Wish upon a (May)star

The fairy godmothers (and fathers) were out in their numbers in H&F tonight to help the elderly residents of Maystar Estate.

We were also lucky to have visiting fairy godmothers, Katie and Aiste, from the neighbouring kingdoms of GoodGym Camden and Greenwich along with new joiners James and Clare on their first group run.

It all started early on a Tuesday night when 22 GoodGymers stood in a circle and desperately tried to remember their names, a number and come up with an un-embarrassing favourite film. After the warm up, which featured The Shining (much concern), The Lion King (overall approval) and Harry Potter (once again – general nodding) we set off with a reminder that we hadn’t seen Clueless, Pretty Women or Mean Girls in far too long.

Arriving at Maystar Estate we were met by Pauline who had a fine display of various gardening tools. Choosing our weeding weapon of choice we were split into teams of five and six and set off to work our magic on the gardens of the elderly residents. Nearly 20 bags of garden waste/weeds later we were rewarded with smiles from the people who lived there and a great selection of biscuits and squash from Pauline.

After all of the weeding weapons were back in line and meeting the one and only Danny Cocaine (write it down everyone) we made our way to the river to do some interval training to get us back to Hammersmith Bridge.

And so, the fairy godmothers and fathers made it back to the Better Gym in Hammersmith and lived happily ever after - knowing that they would be laughing at everyone’s toddler photos in a few weeks time.

A special thanks to Beth for leading tonight’s run and to the wonderful Jason who keeps everyone company at the back.

Big big thank you to Bex for writing this week's run report!...if anyone's missing their left slipper, please let Bex know!!

You're saved from my terrible puns this week but a quick reminder of all the news this week....

1. Community Mission - On Saturday 1st September (that's right, this Saturday!), there will be a community mission to help out at the amazing White City Adventure Playground, sign up here - Wormwood Scrubs parkrun followed by breakfast will be organised pre-mission! Please come along and lend a hand if you can You do not need to be DBS verified to get involved with community missions.
2. GG London-wide 'Hamingslow' Social - On Thursday 6th September, GG Hammersmith, Ealing and Hounslow will be uniting and hosting the social! It'll be in Hammersmith upstairs at The Rutland Arms! Sign up here.
3. GG H&F's 2nd Birthday - On Tuesday 11th September, part two of the birthday celebrations with a post-run social! Venue TBC. Important pre-social request - Please email or whatsapp a photo of yourself aged 2 to Bex before the date for the baby photo quiz round!
4. Adidas Shoreditch 10K Volunteering - Volunteer for Adidas City Run Shoreditch10K on Sunday 14th October and earn half-price entry into another Adidas City Run! – sign up here.
5. Donations Wanted! - Catriona is going to Calais in October to volunteer for a couple of weeks with an amazing charity called Help Refugees, who among other things, give support to people who were displaced from the Jungle when it was torn down by the French police. Do you have any of the items listed here that you can donate? If YES, please let Catriona know!

And, well done to Jason who FINALLY (suprisingly Back to the Future isn't his favourite film?!) received his well-earned winged t-shirt for his 100 good deeds.

Next week it's part one of H&F's 2nd birthday celebrations, we will be off on a party run to St Mungo's Reconnection Staging Post to help give their garden a revamp – sign-up here.

Thank you all for pitching-in on another garden task and for entertaining my photo posing requests and the questionable group selfie attempts! It was lovely to see Joyce, Luke, Sophie and Missie repping their nice and new (yet to have paint splashed on) red GG-tees, great to meet and welcome along James and Clare, hopefully we will see you both on another group run soon! And lastly, thank you to the GG tourists, my three-legged race buddy, Katie and Greenwich's finest, Aistle.

Ramble done, have a fantastic week all and hopefully see you either on Saturday or next Tuesday!