An indoor decluttering mission sounded ideal on such a warm day. After being outside under the hot sun for their first 2 tasks of the day, Kash and Sevan were looking forward to this one. When they met Mr C's carer, he led them inside, past piles of clutter, then out to the back garden. This wasn't what Kash and Sevan were expecting. For Mr C's carer though, clearing the patio was priority number 1.

The garden had been cared for recently and had plenty of beautiful plants that had become overgrown. The pots that were sitting on the patio were to be moved to the back of the garden to make space for seating and a table during the summer. No one could see down the garden path and Mr C's carer admitted to not having been there for months, so some chopping tools were requested and Kash went an adventure to discover what lay at the end of the garden.

Once the the path was cleared and Kash had found some spots to move pots to, a plant chain was created. Mr C's carer lifted the pots up off the patio and handed them to Sevan. Sevan made his way down the uneven stairs and passed the pots on to Kash. Kash then slalomed her way along the garden path and found a safe space to drop the pots off.

Once the pots were moved, it was time to explore the other items on the patio and to work out what to get rid of. Kash, Sevan and the carer found:

• 3 metal tables with terminally rusty tops or legs
• Pieces of a bird feeding platform with no instructions
• A half-full box of clementines from last December in various states of decay, though 2 still looked perfectly orange
• Plastic containers, some cracked, most filled with water
• Broken bits of pots

Each item was examined by the carer and separated into plastic, general or "iron" black bags. The bags were left at one side of the patio for later disposal and the pots at the back of the garden were for future re-discovery. As Kash and Sevan left, they looked at the belongings indoors and could see more missions for Mr C coming soon. The saving grace was that patio was in a better state and was one step closer to allowing Mr C to use it again.

As part of London Climate Action Week 2026, GoodGym Ealing hosted three wildlife survey sessions in three of the Tiny Forests across the Ealing borough that GoodGymers had helped plant within the last couple of years. Earthwatch Europe, the organisation behind this fantastic project, helped promote our events designed to connect local people with these small, densely planted native forests that support biodiversity while strengthening relationships between people and nature in urban settings.

From the perspective of raising awareness about the Tiny Forest hidden in the heart of Hanwell, the session at Cuckoo Park was a success. Alongside five GoodGymers, Steph Ducat, Sevan, Kash, A.B. and Penny, two local residents and nature enthusiasts, joined the fun.

Noah and Faye, who live nearby, had no idea the Cuckoo Park Tiny Forest even existed and were excited to discover it. They joined the wildlife survey, helping GoodGymers count butterflies, pollinators and ground dwellers such as ants, snails and earthworms. They were also keen to learn more about the project and expressed an interest in helping maintain their local Tiny Forest and spreading the word within the local community - potential future Tree Keepers in the making!

After the survey, the new Tree Keepers got stuck into some maintenance work, removing weeds and tall grasses that could suppress the growth of the smaller trees. Flowering plants were left untouched to continue attracting pollinators.

The Cuckoo Park Tiny Forest looked dramatically different from our previous visit. Tall grasses and thistles had sprung up throughout the site and, somewhat unexpectedly, so had several clusters of cereals! The forest was buzzing with life, and during the survey, we discovered that insects weren't the only creatures calling it home. While searching beneath a slab for ground dwellers, we uncovered a tiny mouse which stole the spotlight from the butterflies.

If that sounds like your kind of evening, we're hosting one more wildlife survey session during London Climate Action Week, this time combined with an optional run. Join us at the Hanger Hill Tiny Forest and help us discover what wildlife is hiding there!

On the longest day of 2026, four GoodGymers met Ben Morris and the other Balsam Bashers from Clean Up River Brent (CURB) for a biodiversity-boosting mission. It was only 10 am, but with the sun rising so early at this time of year, it already felt almost like afternoon.

Having defeated the invasive Himalayan balsam on the banks of the River Brent near the Brent Viaduct last summer, the next step was to build a fortress of native plants. Earlier this year, CURB had planted purple loosestrife and reeds ("the good guys") in the space reclaimed from Himalayan balsam ("the baddie"). However, much of the riverbank had since been occupied by a different gang: stinging nettles, cleavers and brambles.

With another delivery of reeds still on the way, our mission was to prepare the ground for future planting events. Cue hacking, slashing, lopping, chopping and digging.

Andrew, who fondly remembered his previous slashing mission with CURB, joined regulars Steph Ducat, Sevan and Kash. Armed with wellies, the four GoodGymers ventured down to the riverbank. Sevan and Kash even had the pleasure of dipping their booted feet into the cool river water - a welcome relief on such a hot and thirsty morning.

"Every minute a dive into the water gets more and more tempting!" – Andrew.
"I'd say have a swim, but I cannot say that." – Ben.
"You can swim as long as you're not getting in contact with the water." – Andrew.

Unfortunately, the River Brent isn't exactly a wild swimming destination. The water is known to be heavily polluted, containing sewage and harmful bacteria, making it far from safe for a dip. That's one of the reasons CURB exists. Alongside practical conservation work, the group monitors water quality, removes rubbish, raises awareness through public engagement, and campaigns against sewage pollution in the river system. We'd all love to see the Brent become a clean and thriving ecosystem once again. Encouragingly, a few volunteers spotted fish during the session, proving there is life in the river - but there's still plenty of work to do.

And so we got to work.

Steph wielded a monstrous slasher, mercilessly cutting back unwanted vegetation. Andrew took on the nettles and brambles with shears and a fork. Standing ankle-deep in the river, Sevan focused on the delicate task of rescuing the loosestrife and reeds by removing bindweed and nettles. Kash worked the slope between Steph's assault and Sevan's rescue mission, chopping back nettles and sticky willy.

At one point, alarm was raised when a couple towering hogweed plants were spotted rising above the surrounding vegetation. If you haven't encountered this particular baddie before, giant hogweed is a highly invasive species whose sap can cause severe burns when exposed to sunlight, leading to painful blisters and long-lasting skin damage. Fortunately, Ben confirmed that the plants in question were merely common hogweed rather than their far more sinister cousin, and the slashing could continue.

"These hogweeds are enormous... but not giant." – Sevan.

In a little under two hours of hard work in the sun, we cleared a significant area that is now nearly ready for planting. We left most of the roots for a less dry day, when they'll be easier to dig out. We're looking forward to hearing from Ben about the next delivery of plants so that we can arrange a follow-up session and cement our victory over the baddies by planting more of the good guys along the riverbank!

With the Brentford Canal Festival in full swing, GoodGym arrived to help the organisers make the day a success. Maria and Sevan had been bunting the streets yesterday and were joined by Manuela who lives nearby. After a safety briefing, all 3 were asked to head towards Brentford Lock.

Maria had very enthusiastically chosen to litterpick along the River Brent to keep the walkways clean and she had a stash of bright orange bags to keep her busy. She cheerily added more steps to her day and found a lost wallet which was handed to the organisers for safe keeping.

Manuela and Sevan were trusted with being traffic controllers. Not for cars, for people. The bridge over Brentford Lock became a bottleneck each year. The stairs up and down were narrow and lots more people than normal were trying to cross it during the festival. Manuela and Sevan picked up some Stop-Go signs from the Canal and River Trust stall and gained a volunteer too as Pat from C&RT joined them.

The controller trio tried one approach. It worked but it was over-complicated, so caused big trouble. It actually made things worse than if they weren't there at all as bridge crossers were slowed down a lot and fewer were crossing, plus everyone was dependent on Sevan. They agreed to simplify and have 2 people controlling traffic, one on each set of stairs. Manuela and Sevan managed the flow of people going up and down their own set of stairs, which worked a lot better and they kept working this way until the end of the session.

"This is much better than last year. That was absolute chaos!" - Bridge Crosser

Big trouble averted.

After a few months, Sevan and Kash returned to Southall Tiny Forest to find it had really gone for it - grass and wildflowers everywhere, with the whole space feeling a bit more wild and untamed than before. The wildflowers in particular were doing well and added a nice burst of colour across the site.

Before getting into the planned citizen science, they were greeted by a less charming discovery: litter around the benches. Food packaging, bottles, cans, single-use vapes, and plenty of cigarette butts were scattered around. Kash also found an unexpected magic wand, which was briefly put to use to make most of the rubbish disappear (cigarette butts, unfortunately, proving stubborn even for magic).

With the area tidied up, they moved on to the main task: a wildlife survey as part of biodiversity monitoring. They recorded and counted insects across the site, including butterflies, various pollinators, dragonflies and ground dwellers like ants, larvae, and slugs. Some species were tricky to identify due to their speed and their general commitment to not being looked at closely.

Compared to previous visits, they noticed more butterflies and a greater variety of species overall, which was a positive sign for the Tiny Forest’s development. Findings were logged onto the Earthwatch digital platform before the two GoodGymers split and headed off to their next task.

On this very summery Saturday, nine GoodGymers joined Janpal and Ash at Western Road Urban Garden in Southall for a community day. As usual, our favourite Southall task owners left the most exciting, most technical and most physical tasks for our brilliant team!

The main task of the day was to pick up where we had left off during our previous sessions at the polytunnel and finish transforming the area around it.

Before we started, we got to see what had been happening on the path we created a couple of months ago on the less visible side of the polytunnel. Ash proudly showed us a new beehive that had been installed there and told us he had already tasted honey produced by the Western Road Urban Garden bees, harvested not long ago.

Janpal also gave us his famous tour of the urban garden, showcasing the many ways it supports the local community, from the vegetable plots and raised beds used by community groups and schools to the exotic produce grown in the polytunnel, which is supplied to local food banks, where fresh fruit and vegetables are often among the hardest items to source through donations.

The tour was especially valuable as we welcomed not one, not two, but three new joiners: Keise, Barnaby and Mandeep. With gardening backgrounds ranging from years of farming and flower-growing to complete gardening beginners, they all quickly got stuck in. Alongside regulars Sevan and Steph Ducat, and the legendary walking duo Danny and Kat - who had already covered 10 kilometres before the task even began - the team got to work. Together, seven GoodGymers tackled the main task, battling through hard, dry soil to remove weeds and the old membrane before laying a layer of terram (stellar work on that, Kat, Mandeep and Keise!) and finally covering the area with woodchip, laid at speed by Sevan, Barnaby, Danny and Steph.

This left Freya and Kash to take on a very different task: digging and moving dried mud. However strange that combination of words may sound, it was needed to reinforce the base for a new water tank. As Janpal and Ash explained, they have been struggling with water pressure at the urban garden, and watering the many plants during such hot weather has become a demanding task that Janpal has had to undertake every other day. To help solve this issue, we had previously assisted with digging the hole for the foundation for new large water tanks that would be installed.

Freya and Kash spent most of the session filling the sides of the frame with soil and securing the area by pegging a membrane around the edges. Along the way, they had great fun putting a landscaping tamp into action and discovering that it's slightly larger and heavier than the ones used to make an espresso.

To get ahead of the water tanks' installation, Barney and Keise took on the satisfying task of smashing bricks and other construction debris unearthed during previous sessions into smaller pieces. Far from simply letting off steam, they were creating ballast for the concrete base that will support the new tanks. At Western Road Urban Garden, nothing goes to waste!

As always, the GoodGym team was treated to the generosity of Southall Community Alliance and enjoyed plenty of fresh fruit, along with some amazing samosas freshly baked by a local shop that Janpal had brought along.

Before leaving Western Road Urban Garden, we completed one final task: emptying a small water tank by abundantly watering the plants in the polytunnel. We then helped Ash fix the filling mechanism and secured the tank with wedges to level it properly. What a fulfilling Saturday morning it was!

We're now getting close to the final stage of installing the new water tanks, which will involve a bit of concreting and hands-on engineering - no prior experience required! The project will make a huge difference, helping Janpal and Southall Community Alliance tackle ongoing water pressure issues and reducing the need for time-consuming manual watering during the summer. To help the polytunnel produce survive and thrive through the hot months ahead, we'll be scheduling this task soon, so watch this space.

On a Friday night in Brentford, 4 GoodGymers arrived at the Digital Dock at different times. The departure schedule from the dock meant that they boarded and set sail on different flagships, which took them to parallel buntiverses.

Sevan set sail with 2 other voyagers whose flagship docked at the piazza, next to Sevan's favourite Brentford coffee stop, Flagger & Heart. Their first task was to put 4 lengths of bunting around the perimeter of the piazza. They looked for hooks and eyelets which no longer existed in this buntiverse. Instead, they made creative use of some drain pipes and light fixings to string 2 rainbow lengths between the buildings.

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Kash and Maria's later departure paired them up with another volunteer, Deborah. Their flagship weighed anchor in another buntiverse on the High Street. The GoodGymers were naturally drawn to gazebos that were being erected, but the whole point of a buntiverse is to give GoodGymers endless bunting related tasks. Untangle, put up, take down, retangle, repeat. Perpetual GoodGym fun. Much like the Hotel California, you can flag down a bus, but you can never truly leave. There's only temporary bunting reprieve.

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Sevan's team moved to the Brentford sundial where he learned that in the buntiverse there was no time (or there was no shadow on the sundial, at least). His watch was still working though. The bunting opportunities looked poor here, but Sevan had a vision that no one else could see. Climbing high into a tree, he managed to get the string across a busy path without strangling any of tomorrow's festival goers, eventually, once the bunting was taught enough.

"Story of my life. I thought it was going to go higher then it drooped down." - Volunteer

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Brenda arrived in Kash and Maria's buntiverse where there were also issues with slack lines. Brenda made sure everything was tight and true while Kash and Maria were going up and down ladders, tying knots. As well as ladders, Kash was asked to go over a chicken, which made her do a double take until someone explained that there was a Kentucky Flagged Chicken sign directly in the bunting's path.

Soon after, the GoodGym trio and Deborah reached the end of their line at a bus dock and flagged down a service back to their normal universe.

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Sevan too was close to completing the tasks in his buntiverse. After completing a stretch of bridge bunting, then marking a trail to the local art gallery, he also found himself at a bus dock as a return service appeared.

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Back in the real world, before they headed back to their normal lives, task owner Sam was full of praise for the GoodGym team's efforts:

"If you weren't helping us, we wouldn't have finished at 7. We would have still been here/in the buntiverse for hours more."

For each of the GoodGymers, the buntiverses will keep a hold on them and, when the time is right, will transport them back into worlds that worship fabric triangles.