The Goodgymers were not only welcomed by our 2 and 4 legged friends(cats, dogs, goats, pig, chicken), but also by the sun 🌞😎. Welcome Nick to the Goodgym Family : 1st mission today!! Anuj and Beata have previously been at the farm and joined the crew after a Park Run at Northala earlier in the morning. First visit for Penny and Kate at the farm too. Several tasks for the team with some work to be done on the potato patch that GG Ealing put in place in previous missions which Steph Ducat attended. The potato patch put the team to their knees as weeding to be done between the onions and potatoes. Compost had to be wheelbarrowed from behind the cabin to the potato patch : mission was to create a hill around the potatoes to avoid them being above the ground and becoming green. were the team creating the hills of Northala??They grow and push themselves above the soil. The team realised it was muddy and the compost had mystery mud and a lot of straw. While 4 members were looking after the potatoe patch, Anuj and Beata were playing with compost, smelly compost!!! Not Jean Paul Gauthier fragrance!They were returning compost over from one box to another. After a hard session, a group photo and a pun discussion they all went for pizza, sausage roll, cheesy twirls, crafted beer and coffee in the sun. They bumped into Harvey who came over for a lovely pizza too.

The final round of the annual Hobbayne Quiz was in sight and the GoodGym team's strongest dishwashers were substituted into action to help bring order to the kitchen. Madiha and Afsar joined the team, bringing their ceramic scrubing prowess to join forces with Divya.

There was an ongoing struggle to keep the dirty dishes in check as 90-odd of them flowed into the kitchen and piled up on the counters. The dishwasher was loaded, then Kash initially started hand washing while the others took up the offer of chicken or chickpea curry. Once they were powered back up, the whole team went to soak, scrub and dry normal sized plates and commercial sized cookware. Always the most fun part of the night.

While the scrubbing dream team continued hand washing and reloading the dishwasher, Kash, Penny and Sevan were dispatched on the down low to clear the tables of any rubbish.

Then another clandestine task, to find good homes for portions of leftover chickpea curry, as there wasn't enough for everyone to have seconds. Individual tables were asked and had takeaway containers delivered to them. The foil containers were spotted though by sharp eyed people from other tables, who waved to ask about the possibility of left overs too.

Soon, the results of the quiz were announced and the evening started to wrap up. A final sweep was made for rubbish, with the guests helping to clear their tables. All that was left to do was fold up the tables, stack the chairs and pack away the tuck shop.

The organisers went home happy that everyone had had a great evening and no food had been wasted. The GoodGym team had contributed to both of those achievements, including by taking home their own shiny packages of curry for tomorrow's lunch or dinner.

The annual fundraising quiz at the William Hobbayne Centre is a fun get-together for the local community in Hanwell, where all the funds raised support some fantastic outdoor projects like the Forest School and HANGOT. As usual, the Ealing GoodGymers have been invited to help make the night wonderful for all the guests.

When Kash arrived at the centre, she found the only survivor of the setup task, Sevan, alongside Madhan, tearing and folding hundreds of raffle tickets. It's been a real crunch time to get them ready on time but everyone had fun trying to make it.

It was a quiz night, and when the GoodGymers made an appearance in the main hall, the only question they were asking was:

"How many veggie and chicken options at this table?"

Madhan, Sevan and Kash were scrambling to get the plates with the ordered food to the guests while Divya was employed to fluff the rice and Penny was embellishing each dish with naan bread. Tonight's menu had a chicken curry or chickpea and lentil curry. The guests' preferences between meat and vegetarian choices were not exactly balanced.

"Two veggie and five chicken please" - said Sevan at the door of the kitchen.

"I am waiting for two chicken meals" - said Kash.

"I have eleven chicken orders" - announced Madhan.

Two vegetarian plates were waiting for a few minutes for some attention. Eventually, Mandy, the vegetarian chef, decided to put them into the oven for the time being. Then, Madhan took one of those plates. Finally, some interest in chickpeas and lentils!

"Seventeen chicken for me!" - said Madhan, coming back after delivering the veggie order.

After the meal - which was also offered to our volunteers - it was time for the raffle. The GoodGymers have received three stripes of tickets each. Sevan had the honour of drawing a ticket for one of the winners. But that's not all! He also won the last prize in the raffle - a glittery bracelet! We cannot wait to see him wearing it at the next task!

Monthly drop-in session at Grove Farm : Would the team be able to make it on time and help Anna and Mike? Goodgymers were busy this morning at different park runs for Ealing Foodbank, then needed to make their way all the way from Hanwell back to Grove Farm. A few members who were not at park run started the mission with clearing the ivy as wood anemones started to come out and needed to ensure the sunlight reached the ground. A few runners then appeared in the woods from Hanwell and went to help clear the fences from the ivy along the path. Then, at last, the walkers arrived after a troublesome journey with delayed bus due to roadworks in the area. Then, the team cleared the ivy, picked up rubbish, and packed the tools. A mission that looked nearly impossible to reach became Mission Possible and accomplished. Another great collaboration between Goodgym and Friends of Grove Farm.

When schools close for half term, there’s nothing better than escaping with the whole family for a well-deserved holiday! Or is there?

For Cultivate London and GoodGymers half term has different attractions in store: speed painting walls schools while kids are away! Romina from Cultivate has been tasked to gather volunteers who would paint the hall in Berrymede School in Acton. One of the groups she had booked for mid-week has cancelled the arrangement, and another party laid the first coat of paint. It was already Saturday afternoon and the children were going back to school on Monday!

Then eight GoodGymers from Ealing and Hounslow arrived!

Aprons and latex gloves on, white paint poured into trays, rollers and brushes ready. Get, set, go!

In about 75 minutes, the GoodGym team covered the entire bottom part of the wall that needed treatment with the second coat of paint! The last ten minutes they spent perfecting the art and concealing all the visible gaps.

A good quality check was possible thanks to Madhan who found the light switch. When Romina came back from the allotment to see the result, she found that GoodGymers lived up to their reputation.

Well done guys, very impressed but kinda expected it from you 😉

Because the whole hall was ours during the task, we put some music on. Michelle was the sound engineer and played a GoodGym-made, school-themed playlist, featuring classics like Pink Floyd.

Hey, teacher, leave them kids alone!

At the end of the session, Emmanuella, who hates waste, distributed plenty of organic brownies she had baked among the painters 💚

It was the last GoodGym session before the long holiday for both Michelle and Alan. A big thank you to both of them for making it to Ealing for that one!