Helped Ms G in the house moving some bags to go to the charity shops down stairs then headed out to the garden to weed the beds and patio

Sevan's story

Kash and Sevan's first E of the day, Mrs E, had them stumped for a while. Mrs E was moving out and had inherited items from a number of relatives who'd passed away. She needed to sort through the items that she'd inherited before moving so she needed to get access to them.

All of the clothes to be sorted were in the loft and Mrs E was sure that the pole to open the loft hatch was nearby. Kash and Sevan hunted high and low and there was no sign of it. They were stuck, so they thought about alternatives.

1. Could one give the other a punt up to the high ceiling? Maybe, but one of them wasn't keen
2. Could they create a makeshift pole from things lying around? Apparently not
3. Did Mrs E have a ladder? Yes!

Kash went to find Mrs E's step ladder and returned with something very short, leaving Sevan still 20cm away from unlocking the hatch. Mrs E said that there was a bigger ladder hiding somewhere, which Kash found. It was so tall that Kash could reach the high ceiling herself and drop the ladder down.

Finally able to start the search for clothes in the loft, Sevan climbed up and looked around, finding lots of bags and suitcases. Some were empty, some contained documents, one was full of video tapes and plenty had clothing, curtains and blankets. Mrs E's priority were the last groups, so those fabrics were slowly moved into Mrs E's spare bedroom.

Mrs E believed that there wasn't much more in the loft, except for some pots and pans. Kash and Sevan brought them down too, plus 48 toilet rolls that Mrs E wouldn't otherwise be able to get to.

There were still plenty of items left in the loft, so Sevan described what was there and showed Mrs E some photos. She was surprised as she thought that the GoodGymers had more or less emptied the space.

Kash and Sevan closed the loft hatch the same way that they'd opened it and walked to their next E of the day. Ms E, who lived not too far away.

Kash's story

A black and white cat jumped off the bed as Mrs E got up to search for a stick to open the loft. The attic hid years of history the lady hadn’t seen for a long time - and probably wasn’t looking forward to seeing. The previous year was a devastating time, when Mrs E, already struck with illness, lost several family members, and now had to move out of the property. And now that stick - the key to the past that had to leave the house together with Mrs E - was nowhere to be found.

Two strangers who came all the way from West London to help Mrs E, and introduced themselves as Sevan and Kash, couldn’t find the stick either. But they had an idea. A long step ladder they found in the kitchen let them reach the high ceiling and open the treasury of Mrs E's family history. The lady asked them to bring down any clothes, bedding, glassware and dishes they could find in the loft and organise them into suitcases and black bags to keep in one of the bedrooms.

The carrier bags currently storing the belongings in the attic were so fragile that they’ve been falling apart in Sevan and Kash’s hands before making it to the lower floor. But the two had ideas to remedy that, and patiently repacked the items into sturdier bags that could be safely carried down.

Ninety minutes of problem-solving and moving things around brought the most important items to the spare bedroom for Mrs E to go through. That concluded the first chapter of reviving the family history. Mrs E was grateful to have people to help her with what would otherwise be impossible on her difficult journey to the past. Video cassettes, lampshades, carpets and bags of sandpaper will have to wait in the loft for the next adventurers who will dare to venture to the further corners of Mrs E’s past.

Ms E had been living in her house for more than thirty years, but over the last three, she had been battling to have two tall trees trimmed. The trees had been growing in the neighbouring property, but kept dropping large branches regardless of the boundaries, even destroying Ms E's shed in the past. After years of anticipation, the overgrown branches finally came down, but - with them - a few planks off Ms E's fence.

The lady requested GoodGym's help with the repair, and Sevan and Kash from West London responded to the call. The task was a puzzle for all three, who were trying to figure out what the fence looked like before the neighbour's makeshift fixes, what parts were missing, what they could be replaced with, and how to piece together broken planks. After a lot of thought and trying things out, three planks found their place back on the fence, concealing an unsightly gap. The rest could no longer be attached to anything, and the GoodGymers had to give up there.

The remaining time of the mission was used to pull out and bag blue alkanet and trim a neighbouring plant invading Ms E's garden. Ms E concluded that GoodGym's help was brilliant, and even the presence of people coming to help her cheered her up!

Prepared new stock to be handed over tomorrow morning when the food bank reopens after the Easter holidays.

🌿 Our GoodGym Lambeth crew were back at it this Tuesday, lacing up their trainers and heading out from Papa’s with one mission: to give Ruskin Park’s borders the glow-up they deserved. 💅

Fi, Michael, and the very welcome return of Khai made up our small-but-mighty run group — because as we all know, good things come in small packages. 📦✨

And waiting for us at the park were Katie and Tom from Lambeth Parks, ready to show us who’s boss on the border front. 👷

The task? Scrape away the encroaching grass and soil that had been creeping over the concrete borders on the lower path by the paddling pool and playground. In short: nature had been getting a bit too comfortable, and we were here to set some boundaries. 🚧🌿

Did we nail it? You bet your border we did. The path is looking sharp, clean, and absolutely on the edge — in the best possible way. 😎

Check out the pics to see the transformation in all its glory — because if a path gets edged and no one posts about it, did it even happen? 📸❤️

Massive thanks to Tom for having us, and to Fi, Michael, Fi and Khai for bringing the energy (and the scrapers). 💪🏼🍾

Until next time, Lambeth — keep running, keep doing good, and always… stay on the right side of the border. 😱🤩

All is prepared for next week