On a chilly Sunday morning, a group of daredevils wearing red walked out from a coffee shop on Pitshanger Lane. Who would have stayed in a warm, cosy place sipping hot beverages and munching on pastry while adventure awaited in Perivale? The adventurers met a young man wearing shorts in February - just like Steph Ducat does - and they knew right away, he was one of them! Daniel, our newest addition to the GoodGym Ealing team, was not intimidated by the freezing temperature and joined us for a walk to Pear Tree Park, where Richard and three other Ealing Greenwayers awaited with a task.

While the Greenwayers provided the tools and expertise for today's job, the GoodGym run leaders brought their own know-how to the session. Since everyone felt it was a bit too nippy to start the task, Kash conducted a warm-up for everyone and raised the temperature to sub-tropical levels. Getting the muscles and joints warmed up helped the participants to stay injury-free today. Of course, let's not forget Richard's obligatory health and safety briefing!

"In short, don't chop each other's heads off." - Richard
"Don't worry about the limbs. Richard is a qualified first aider. Ha can sort those out." - Kash

Both teams grabbed forks and trowels, then attacked the rockery near the old, now closed, park cafe. The weeds were much weaker than in the summer, so the big team removed the most of undesirable greenery within the first hour. Sevan, Mohamed, Steph and Kash then moved on to the GoodGymer's favourite winter pastime: woodchipping, while Daniel faithfully stuck to the original task to do it wholly and properly.

Five minutes before the task finish time, Steph and Kash heard someone saying brute force and were all ears. Richard casually mentioned a side quest - something about a stubborn tree stump near the green waste dumping area. The two walked there to investigate, then returned a few minutes later.

"No, there is no tree stump over there."

Richard glanced towards the bothersome tree trunk, which indeed disappeared. Or was he only dreaming about it?

Before leaving, the GoodGymers treated everyone to a short series of cooldown stretches, which Richard later asked to become - along with the warm-up - a standard part of the Pear Tree Park sessions!

Join us for next month's task with Ealing Greenwayers - and if you cannot wait to see us earlier, pop in for another weekend green task at Grove Farm next Saturday.