There are places in our minds, those blurry, obscure corners, that we don't want to come back to. They may not necessarily be bad memories. Those chapters of our lives might have been beautiful, but they became bitter after the loss of something or someone we know is not coming back. That makes it so painful to revisit the past.

For Miss D, that mental place was represented in the physical world by the corner of her bedroom she'd been avoiding for almost two years after her close family members' passing. She'd go across the ocean and return with three suitcases into which she had to condense all that remained after her two relatives. Two people's lives, reduced into three suitcases, out of necessity. Hastily chosen photo albums, papers, clothes - a legacy constrained by airlines' luggage policy.

To dare to go down memory lane, Miss D needed companions - people who knew nothing about her family's past, but were willing to join her on that difficult journey. Sevan and Kash sat with Miss D and opened the suitcases together, one by one. The first one was half-filled with Miss D's travel clothing, which the lady set aside for washing. The rest of the contents - the late relative's clothes and his laptop - went into the second suitcase, which had only a few items belonging to the same person, and stacks of photos, carefully unpacked beforehand.

The third, smallest suitcase had the belongings of Miss D's closest family member. The three opened it, but Miss D, after hesitation, decided it was not the right time. The small suitcase filled the remaining space in the big one, just like two Russian dolls. Miss D was left with only two suitcases taking up space in her room, one of which was now empty and ready to be donated.

Continuing the momentum, Miss D opened a few boxes that occupied the problematic corner. The items she found inside also carried an emotional load, but were easier to process. With the assistance of the GoodGymers, Miss D sorted through her paperwork, diaries, magazines, photos, greeting cards and other items, deciding to keep her journals and meaningful papers, while discarding plenty of leaflets and newspapers that no longer needed to be read or kept. All those papers went to the recycling bag, as Miss D was proud to be the Queen of Recycling, a title she'd lived up to. The meaningful paperwork was sorted into one parcel, and the rest of the cardboard boxes, potentially useful in the future, were put inside one another, again like Russian dolls.

"Thank you so much for coming here on a Sunday. I wouldn't do this without you, guys" - Miss D said.
"You have done it yourself" - Sevan replied.

A and B arrived at Miss G's house a few minutes early, so had a peek at the front garden. They were trying to work out what they'd be asked to do.

"Looks like everything is a weed." - A
"Those purple flowers aren't weeds, they're flowers." - B
"I think they're weeds" - A

Miss G set them straight...

"Is there anything in the garden to not remove?" - A
"Yes, keep the bluebells. Everything else can go." - Miss G

Miss G gave them rakes and shears, but the GoodGymers really wanted to do some digging to get rid of the roots. She reappeared with 2 forks and a spade. They were perfect for the task.

The garden was small and the soil was dry, meaning that digging went slowly. There were plenty of thistles, dandelions and bindweed to dig up while tip toeing around on eggshells to not trample the bluebells.

The dandelion and thistle roots went straight down, while the thick bindweed roots zig-zagged all over the place just under the surface. Turning over all of the soil made a mess. It also let A and B tackle both types of root, hoping that it would take longer for the weeds to grow back next time. They'll find out in a few months...

Maria, Sevan and Kash ran from their morning task at South Ealing Cemetery to the heart of Acton to visit newly opened Pokopia Garden, meet the plant-based Pokémon living there and check if their neighbourhood is safe and tidy.

Within 10 minutes the trio checked the signs and planters - all intact - cleared very few bits of litter, and reported back to the Pokopia team about the state of the area. One of the solar panels powering a spotlight appeared to be cracked, but - as it was a very sunny Sunday - the team couldn't tell whether that affected the light at all.

It was good to see the little garden looked after well and bringing brightness and colour to the busy Acton square.

The Sunday morning volunteering session at South Ealing Cemetery - a place that Ealing Parks Foundation transforms into a serene, green space, safe and friendly for the wider public to use - was powered by six GoodGymers. Jemma and Jo both joined for their second GoodGym task, while Maria, Steph Ducat, Sevan and Kash were no strangers to the joys of Sunday morning Ealing sessions. Steph, Maria and Kash even got to do a solid warm-up earlier on in Lammas Park, with bodyweight exercises on the menu.

The workout-for-good at the cemetery was not a light one, despite the activity description promising planting geraniums. The space for plants had to be prepared first, which involved removing barrows and barrows of excess soil from the bed in front of the chapel. The amount of dirt the GoodGymers and other volunteers dug out and wheeled to the hidden parts of the cemetery could create a brand new flower bed!

Digging in the earth at the graveyard wouldn't be complete without someone excavating some suspicious bones in the process. Jo and Jemma were pondering where the remains came from.

"That bone is so small. Couldn't belong to a human!"
"Who knows - could be a bone from a pinky?"
"There are a lot of chicken shops and foxes nearby. They must have dragged this here."

Meanwhile, Sevan discovered different findings at the back of the cemetery: men's trousers and kids' orange football trainers, the latter in pretty good condition. The owners haven't been found, dead or alive.

While the rest of the team was pressing on to complete levelling the flowerbed, Maria started planting geraniums, and Jemma sprinkled the seed mix over the beds. Jane, the task owner, promised a display of colour as a reward in a couple of months when the plants would start to flower. She was also impressed with what an addition of GoodGymers brought to the community day.

"That's amazing. Without you, we would be digging that bed for three days!"

The geranium is only a temporary solution, and different flowers will be planted in the same bed in autumn. In the meantime, we are looking forward to seeing the area blossom when we run past it in the coming months.

Another mission with Ms C was on the agenda for Kash and Sevan today. They were curious about what the mission would involve as Ms C had asked for help to move furniture in the garden. Once inside, they found that Ms C had made excellent progress in tidying up her flat, with very little clutter in the living room and kitchen. She must have done a great job of giving away items she didn't need (or hiding them).

Bags of Ms C's clothes had been put in a shed in her garden while she was decluttering. Now it was time to bring the bags inside and sort through them, again, with the aim of giving away what she no longer needed. Kash and Sevan counted 30 laundry bags and there was no way to fit them all into Ms C's living room, so half of them were carried through the garden, into the house, ready to be sorted through.

With her top priority completed, Ms C had an important question for the GoodGymers:

"I left this box of eggs in my fridge. The one that isn't turned on"
"It was warm in there. Will some chicks hatch?" - Ms C

Sevan reassured Ms C that the eggs were sterilised and there was no way she'd have baby chickens running around her her flat or garden any time soon 🐣.

With that worry taken away, Ms C's next priority was to move items out of her bedroom, where everything was piled high. On cabinets, on the floor, on the bed. Stuff everywhere. Now that the shed was emptier, some of Ms C's belongings could move into the shed, making it easier to deal with everything else in the bedroom.

Ms C went back to her usual mode of wanting to keep everything, including an amusing bubble pooper, so Kash and Sevan spent most of the time shuffling things around, not removing them.

"There's a box of medication here" - Sevan
"Oh, they're great! Heart pills." - Ms C
"Are they expired though? They look quite old." - Kash
"It doesn't matter. You only get one heart." - Ms C

Kash and Sevan were thinking to themselves that that would be a good reason not to take expired drugs, but didn't want to argue the point.

Eventually 4 boxes and a shopping trolley were moved to the shed. The entrance to the room felt a lot more open, meaning it'll be easier to remove things when GoodGym next visits Ms C.

Mrs M has 3 jobs to complete in her garden. Cutting a tree down to size, trimming the front hedge and clearing the gutter of their garden storage. They were all jobs that Mr M used to do and was no longer able to, so Kash and Sevan had come to help.

There was only 1 ladder and a set of cutters, so the pair needed some creativity to make the most of the session. Sevan took a garden chair to reach up to the gutter. Even with the chair, his eyes were below gutter level, so everything was done by touch. It hadn't been cleared in a while. There was soil - probably decomposed plants - with new plants growing in it, all of which needed to be scooped out. A small fork turned out to be the perfect tool for skewering the soil and tipping it out and down to the ground.

Kash had the benefit of the ladder and the cutters. Mrs M had asked for the tree to be around 2m high, so Kash had to take off the top 40%. Like the gutter, it must've been a while since it was last cut down to size as it was much taller than Mrs M has asked for it to be. Trimming and packing took all of the session and caused Kash lots cuts and scrapes.

After finishing with the gutter, Sevan went to the front garden and tidied up the front hedge, ticking off the last item on today's list.

Finally, the GoodGym team got to experience a proper spring day at Western Road this year! Everything seemed perfect: the morning was glorious, Janpal was back - after having to miss a couple of community days - with his trademark joviality, hospitality and refreshments. Ash brought his usual engineering insights and a vision of what the urban garden could become. With his head full of improvement ideas, we could never get bored at WRUG! Today's two projects had a lot to do with levelling and enhancing surfaces: around the polytunnel and the outside toilet.

The space behind the privy needed to be paved, and although the area wouldn't be immediately visible to the visitors, the slab laying deserved Swiss precision. Due to a lack of Swiss people, two French men, Maxime and Steph Ducat, volunteered to complete that technical task: laying a membrane, a layer of sand and carefully arranged slabs: heavy, but fragile. Armed with high spirits and a spirit level, they've done a tip-top job!

Meanwhile, GoodGym's Ash, Afshin, Sevan and Kash removed the weeds from the side and back of the polytunnel with shears and hoes.

"What should we do with the green waste?"
"Give them to the Dalek" - WRUG's Ash.

The designer of the Dalek-shaped compost bin at Western Road must have been a Doctor Who fan. Now, that begs a question whether at the next session we'd be repainting the outside toilet to look like TARDIS!

After levelling the ground by the polytunnel, the team was going to lay and peg down a 1 metre-wide sheet of Terram. The challenge was that Terram didn't come in that size. GoodGym's Ash, known as "good with the saw", volunteered to saw a thick piece of Terram roll, held in place by Afshin and Sevan. It turned out to be tough work...

"It's like cutting an anaconda" - WRUG's Ash.

...and a hazardous one.

"Sevan, don't breathe in this dust. Later, you might be growing a moustache... in your lungs!" - WRUG's Ash.

While we're still waiting on the development inside Sevan's lungs, our Ash didn't saw off anyone's finger. He made an even, clean cut in the Terram, which was then pegged down on the long side of the polytunnel. While Afshin and Ash cleared the back of the polytunnel and Sevan started spreading the last layer - woodchip - over Terram, Kash went to dig out some soil to fill the uneven ground.

"This soil is a bit lumpy." - Kash.
"It's perfect. The best soil for filling is a bit lumpy. Just like the best custard, a school dinner classic." - WRUG's Ash.

We took a break to enjoy delicious samosas, tea, coffee and fruit, including those big, sweet blueberries that no one knows where Janpal gets them from.

After the refreshments, the energy levels spiked. We completed levelling, Terraming and woodchipping the back of the polytunnel - more than WRUG's Ash anticipated. What an impressive result!

Next month, we will finish the work around the polytunnel to prevent the weeds from creeping in. There will also be also weeding as all the plants - wanted or not - feel the spring in the air and start growing like crazy! Sign up now.