The rain held off for Manuela and JP to visit Mrs O for some garden maintenance.

The task was listed as grass cutting but the absence of a lawn mower - or indeed any grass, as the lawn was mainly composed of moss - rendered that idea a little challenging.

Instead we gathered the available tools and set ourselves to a general tidy up, raking up the leaves on the lawn and in flower beds and doing some weeding in the beds and on the patio.

Then work was satisfying and we soon managed to fill 4 bags with the leaves and weeds we had gathered.

Mrs O was very satisfied and keen for a repeat experience with GoodGym!

The Monday morning food bank setup at St Mary’s was briefly at risk due to the late arrival of the delivery van with supplies from the central warehouse in Ealing.

Anna, Martin and JP (visiting from Richmond) were on hand and chatted with the other volunteers as we heard occasional updates on the van’s location and progress.

Eventually a cheer went up as the van arrived and we got to work rapidly unloading a bumper load of fresh and packaged food, including mango pieces, bananas, ready to eat meals and a huge load of coriander.

We quickly packed up the now-empty van with reusable boxes and plastic crates and sent the driver on his way, relieved that the food bank slot would go ahead as usual - and raced off to our next activities.

Forget box breath! Jason, the task owner, taught us pilates breathing techniques to help us engage our core and more effectively use the fork to break up the ground for weeding.

We meticulously weeded a number of beds, ready for brassicas to be planted and then watered the other areas which are already full of plants, on their way to becoming a food forest!

There had been much chatter about the friendly foxes who frequent the allotment and as we were packing up they came over to bid use thank you and farewell. A lovely way to spend a sunny autumn afternoon!

Four Ealing GoodGymers, having stopped for a coffee after a morning session at one of the HANGOT community orchards, walked to Blondin Park to tackle... another orchard! Two guests from other West London areas joined the task. Maxime made the trip to Ealing from GoodGym Hounslow, while JP cycled all the way from Richmond.

The team continued working in the park's orchard, using pickaxes, spades and rakes to remove a circle of grass around the fruit trees, making space for a layer of woodchip to be spread at our future Tuesday night session.

Saturday afternoon turned out to be a great time for wildlife spotting at Blondin Park! We uncovered an underground wasp nest between tree roots — and quickly retreated! At the base of another fruit tree, we discovered something even more exciting: a slow worm, also known as a deaf adder! Despite its name, it was neither a worm nor a snake, but a pretty harmless legless lizard — way more amicable than those feisty wasps!

While focusing on grass removal around the trees, we also dealt with a few tree suckers and blackthorn shoots — removing only those that were in the way of the fruit trees and leaving any sloes untouched. We haven't saved the sloes for gin, but left them for the animals looking for food over the winter.

The Blondin Park session traditionally finished with a round of delicious hot chocolate in the pavilion, kindly provided on the house by our fantastic task owner, Linda! We're looking forward to more hot chocolate as the evenings get colder — and, of course, to mulching the fruit trees we've been preparing! Sign up now to join Steph on that adventure!

It was a hand-some Saturday morning on Richmond Green as our dedicated squad of GoodGymers rolled up our sleeves for a rather delicate mission! While brooms are great for hard surfaces, the tiny, stubborn litter tucked into the grass and gravel around the benches requires a much more personal touch.

There was no sweeping this under the rug—we had to get right down into the details, hand-picking every last cigarette butt and microscopic piece of rubbish that usually gets missed.

Armed with gloves, sharp eyes, and ultimate patience, we combed the ground around the benches finding rogue cigarette butts everywhere, but we made sure to nip every single one in the butt! From tiny bits of plastic wrap to microscopic debris, our fingers did all the heavy lifting. We left no stone—or bench slat—unturned in our quest for a spotless green. After a thorough session of bending, stretching, and precision picking, the perimeter around every bench was left looking immaculate and pristine.

It was a seat-sational team effort, proving once again that many hands make light work (and clean greens!). Massive thanks to everyone who lent a hand—we really cleaned up our act down to the very last cigarette butt!