On a very sunny Sunday afternoon in September, when it felt like summer was making a comeback, seven GoodGymers assembled in Pear Tree Park to join a riverside path-clearing session organised by Ben from Clean Up River Brent. The event was part of Ealing Climate Week and coincided with the ActForEaling social. ActForEaling is a coalition of nature & climate groups, and GoodGym Ealing are their partners.

While some of the other organisations opted to have a stall to promote their cause, GoodGym was all about hands-on action, so we headed straight towards the River Brent for the task. With shears, loppers and litter pickers in hand, the team disappeared into the thicket, opening up the overgrown entrances and cutting back vegetation to allow safe, comfortable access for visitors. Perhaps even more fittingly for Ealing Climate Week, we also collected litter that was plaguing the sides of the path. The further west we travelled, the less obvious the route became, meandering around a dried-up stream ditch or getting swallowed up by the previous flooding.

After more than an hour of clearing and tidying the path, we returned to the ActForEaling event near Pear Tree Bistro to collect free drink vouchers and meet some familiar faces. The occasion brought together several past and present task owners: Mary from ActForEaling & Ealing Repair Cafe, Elisabeth, formerly leading Acton Litter Collective, and Trevor from Ealing Transition.

Trevor had some great news: hedgehogs had been spotted in the Lammas Orchard, so our support with building their habitat had finally paid off! If you are interested in more projects led by Ealing Transition, including energy saving, schools' solar generation, food-growing skills, beekeeping and biodiversity restoration, join Trevor's storytelling talk next Sunday morning in South Ealing.

Just as we thought the 2026 heatwaves were over, the first Saturday of September hit us with a blast of scorching sun before noon - but we liked it! On a beautiful, warm day, ten GoodGymers gathered at Horsenden Farm to help the newest residents settle in nicely. The new additions to the farm animals gang were two ponies. One of them, a retired mare, Trixie, had already arrived, and we saw her grazing behind the orchard. Her companion, a working pony, was due to arrive over the next few days.

Today's task was to create a new paddock for the ponies. We didn't need to worry about building the fencing - the job required clearing an overgrown meadow, full of thistles that had outcompeted even the frequent offender among the invasive plants - blackberries. We collected thick gloves, shears and loppers from the tool store and headed up the hill, saying hi to the two goats and the farm cat on the way.

The result of our nearly 2-hour chopping extravaganza was spectacular. Thanks to teamwork, the satisfying feeling that cutting back activity offers, and staying well hydrated, we managed to clear a large area that would certainly be comfortable for more than two ponies at a time. Or at least we thought so. We really tried to look at the paddock-to-be from our customers' perspective.

"If I were a pony, I'd like to hang out under those trees." - Iram.

The task owner, Elsa, was delighted to see how much had been achieved in such a short time. We hope that Trixie and her new pony friend will be equally pleased with their new space.

On the way to the seating area, where we'd devour pizzas and drink locally produced beverages as a reward, we spotted that the harvest mice were back in town. The cute tiny rodents hiding in the glass terrarium got the adult GoodGymers as excited as kids! It might have been one of the last chances to see the mice this year, as they are released into the wild every summer and autumn to rebuild the population of a species that had been extinct in our borough until Ealing Wildlife Group had reintroduced them.

If you missed this month's Horsenden Farm session, worry not! The next visit to the hidden gem of Ealing is in October - save the date now!

On Saturday 8th August 2026, the day before the actual big milestone date, GoodGym Ealing celebrated its 10th birthday. A decade of doing good (over 11,900 good deeds and counting) by 990 GoodGymers (local and from afar) deserved a truly Ealing-style party - no pomp under any circumstances! A small crowd gathered on a meadow in Brent Lodge Park for a picnic by GoodGymers for GoodGymers - and some of our wonderful partners, too!

The location allowed us to borrow a few pieces of festival furniture thanks to the generosity of the William Hobbayne Charity and the Hanwell Hootie team, both represented by Andrea, who joined us on the day. We were visited by the Running Mayor Tom Kerry from We Run Ealing and the leads of Hanwell and Norwood Green Orchard Trail (HANGOT), Hilary and Clive, with whom we watered the trees and cut back a hedge at one of their public orchards in the morning.

While Linda from Blondin Pavilion couldn't make it to the party due to existing commitments, she was with us in spirit - more precisely, in the lemon drizzle she had kindly baked for us. It was a delicious treat!

TaskForce Iram, Steph Ducat, Sevan and Harvey (the latter sadly unable to make it to the party) received a well-deserved shoutout from Area Activator Kash for their incredible work behind the scenes and their support in making the 10th birthday happen: coming up with ideas, sending invites and bringing fun and tasty things to make the day even brighter.

The historical side of the celebration was boosted by the presence of GoodGym veterans like Bryon and John, who had been GoodGymming before GoodGym Ealing even existed! It was fantastic to see a range of newer GoodGymers joining at different times: Ealing regulars like Maria and Ashley, the more recent active members Jo, Andrew and Zuzanna, and the newest additions to the team: Giles - starting his sessions this week - and Beverley and Helen, who had their first opportunity to meet our team today. A lovely surprise was to see Mohamed, a dedicated member last year, who carved out a bit of his busy schedule to come and reunite with the team.

As time went on, the tree's shade receded, and we were forced to keep retreating to the ever-shrinking shade. The only thing that should be baked for a birthday is a cake - certainly not GoodGymers! We even opted out of setting the birthday candles alight on such a hot, dry day to mitigate the risk of a wildfire - or maybe no one thought about bringing a lighter!

The message of the day was simple: everyone is welcome at GoodGym Ealing and every time GoodGymers show up, it counts - for the community and for themselves. Whether you have just started your journey, come for one session a week or a month, do five tasks a week, or have had to take a break for a few months or even years, you are equally welcome, and GoodGym will be waiting for you. No matter if you walk, cycle or run to GoodGym tasks, it's an incredible way to get to know the unique places in your borough, learn about its diverse communities, and meet new people. So come and explore! GoodGym was there for you 10 years ago, it's here now, and it will be waiting for you over the next 10 years too! On to the next decade of getting active together!

In recent years, GoodGym Ealing's birthday celebration has lined up with a morning session with HANGOT, trimming the hedge at The Piggeries orchard. Today was a little different as the ongoing drought added some extra jobs to the To Do list, watering the trees in 3 orchards!

Steph and Jo volunteered to haul buckets of water out of the canal, over the lip, onto the towpath and into a 100 litre bowser. They then wheeled the bowser to each orchard when full to fill watering cans.

The water carriers first covered Bernd's Orchard as it was close to HANGOT's base of operations, then they moved to Elthorne Triangle. This was the toughest orchard to water as it was up a steep hill from the canal and the pair spent the longest time here watering 7 young trees. Next was The Piggeries where everyone else was trimming hedges, then finally back to HANGOT's base to fill the bowser, ready for use in a few days. Great work Steph and Jo, you're made of tough stuff and walked over 3km during the task too!

While Steph and Jo were doing the tough work with buckets, the rest of the team was having fun giving the hedges a short top and sides at The Piggeries to keep the orchard looking neat and maintained. One group of hedge trimmers were full of giggles and cheer. Had they started the party early? They claimed not. They were having a great time working as a team, pairing up with shears and loppers to cut and grab thick branches growing through the top of the hedge.

The cutting back gave passers by more space to use the canal towpath safely, so many people walking past thanked the team and one even brought some cool drinks to share around. All that was left to do was rake the cuttings to complete the job. That sounds easier than it was as so much had been taken off the hedges that it took many trips to the compost pile to finish the morning's task. The results left task owner Clive impressed:

"I'm really surprised that we've managed to do the hedges and watering. Thank you!"

The last task to tick off was to walk to Brent Lodge Park. There the team met GoodGymers old and new to celebrate a decade of GoodGym Ealing supporting organisations like HANGOT and older individuals in our borough.

On the last Tuesday of July, the temperatures didn't seem to drop at all, but neither did the number of GoodGymers at our regular weekday evening session! Maybe the holiday season hasn't quite kicked in yet, or perhaps Hanwell is proving just as hot a destination as Ibiza.

Another week of tasks in Hanwell brought ten eager GoodGymers ready to tackle whatever challenge awaited. We were delighted to see Kristian returning for another 7 km run after his GoodGym debut the previous Tuesday, joining Sevan and Kash for the journey. Hanwell brought together locals like Harvey and Richard, alongside regulars living in neighbouring boroughs, Afshin and Ash, making the journey for a Tuesday night workout. Steph Ducat, meanwhile, arrived looking battle-worn after an unpleasant encounter on the road, but wasn't about to miss the task, swapping running for some fresh air and volunteering while he recovers. It was great to see Freya again, and Maria, who cycled all the way from the eastern edge of the borough.

Arriving at the Stables in Brent Lodge Park, the team met Andrea from Hanwell Community Centre, one of the organisers of the Hanwell Hootie - a free, volunteer-led music festival celebrating Hanwell's legendary link to Jim Marshall, "The Father of Loud". Andrea had been rummaging through the Stables' attic in search of a set of rubbish bins that had gone missing in action, but they were nowhere to be found.

Missing bins weren't Andrea's only problem. Huge stacks of boxes had been piled tightly together, blocking access to the Hootie festival furniture. The collection of vintage chairs and sofas is always the first thing we pull out and clean when preparations for the festival begin each year. Now the furniture was completely inaccessible, setting up a headache for whoever needed it next, whether for the Hootie or another community event. Our mission was to undo the chaos caused by another team's haphazard storage of ten drum kits and to save future volunteers from the same predicament.

With twenty keen hands, we quickly rolled up our imaginary sleeves (it was far too hot for actual sleeves) and got to work. After shifting the boxes of drum kits from the first pallet wedged in the doorway, we finally managed to peek into the blocked room and saw... drum roll... even more mountains of boxes. Still no sign of the furniture.

"You know, this is impossible. I think we need to call it off," Andrea admitted, having a moment of doubt.

Impossible? There's no such word in the GoodGym Ealing dictionary! Sevan squeezed between the wall and the towering stacks of boxes to reach the back of the dark, packed room, where he finally spotted the hidden sofas and chairs. The question was: how do we get them out? Sevan reckoned that if we cleared enough space, the team could attack the task from both sides. That's exactly what we did.

Meanwhile, others removed another pallet of drum kits and freed the first sofa. The chairs and another couch soon followed it. The seemingly insurmountable challenge quickly turned into child's play for our large, well-coordinated team. Oh, and did I mention that Harvey found the missing bins?

We finished well ahead of schedule, neatly reorganising the furniture into an accessible space in the middle of the Stables and returning all the drum kits and amps to the side room. It was a solid functional workout, with enough lifting to get everyone sweating but enough teammates to make it fun and surprisingly easy.

Next week, our run heads to another corner of the borough for a mulching session. Expect plenty of shovelling, wheelbarrowing and teamwork. Sign up now!