If anyone tells me that burdock removal tasks throughout the summer can ever get boring, I'll ask them to think twice! Last Tuesday evening's session started like an action film, with three runners: Sevan, Steph Ducat and Kash, galloping at race pace and adding an extra kilometre and a half to retrieve a mission-critical item for the evening: the tool store keys that Kash had forgotten at home. What this extreme heat does to our brains!

Fortunately, the legs coped better with the heat than some of the brains. The racing trio arrived only two minutes late, while cyclists Amy and Scott and walkers Yonas, Harvey and Richard were already waiting at the task. The action-film atmosphere continued as Kash navigated the site's complicated security system and finally liberated the tools.

Eight GoodGymers grabbed a pair of wheelbarrows, a couple of spades and a collection of loppers, then set off to face all the burdock in Elthorne Park they hadn't tackled at last month's session and which had had time to grow. Many of the plants had already started producing sticky burrs. Amy and Kash, with hair a bit longer than the rest of the group, could testify to that.

"Actually, those burrs don't stick to my hair. It's my hair that sticks to them." – Amy.

Hitching a ride in people's hair and clothes or dogs' fur is burdock's prime strategy for travelling long distances and colonising new territory. And that's not its only trick. A single plant can produce thousands of seeds, allowing it to spread rapidly and outcompete surrounding plants for sunlight, water and nutrients. That's why GoodGymers regularly visit Elthorne Park in the summer to keep its expansion in check.

This time, the ranger asked us to focus on the outliers - not the dense patches where burdock was already established, but the lone plants and small clusters threatening to spread across the fields and along the paths.

After clearing the path on the way to the main burdock patch, the team spread into smaller groups across the large field, venturing almost as far as the Bambi statue. Everyone did a tremendous job, greatly reducing the spread of burdock across the park. A special thanks goes to Yonas and Scott, who tirelessly wheelbarrowed the cut plants to a pile away from the main visitor routes.

It was Scott's very first GoodGym session, but you'd never have guessed it - he tackled burdock like a seasoned pro. Well done, Scott, and welcome to GoodGym! We're hoping to see you again soon.

After another successful evening keeping Elthorne Park's burdock under control, we're already looking ahead to the next adventures. This weekend we'll be back in Hanwell helping HANGOT maintain their community fruit orchards, and next Tuesday Sevan will lead us to Perivale to support Impact Theatre by sanding walls ahead of painting. We are hoping to see you there!

The William Hobbayne Centre, home to one of the UK's oldest charities in Hanwell, has hosted many memorable events over the years where GoodGymers have lent a helping hand. From hearty dinners at Burns Night to fundraising quizzes and youth performances by the Terry Marshall Academy, the centre has seen all kinds of gatherings. But this Tuesday evening, the backyard hosted a very different kind of gig.

Taking to the stage was the 7 Scratchers Army, pioneers of the industrial symphony.

If you've never heard of them, you're clearly not keeping up with Hanwell's music scene. The 7 Scratchers Army - although not always with the same seven musicians, and not always with seven performers at all - had been touring the William Hobbayne Centre for years. Their concerts usually coincide with the start of festival season, when the weeds are at their tallest and greenest, or with the end of summer, when the wind of change sends leaves drifting into the courtyard.

Their biggest audience, however, has always been the thick carpet of moss covering the concrete. The moment the 7 Scratchers Army stepped onto the stage, the moss almost peeled itself off the ground in anticipation, eager to see the hoes gleaming in the early evening sunshine.

Like every over-the-top rock band, the Scratchers brought an outrageous collection of instruments: mighty brooms, sturdy hoes and even snow shovels, despite it being late June.

Harvey, Steph, Lena, Amy, Sevan, Richard and Kash launched enthusiastically into one of their greatest hits, filling the air with the unmistakable sounds of scraping, sweeping and scratching. The rhythmic brushing of brooms blended with the harsher percussion of hoes and shovels before giving way to the gentle rustle of dry leaves and litter disappearing into Greener Ealing bags. You might have recognised the band’s classic Smells Like Greener Ealing there. The performance was so powerful it could probably be heard as far away as Sandy Park, perhaps reaching The Green W7 or maybe even all the way to The Fox.

June from the Hobbayne Charity, the sole member of the audience for this exclusive performance, noticed that the stage lacked decoration. She decided it needed flower garlands along the fence - but there was one problem: no tools! Without missing a beat, Richard dashed home to fetch his toolbox, returning before the next song, Screwing in the Name Of, began. Moments later, the soundtrack gained an unexpected electric guitar solo: the buzz of screws being driven into the fence.

Suddenly, the whole stage burst into bloom. Steph even wore a flower behind his ear, as if he were about to go to San Francisco with flowers in his hair. Surrounded by floral garlands, with brooms, hoes and shovels still playing their final movements, the Industrial Symphony reached its grand finale: Sweep Child O' Mine. June applauded enthusiastically.

As the last notes faded, the dust settled, and the low evening sun lit up the transformed courtyard. Gone were the litter, leaves, weeds and moss. In their place stood a tidy outdoor space, brightened with colourful flowers. Only then did the seven GoodGymers realise they hadn't actually been performing a concert at all. They had been volunteering at the William Hobbayne Centre, helping prepare the outdoor space for the charity's upcoming event. They even brought the chairs and tables from the centre so they could be easily pulled out of the outdoor storage when the celebrations began. Not bad for just one hour's work!

The 7 Scratchers Army will be back on the Hanwell tour next week, this time at Elthorne Park. Fancy joining the band? Whether they become Eight or Nine Scratchers is entirely up to you: Sign up now!

A new location for Goodgym but one that may become a regular: The Brentford beeline!

A fee Goodgymers came to give a hand the group.of fierce volunteers aiming to transport this old abandoned railway into an accessible public space first for school kids but for all to enjoy in the long run.

To that end, many got to the tedious task of clearing out the path of thorns, weeds and other accident-prone features of the path while others were stopping ivyes from taking over all the trees. The least delicate of them all were sent to go digging old rails from stacks of rubbles. Thos rails may be as old 1850 (Brunel time!), judging by their gauge (tall from modern standards.

After 1h30 of hard work, it was time for a group pic and call it a day. Until next time!

When the golden evening sun casts long shadows of GoodGymers arriving at Elthorne Park armed with spades, you know exactly what time of year it is: burdock-hunting season.

While burdock is a useful food source for pollinators, it is also extremely invasive. A single burdock can produce up to 15,000 seeds, allowing it to spread rapidly across green spaces. Left unchecked, it can grow to an impressive 10 feet tall, competing with other plants for sunlight, water, and nutrients. Its large leaves can block the sunlight from reaching surrounding vegetation. Apart from making it harder for a variety of plants to survive, burdock produces spiky seed heads called burrs later in the year, which easily stick to dogs, wild animals, and people's clothing, helping the plant spread even further.

The Ealing Parks Rangers asked for our help in tackling this botanical giant by digging out its deep taproots wherever possible or cutting plants as close to the ground as we could. Six GoodGymers answered the call. Richard, Yonas, Steph Ducat, Sevan and Kash ran 3.5 km from Ealing Broadway through West Ealing and Hanwell to meet Conor at Elthorne Park.

Armed with spades and determination, these Aces of Spades set to work clearing burdock along the path leading to Elthorne Terraces Orchard. Before long, they reached a true burdock stronghold and spent the rest of the evening removing as many plants as possible before they had the chance to develop burrs and disperse their thousands of seeds.

It was a rewarding session that made a difference to protecting the biodiversity of this much-loved Hanwell park. However, having discovered such a significant burdock colony, our work is far from over. We'll need to return before the end of the month to stay ahead of the invasion.

Fancy joining the fight against the burdock army? Come along to our session on 30th June!