Suns out, spades out!

It was the loveliest day of the year so far, which always fills us with Vitamin D fueled energy. Which was good news as we had a big task to reclaim some overground areas in Chiswick.

After a very short run we arrived to meet Karen from Abundance London, who had brought with her a barrow full of tools. There is a set of beds right by the busy A4 that have become really neglected. Abundance have cleared one and planted it with lots of pollinators, o there was a stark difference between the cared for space, and the overgrown, litter strewn area we were there to tackle.

We wasted no time (and I even managed to remember to take a 'before' shot, so you can really see how much we got done) getting stuck in. Out came bindweed, cans, bricks, some wrangled metal, a broom head and more weeds than you can shake a fork at.

We were doing so well that a splinter group featuring Chris, Alan and Gus even moved over the road to work on pulling up grass and clearing another area. While we worked we remarked how just a little care makes a big difference. If passers by see well-loved, neat and flourishing beds they are much less likely to chuck their litter there and much more likely to want to take some ownership for its upkeep. So well done everybody, it really is time well spent.

After finishing up we made our way back to the green. Thanks to the rain it had been a while since we'd had an opportunity to do a proper core session so we took advantage of the lovely weather to knock out a series of exercises aimed at strengthening our abs. Just look at those happy faces in the photos!

On Saturday there is a great community mission to plant at Harvard Hill. So far we have no sign up so it would be wonderful if you had a short window to spare to lend a hand! Here are all the details you need.

Happy GGing everybody!

On the Early May Bank Holiday, GoodGym Ealing had a different take on playing rock, paper, scissors.

The paper 📰, in the form of leaflets, was a weapon against something much more dangerous than rocks - waste 🗑️! The flyers to be distributed among residential houses around Ealing Broadway advertised a community project Ealing Sharing Space by the Circular Education Hub. At the same time, we dropped some leaflets for the Ealing Friends of the Earth.

In place of scissors, the greatest threat to the paper was water 💧. It seemed that we had picked the worst one-hour slot during the entire long weekend to do a leafletting task! Heavy rain was pouring out of the sky non-stop. The weather didn't scare off either the short-distance runners: Sevan and Kash, longer-distance runners: Steph Ducat and Anuj, or cyclists: Emmanuella and Alan.

A short briefing at the Ealing Broadway shopping centre explained that our aim for the morning was to promote free, weekly community events in Ealing Project cinema where residents can come together to share stories, skills (like sewing, upcycling, sustainable cooking), stuff (e.g. toys and books), and take practical steps against climate change.

We decided to target the houses between Ealing Broadway and Ealing Common. As we walked, discussions ensued about whether the streets we had picked were the good ones. The good ones usually mean streets with big houses converted to multiple flats or house sharing, but not necessarily expensive-looking family homes. We encountered a combination of residents' housing.

"This person drives the newest Porsche, I'm not going to drop leaflets there. They won't be interested in sustainable living."
"Was the car electric?"
"No."

"Maybe we are biased. Those who are better-off can be educated about sustainable living and interested in the activities we advertise."

The last street we hit was definitely a good one, with smaller houses and many letterboxes. That's when we ran out of leaflets that started getting damp. Those of us sporting weather-appropriate clothing held the flyers dearly under their jackets. The GoodGymers who had showed up today wearing t-shirts and sunglasses couldn't do much apart from still looking cool 😎 despite being soaked. With the distribution finished early, the drenched bunch marched back to the shopping centre to grab a coffee or hot chocolate ☕ to adjust their level of cosiness to an acceptable standard.

Kash, Alan and Sevan discovered that they were all volunteering at Acton Junior parkrun this morning, while Joanna was the Run Director for the day. There were lots of first timers, apparently encouraged by the good weather, which meant that Joanna felt that things were chaotic before the start. There were lots of questions about Junior parkrun and how it all worked.

As Sevan walked up the hill from the start with his timekeeper's stopwatch running, one of the volunteers said:

"You're timekeeping? Good luck with that! There must be around 80 children today"

"This is the first sunny day this year. Every Sunday until now has been windy or rainy or cold" - Marshal

Thankfully today wasn't one of those grim Sundays. Today was glorious... sunny and warm ☀️

A little further up the hill, the lead runner who'd passed Alan's marshal post asked Sevan "Where do I go?". Sevan pointed down the hill towards the next marshal. They must've been one of those newbies.

At the finish too some of the children had to learn about funnel and that they had to run through it, not past it. "Run through here", "no, don't stop, keep going" and "over here!" were heard over and over. In all Kash and the other barcode scanners recorded 56 times, including a few who didn't have barcodes yet and needed some last minute registration action.

It was great to see that all of the children were excited and enthusiastic today, which doesn't always happen. They must be solar powered.