourselves time to prepare him a surprise. Sevan accompanied Steph to help him / slow him down. When they returned to Rickyard's backyard, a chocolate fudge birthday cake was on fire. Steph saved the cafe by blowing all the burning candles in one go. Woohoo! He also brought an alternative cake himself (apparently that's a French custom). That meant a double cake for us and, for Steph, running with a cake - not an unusual sport among Ealing GoodGymers!

Speaking of sports, tonight's monthly social, organised by our indispensable Milly, took place in Boom Battle Bar, where we enjoyed crazier golf and a couple of pool games.

Removing invasive brambles from the park may seem like a small thing, but helps the rangers and a few volunteer gardeners keep the paths safe and accessible to the public.

Next week we will be helping the William Hobbayne Charity cut back summer growth at Half Acre Woods. We are hoping to see you there - don't forget to sign up!

Despite the short notice change in task, six GoodGymers made their way to Walpole park, to help Ealing Park Rangers fighting back against the vicious bramble growths around the park!

Sevan, Paul, Madhan and Christos met at The Rickyard, with Kash getting an early start on acquiring the necessary tools, supplies and trolley to demolish this latest area of brambles. The team then made their way towards the South entrance of the park, meeting up with Kate at the newest site for clearing up, to help with the safety around the park.

But first, Madhan celebrated an incredible achievement of 300 good deeds, and today’s was a fitting task for someone with such a level of GoodGym experience, in preparing to battle this beast of brambles!

Picking up our shears and loppers, the team set to work on the brambles, leaving nothing in our wake. Brambles were chopped and tackled from the bottom, dragged out and piled onto the trolley for carting off to the waste pile.

With the blackberries starting to ripen amongst the brambles, a few GoodGymers were courageous enough to try these out - apparently these are still a little on the sour side from the taste tests!

Another large bramble patch was destroyed, opening up the surrounding paths and creating a safer area for pedestrians.